I have spent the last two weeks preparing for the beginning of the Fall Semester 2010. I am struck by the fact that with the advent of each new semester there are more and more obligations to be met by professors, obligations that seem to have little to do with the ability of the professors to teach.
In Texas, a new House Bill requires that every professor in the State of Texas post a Curriculum Vitae and Syllabus for every course taught.
This information must be posted on the college website and must be easily found on the Internet without regard to user name or password protection. The notion, as I take it, is that students should have complete information as to the qualifications of their instructors, as well as a complete record of the academic record of those who will be their teachers. That does not seem to be such a bad idea; however, it does take a good deal to time to comply with this new law and one wonders how important it is to the students to have this information.
My experience as an Adjunct Professor has taught me that most students care about and are concerned about a limited number of issues.
1. How much work do I have to do in this course?
2. How will I be graded?
3. Is there some way in which I can acquire extra credit? Do I have to do any written work or are all the questions on exams true/false, multiple choice or fill in the blank?
4. Is the Professor going to provide a complete review prior to each test to ensure that I have a good idea what the questions will be?
These are, not surprisingly I think, the major concerns of students in the majority of the classes I teach.
I do not doubt that I, as an undergraduate, was concerned with the same questions; thus, I am not really overly upset with the mindset I find operative in so many of my students. I can deal with these issues, and in reality I can deal with most all the issues associated with teaching in college. I have only a few bones of contention with which I intellectually wrestle.
I love to teach. I do not like paperwork. Never before, in any previous semester, have I been asked to learn, adopt and implement so many new computer applications and inputs.I am besieged with a multitude of new requirements that tax the ability of a 64 year old man who is not highly computer literate. I have complained bitterly to my wife, but to no one else.
I was complaining again this evening. My wife said, "The process of learning this new technology in order to meet the requirements for teaching on-line and preparing for your in-class courses keeps your brain active and allows you to teach young people which in turn keeps you young."
I suppose she is correct. She often is.
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