40 students in a class?

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some1ne

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I found out the class I was looking into takes up to 40 students. That seems super high to me, no? How can you get a good experience from being in a class of that size? There's no way 1 instructor can actually do much one on one work with 40 students..

Is it just a money grab course by the Hospital???
 
You need to relax. Reading over your posts you appear to be extremely anxious over your EMT class. How do you know there is only one instructor? How do you know there aren't going to be teaching assistants?

It is unlikely that a large hospital is going to be running a crappy fraudulent EMT program.
 
A Spade is a Spade.

Most states require a specific student/instructor ratio for practical skills. In my home states it is 6 students per accredited instructor.

Have you ever been to college? I have sat in lecture halls with 200 people.

"Professor Plum, in the lecture hall, with a powerpoint" was the murderer.

Does it really matter how many people are being talked at in a given place?

The money grab...

probably 80-90% of all EMS education is a money grab. It is a cash cow.

Highly "desirable" job by those with no knowledge of what it entails or pays.

Short time for class turnover.

Minimally qualified instructors. They don't even need a degree. I know schools paying instructors $20 an hour, no benefits.

EMS programs eligible for federal financial aid.

It is in all respects a win for anyone holding a class.

But it doesn't mean you will not get what you need. EMT class is ~150 hours of 8th grade education. That's it. If you passed 8th grade and show up the required amount, and say the magic words when prompted, there is nothing to stop you from being successful.

Life and death it is not.

Despite all the romance, an EMT is an ambulance driver (like a taxi driver) with the most rudamentary first aid knowledge, that basically follows orders.

Don't psych yourself out over this.
 
and you will probably lose about 1/3 to 1/2 within a few weeks, about 1/3 won't need alot of time from the instructors so you will be good
 
I start EMT class today at Ivy Tech in Indy (Lawrence). The max enrollment in the class is 15, I think last time I looked there were 9 registered.

It's been a few years since I've been to college (too many, don't even ask) but I've attended classes in a massive lecture hall with a couple hundred of my closest friends and I've attended classes with 5-10 people. The number of students in a class doesn't matter NEARLY as much as the individual student's attitude. If you have questions, the instructor is available by some means, either appointment, email, telephone, etc. So even if you may not be able to ask a question the second it pops in your head during class, write it down, and address it later.

If you want help and/or clarification, it's there if you put the effort into getting the help. Also, and this matters even MORE than taking the time & effort to seek out help, is to pay attention in class & read the material.
 
some1ne said:
I would much rather be in a class of 9 people than 40
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Bring kool aid to class, that should help. :ph34r:

Honestly though, you are WAYYYYYYYYY too anxious, just calm down, breathe let the blood go round and round.
 
Did you happen to go to a public high school? Class sizes are usually in the mid to high 30s. Taken any college classes? Class sizes can easily exceed 60 students.

As it was said before normally there is a student to instructor ratio. For where I'm at we have a 6:1 ratio (we like to do 5:1). We only need one primary instructor (goes over the book stuff with the class) and the 6:1 (5:1) ratio comes into play for the skills instructors.
 
You will be fine. Mine started out with about 35 (going through basic then advanced) and we ended at 8. A lot of people fail (you will be able to pinpoint them in the first couple of classes). Just do your work and listen more than you talk and you will do great.
 
johnboy8281 said:
You will be fine. Mine started out with about 35 (going through basic then advanced) and we ended at 8. A lot of people fail (you will be able to pinpoint them in the first couple of classes). Just do your work and listen more than you talk and you will do great.
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Then your instructors should be fired and the program shut down.
 
some1ne said:
I would much rather be in a class of 9 people than 40
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Then drop and find a class with 9 people in it.

You asked if it was a money grab by the program, and were given an answer, which apparently you aren't happy with. Then you begin on a different tangent about how you feel like your experience will be diminished by the number of students in your course, a totally different issue than the original "am I being scammed by a program that let's everyone in just to take their money" issue.

I have dealt with students like you before, both as an instructor, and as a fellow student. You need to un-torque yourself and realize that no one is going to spoonfeed you this stuff, and the majority of your learning comes outside of the classroom. This is the same whether your instructor is joe blow paramedic, a PhD, physician, or anything in between. The individual accountability falls to the student in order to rise to the top of Bloom's Taxonomy. If you rely on your instructors to baby you along with what's on the exam, you will never make it past understanding...which believe it or not is one of the lowest forms of "learning."

