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Columns::April 7, 2003
Telling tales: Peabodys announced for 62nd year
Three faculty receive university’s Creative Research Awards
Richard Russell Foundation funds new professorship in agriculture
State’s business schools sweep GM competition
Five undergraduates receive mid-term Foundation Fellowships
Formula for success
Choosing a career was ‘elementary’ decision for education professor
Administrative Changes
Kudos
Training Day
Campus News
Forum Essay
Enhancing Quality Teaching
Editor’s note: The annual Faculty Symposium at Unicoi focused this year on four areas of concern: international education, faculty-administration relations, enhancing quality teaching and extended academic programs. The resulting position papers have been sent to the provost and will be published in the April 7, 14, 21 and 28 issues of Columns as a way of generating discussion.
The subject for our working group was “Enhancing Quality Teaching at the University of Georgia in a Time of Budget Crisis.” Our discussion began with a summary of what we considered as the most important qualities of an outstanding teacher and ended with recommendations for maintaining high-level instruction even in times of budget cuts.
The working group offered three general important qualities of outstanding teachers. First, outstanding teachers understand that knowledge of their discipline is a priority of the highest order. Second, they bring to the classroom an enthusiasm for course content and for teaching. Third, outstanding teachers also bring leadership skills by not only challenging students but also engaging them in the learning process. Such leadership occurs when teachers provide students with the “tools” to enable them to perform successfully in the course and beyond.
Decreased funding can influence these qualities in a negative way. One of the first areas that is reduced or cut altogether is funds that allow professors to enrich their teaching and research. Lack of travel to professional meetings translates into little time for renewal and developing professionally, which, in turn, can lead to a downturn in faculty morale and enthusiasm. Another obvious negative influence is the increase in the number of large lecture classes offered. Large classes may result in less student engagement and fewer profitable interactions with students. At the same time, the number of teaching assistants often declines, which means that opportunities for students to interact in small groups (e.g., labs, breakout sessions) also decline. Finally, in times of budget cuts the use of technology to promote learning is affected. There is less partnering between faculty and those more knowledgeable of technology issues, little money available for new equipment and training, and few incentives for professional development related to technology. Although the members of the group had differing opinions on the relationship between technology and quality teaching, the consensus was that difficult budget times would necessarily take its toll on technology in the classroom.
Even in times of a budget crisis, however, there are a variety of ways that excellent teaching qualities can continue to be promoted. In conjunction with this premise, our working group spent a considerable amount of time discussing how the evaluation process and “assigned time” might be thought of in less than traditional ways. To this end, we probably posed more “food for thought” questions than we did solutions. Can better ways be found to document outstanding instruction? How can faculty members’ strengths be better utilized? Could the promotion and tenure process allow for a faculty member’s EFT to be modified for a year or so to better reflect his or her actual time spent on teaching?
The group had three general recommendations that resulted from this discussion. First, there should be greater flexibility in assigning teaching duties, in order to “play on individual strengths.” Second, the way in which quality teaching is currently documented requires further exploration. Because there is little consensus on how to document meritorious teaching, departments tend to rely heavily on the traditional student evaluations. Finally, the general prevailing thought of the group was that, campus-wide, research seemed to be more valued than teaching, particularly in the sciences, and that this perception needs to be dispelled.
The working group did offer some concrete recommendations. First, there should be more opportunities for venues such as the yearly faculty symposium to discuss teaching-related issues as a way to promote renewal. Programs such as the Lilly Fellows and the Senior Teaching Fellows are a start, but they touch only a small number of faculty members. Second and related, there should be more and better ways for faculty to communicate with one another about issues and resources. As it currently stands, intradepartmental discussions about teaching tend to take place only when faculty members from different disciplines and departments happen to “find” one another. Third, the working group strongly urged that even in times of budget cuts, the number of teaching assistants, especially for large lecture courses, be kept intact. The number of TAs not only has an impact on engagement issues, but also influences the university’s ability to reach its goal of joining the prestigious AAU. Finally, there should be additional types of teaching recognitions available, perhaps in the form of awards that come with stipends.
The workgroup members were: Progyan Basu, accounting; Bob Brussack, law; Karen Cornell, small animal medicine and surgery; Ann Crowther, political science and the Office of the Vice President for Instruction; Daniel Der Vartanian, biological sciences; Ann Dupre, law; Marcus Fechheimer, cellular biology; Susan Goldstein, geology; Alexis Hart, English; Peter Horanyi, biochemistry and molecular biology; Mark Huber, management information systems; Rodney Mauricio, genetics; Patricia McAlexander, Academic Enhancement; Sherrie Nist, Academic Enhancement; and George Vellidis, biological and agricultural engineering.
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