TESC Photography Course Recommendation

[crokee056]

I also took this course with Prof. Keisow, I really enjoyed him. I was not a photographer by any standard and would not consider myself one even after completion of this course but I learned a lot. My neighbor, Nursing major, recommended it as an Humanities elective. Not a bad course and I did learn a lot about camera operation. I enjoyed the course and took away valuable information.

[Westerner]

Well, I finished "Introduction to Photography." The basic information about the course is in my previous posts. For the Final Project, you create a (unified!) portfolio of 20 photos. Your 2 strongest images should be first and last.

Here are my photo exercises from the course, along with notes on what we were practicing each module.
Photo Exercise 1: Photographic Exercise 1 - a set on Flickr
Photo Exercise 2: Photographic Exercise 2 - a set on Flickr
Photo Exercise 3: Photographic Exercise 3 - a set on Flickr
Photo Exercise 4: Photographic Exercise 4 - a set on Flickr
Photo Exercise 5: Photographic Exercise 5 - a set on Flickr
Final Project: Final Project - a set on Flickr

Now, I have to say something about my course mentor.

I took this course with Professor Paul Light. He was not available for questions and did not seem to want to help his students learn. He was a very slow grader. He gave poor grades and did not explain AT ALL why I was marked down. Nor did he give adequate feedback about the photos I took for assignments—what he liked or did not like. Once I emailed him to ask for suggestions on how to improve my photography in order to get As, and all he sent back was a copy-past of his grading policy! That was not helpful. What is a mentor for, if not to coach and help students? I tried to take more creative photos as he suggested but he never gave feedback on how I was doing. Grades were late, and then he finally surfaced to comment on my final project. I really was left to navigate this course on my own.

Professor Light never actually helped me learn to take better pictures. All he did was critique my photos ONCE, and sometimes gave links to other photos to show "what our photos should look like." I expected critiques of every photo I took, and tips on how to improve photography, but I did not get any. He said late assignments would not get critiqued; by extension, doesn't that sound like on-time assignments WILL be critiqued? That's what I thought, but my on-time assignments weren't critiqued... Professor Light sent us to other websites for info; he never gave personal, customized tips. All the unexplained Bs he gave my photo assignments dragged my final grade down to a barely-A-. I am EXTREMELY disappointed in his nonexistent "mentoring."

He also gave 100s for participation in the Creative Forums (which counted for less overall) but Bs in the Photographic Exercise Forums (which were weighted more heavily). I seriously don't understand that. I participated fully in both. Why grade down for full participation? In other courses, in every Discussion Board I participated fully in (responding to 2 or more people, as the course syllabus instructs) I got 100. Why not here? As a matter of fact, he said responding to 1 person would get a maximum of 50. So, then, why wouldn't responding to 2 or more people, which is what I did every time, warrant a 100??

I would NOT recommend Paul Light as a mentor. Others got mentors in this course who gave 100s without critique or comments. I would take a professor like that over one who gives 85s without critique or comments, any day. Mr. Light might be a good photographer, and he has a blog where he teaches about the subject, but he completely fails as a college professor.

I love photography, so I was so excited for this class, and I really thought I would enjoy it, learn a lot, and better my photography. Well, after finishing, I can say that this course was not as enjoyable, and it was all because of my particular professor. The best things about this course were...

—I was happy I got to interact with other budding photographers. My fellow students and I had a GREAT time seeing each other's photos, discussing, sharing our likes and dislikes, and practicing with our cameras.
—The textbook was helpful and I'm glad I got to learn about and practice with my camera and learn more about what it can do.

That was really all I got from this course, but I was expecting to get more. I was expecting professional critiques and coaching from the mentor (Paul Light) and I DID NOT receive that at all.

In the end, this class wasn't really worth it. Order the $60 textbook, join an online photo community, and have at it. Much cheaper!

[ironheadjack]

Sorry to hear about your negative experiences with this course Westerner. If I were you I would definitely post some feedback on ratemyprofessor, so others know to avoid his course. And perhaps send a letter to someone higher up at TESC expressing your displeasure with this professor.

[JBtesc]

I had a disappointing experience in this course with a different mentor.



Not to beat a dead horse but... TESC mentors are the professor world equivalent of flipping burgers on the weekend for some extra cash. Most of them don't even list TESC as an employer on facebook or linkedin.

I hope the January term is different because I have a course with an amazing professor and in another course the mentor is already very active on the Introduction forum so that bodes well. We'll see. :/

[dposborne]

I think that getting a good mentor is hit or miss with TESC. I was pretty fortunate in my experience there. I took 9 classes with TESC and I only ended up with 1 "burger flipper" who should have been on "fries" instead, because it seemed like he couldn't even handle burger duty. This was a horrible experience and it was my Capstone of all classes...

[Westerner]

Sorry to hear about your negative experiences with this course Westerner. If I were you I would definitely post some feedback on ratemyprofessor, so others know to avoid his course. And perhaps send a letter to someone higher up at TESC expressing your displeasure with this professor.

I definitely posted on ratemyprofessor! Who do you think I should contact at TESC?

I had a disappointing experience in this course with a different mentor.

Not to beat a dead horse but... TESC mentors are the professor world equivalent of flipping burgers on the weekend for some extra cash. Most of them don't even list TESC as an employer on facebook or linkedin.

I hope the January term is different because I have a course with an amazing professor and in another course the mentor is already very active on the Introduction forum so that bodes well. We'll see. :/

I think that getting a good mentor is hit or miss with TESC. I was pretty fortunate in my experience there. I took 9 classes with TESC and I only ended up with 1 "burger flipper" who should have been on "fries" instead, because it seemed like he couldn't even handle burger duty. This was a horrible experience and it was my Capstone of all classes...

Yes, apparently most TESC professors also have jobs at other schools. So I guess their TESC job isn't their main priority.

[ironheadjack]

I definitely posted on ratemyproffesor! Who do you think I should contact at TESC?

IDK, maybe the dean of whatever school that course falls under? Unless that is jumping way up the ladder, I don't know how the academia hierarchy works.

Judging by his rate my professor page he is not a very good mentor, luckily "mentors" cannot get tenured so with enough negative reviews he can get booted.