I am not going to say that smaller class sizes can not enhance the students experience in a course, but as an honest example, majors level biochemistry is taught in a lecture hall with 150+ students. This is a fairly rigorous course, and far beyond anything you'll learn in EMT or Paramedic school. Do you think the instructor taught that class specifically to me? No. Was I able to ask questions and speak intelligently during lecture? Yes. Did the bulk of the work and effort fall onto me outside of class to study, SYNTHESIZE the material, and perform well on exams...yes it did. And the final question, did it make a difference whether there was 1, 100, or 1000 students in the course with me in regards to the amount of effort I needed to put forth when studying? Not one bit.

Man up and take the course with 40 students in it, or take a course with 9 students in it and you will likely be no better or worse off. In fact, my experience has been when a course has trouble filling its numbers, there is a problem with the program. If you are looking at a course that can only fill 9 of its seats, something might be wrong.

And finally, I will agree, 1/4 to 1/2 of the class will be gone before week 2 is over. You better get with the program, or you might find yourself in that group.

Sorry for the tough love, but looking at this post and some of your others, you need to shift your mentality going into this adventure, or you will come out the other side battered and bruised.
 
firefite said:
Why?
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Any program with that much attrition has problems with their exam content, curriculum, or both. There is an expectation that some attrition will be present, but when you have less than 25% of the students remaining at the end of a fairly cut and dry vocational education course, outside of some extenuating circumstance (half the class dies int he same bus accident or something similar) then there is a problem with the program.
 
Veneficus said:
Then your instructors should be fired and the program shut down.
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Well, of the 35 i'd say 15 were going just for basic so it wasn't as bad as it sounds. And of the 20 left, a lot of them just weren't dedicated. The instructors were both very smart and passionate about teaching the class. The handful of us that did all of our work and studied are doing very well and still keep in touch.
 
WTEngel said:
And finally, I will agree, 1/4 to 1/2 of the class will be gone before week 2 is over. You better get with the program, or you might find yourself in that group.
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Infact it's just as likely he'll be part of the group that fails/drops out/ changes their mind as it is he'll go to completion.
 
firefite said:
Why?
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Educational curriculums and higher education are designed so that 75% of students fall into the "C" or average passing range.

Anytime you have more than a 15-20% failure rate it indicates some type of problem with instruction.

Because programs mantain accreditation based on pass rates of certifying exams, a trick to basically rip people off is to set outrageous passing standards and fail people out after a period where they cannot get a refund.

Some staes have caught on and instituted attrition rate levels to protect students from these predatory programs. But they are not widespread yet.

Considering a small amount of people in every class are generally best at self study as a personal learning style, and the time they claim they spend in self study, the program and its instructors basically offer no service at all.

Any place that engages in such practices of failing out all but a handful likely to succeed is a scam and should be avoided by students and shut down.
 
johnboy8281 said:
Well, of the 35 i'd say 15 were going just for basic so it wasn't as bad as it sounds. And of the 20 left, a lot of them just weren't dedicated. The instructors were both very smart and passionate about teaching the class. The handful of us that did all of our work and studied are doing very well and still keep in touch.
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What are you basing this off of?

How many instructors or programs have you seen?
 
Veneficus said:
Educational curriculums and higher education are designed so that 75% of students fall into the "C" or average passing range.

Anytime you have more than a 15-20% failure rate it indicates some type of problem with instruction.

Because programs mantain accreditation based on pass rates of certifying exams, a trick to basically rip people off is to set outrageous passing standards and fail people out after a period where they cannot get a refund.

Some staes have caught on and instituted attrition rate levels to protect students from these predatory programs. But they are not widespread yet.

Considering a small amount of people in every class are generally best at self study as a personal learning style, and the time they claim they spend in self study, the program and its instructors basically offer no service at all.

Any place that engages in such practices of failing out all but a handful likely to succeed is a scam and should be avoided by students and shut down.
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Aren't there schools in the Caribbean that do this?
 
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