UPDATED: Drop? Not a great start to a very condensed summer course.

[Pegasus]

DD is taking a couple courses at the community college this summer to transfer to her university.  The second course is a 3-credit linear algebra, condensed into a 4 week period, so it meets 2 hours a day, 5 days a week.  The first day of this class was Tuesday and the instructor sent out an email only that morning to say that he had a prior commitment and wouldn't be holding class.  So, DD has only had 2 classes with him so far (meets again later today) but needs to decide by 6:00 pm tonight whether to stick with it or drop.  He is young and new to the community college and probably to instructing.  He got his MS in math just last year.

During classtime, he was flipping through the textbook and talking out loud to figure out the order in which he needed to teach the topics.  Already some of his topics are disjointed and out of order (trying to address one topic that required understanding a topic that he then discussed later). He seemed to assign homework from the textbook on the fly as well.  DD asked if they could have a printed list of homework for the full course and he replied that he normally doesn't look at it until the night before.  

My gut says DROP but I don't want to make that decision for DD.  She's torn as she really likes the idea of getting this course completed now.  

Edited June 28, 2019 by Pegasus

[Serenade]

 I vote drop.

[Random]

DROP!  For sure.  No doubt.  So many red flags here, especially for a condensed summer course.

[SanDiegoMom]

I vote drop. He's already had one missed section of class, when there are only 20 sessions total? He's not sure which order he's teaching the topics when the class has already begun? Not intentional in assigning homework?  Yikes, it all sounds bad. 

[Miguelsmom]

Drop it. As much as she wants to get it done it doesn't sound like she'll learn what she needs from this teacher.

[mumto2]

Drop

 

[klmama]

DROP!!!!!  He's already disorganized. He doesn't have a plan. He's shown the class isn't a priority to him.  It will not get better.  DROP, DROP, DROP.   

[gstharr]

I vote drop mainly because I find condensed summer math classes good for previewing and getting a jump on the matter, but not good for mastery.

[Pegasus]

UPDATE:  Thank you, everyone.  Your words confirmed my own thoughts.  DD agreed that it was best to drop when she got home from class and was able to do it online before the deadline.  Woo-hoo.  Now she can focus on the calculus III course that she is taking with a very solid instructor (both she and my other DD have had him previously).

Just as extra evidence that dropping was the right choice, the instructor was late to class today.  Then he gave a problem for everyone to work on in class. Ten minutes later, no one had managed to solve it and he just shrugged, said they would need to figure it out as homework, and kept going.  What's the point of in class problems unless it is to confirm that students understand and can apply what you've already covered or that it needs to be explained again more clearly?

 

[G5052]

Boy, that sounds bad. I agree. If it's bad starting out, it's going to stay that way and maybe get worse.

I'm taking a summer class that started out well, but is not going well. But the professor's wife was on bedrest, and then their baby has a host of problems. Saturday he lectured from the emergency room and set one of the computer lab techs to be with us and then lead the lab. He's only graded the first two weeks of an 8-week class that has two weeks left. And we did two weeks of work on Saturday, but are still a week behind right now. It's community college, but half the class has stopped coming. I think he'll be fair, but it's kind of a mess. That I can excuse though because he's a good professor.