LISTSERV mailing list manager LISTSERV 16.5

Help for JESSE Archives


JESSE Archives

JESSE Archives


JESSE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Monospaced Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

JESSE Home

JESSE Home

JESSE  July 2013

JESSE July 2013

Subject:

Re: Adjuncts and higher education (fwd)

From:

Gretchen Whitney <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Open Lib/Info Sci Education Forum <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 19:26:14 -0400

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (155 lines)

Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 14:25:30 -0400
From: Scott Barker <[log in to unmask]>
To: Open Lib/Info Sci Education Forum <[log in to unmask]>

I strongly disagree with your assertion that:

"[Students]are being asked to do (and learn) less and less because they
are being taught by graduate students and adjuncts who are judged in their
student evaluations by how well they are liked. Not challenged to broaden
their thinking, challenged to consider new ideas, or challenged to do work
that they did not know that they could do, but discover that they can."

Quite frankly, not only do I disagree, but I believe it is insulting to
suggest that as a group adjunct instructors are delivering a lesser
experience to students. I also think it is problematic that you seem to
have such little respect for student evaluations.

My experience with "adjuncts" is that just like with full-time tenure
track faculty, some are great teachers and some less so. The best
"adjuncts" bring years of industry experience (that some tenure track
faculty lack) into their classrooms, they have a high degree of passion
and knowledge, they incorporate research as well as practice, they are
challenging, they care deeply about their students, and they continually
work to improve their teaching so they can deliver a strong student
experience.

Those are the adjuncts that we seek to hire here at the University of
Washington and those are the adjuncts that students like best.

There are amazing professionals working in companies like Microsoft,
Google, Amazon, Boeing as well as the many excellent libraries here in
Seattle who teach for us. To suggest they can't deliver a high-quality
course because they are "only" an adjunct or a PhD student (who typically
was working as one of these same professionals before joining us) is
ridiculous.

Obviously not all "adjuncts" or "visiting faculty" are perfect, but
tenure-track faculty aren't either. Those adjuncts that aren't good we
don't invite back, it is as simple as that.

Secondly, your assertion that students like and give high evaluations to
instructors that are easy is similarly problematic.

I chair our undergraduate program in Informatics. Our students are highly
demanding and I get frequent complaints from students when they feel they
are not being challenged enough. Generally speaking students are here to
learn, not to waste time in class. They want to be successful and they
are applying to be in our very competitive major rather than other
top-ranked programs in Computer Science, Business, or Design that are
available on our campus. These students perform best when they are
challenged, and the vast majority want to be challenged. They have to
take classes in those other programs and they compare what they learn in
the iSchool to what they learn elsewhere. To suggest that they give high
evaluations to the "easy" courses and poorer evaluations to the "hard"
courses couldn't be further from the truth.

Every quarter we read course evaluations that say things like "this was
the hardest class I've ever taken", or "I couldn't believe how many
readings there were, and at first I hated them, but I learned so much in
the end". Faculty (adjuncts and tenure-track) that teach such courses
tend to do very well.

Now that said, there are faculty that are "hard" that also get poor
evaluations. But I observe many classes, and generally speaking those
classes that get poor evaluations get them for lots of reasons. The
instructor may not be a strong speaker, they may be bad at managing the
logistics of the class, or they may not provide timely feedback. All
those types of issues can be present whether the class is easy or hard.

In general, I've found that students evaluations are typically on the
mark. The faculty that get the best evaluations do tend to teach the
"best" classes overall. Classes that are challenging, classes with great
content, classes where students learn a ton. To dismiss what the students
are saying, and to suggest we are just lowering standards to make things
easy on them so they will give high evaluations is simply not true.

I care a lot about what students say because more often than not, they are
right.

Scott Barker
Chair, Informatics
Information School, University of Washington



-----Original Message-----
From: Open Lib/Info Sci Education Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gretchen Whitney
Sent: Sunday, July 28, 2013 5:16 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Adjuncts and higher education

Greetings,
    In addition to the note appended, please note the AAUP report on the use of adjuncts in general in higher education at

http://www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/files/2013%20Salary%20Survey%20Tables%20and%20Figures/Figure%201.pdf

Or at tiny url

http://tinyurl.com/blqxeof

I mix into these articles the assertion that undergraduates and graduate students are paying more and more for their education. Granted. Given.

I assert that the other half of the equation ", but students are getting less and less for what they pay" is being given little attention.

In other words, students are going to college and paying more and more, but they are being asked to do (and learn) less and less.

They are being asked to do (and learn) less and less because they are being taught by graduate students and adjuncts who are judged in their student evaluations by how well they are liked. Not challenged to broaden their thinking, challenged to consider new ideas, or challenged to do work that they did not know that they could do, but discover that they can.

Of course, if you want to be liked you are more likely to assign 2 two-page essays and a multiple choice final exam for your course, rather than a big term paper and other assignments and a comprehensive written exam.

Just some more things to think about, and pulling diverse comments together talking about the same thing.

Here is a really ugly question. I don't want or expect answers. But it is something to think about. As a faculty member, is your primary goal to be liked or respected?

And does your administration support you in that goal?

The above two sets of evidence suggest the first.

    --gw

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Gretchen Whitney, PhD, Retired
School of Information Sciences
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN 37996 USA [log in to unmask]
http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/
jESSE:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/jesse.html
SIGMETRICS:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 15:38:29 -0400
From: Lorna Peterson <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask], aliseadjunct <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [ALISEadjunct] Adjuncts use noted in July 2013 Harper's Index

The below message was forwarded to a list I subscribe to and I though it might be of interest to readers on this list. The original post references this "Portion of university teaching positions that are filled by graduate
students or adjunct faculty = 3/4" You can see the original list here:
http://harpers.org/archive/2013/07/harpers-index-351/

Below is a copy of the message:

Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 09:20:49 -0400
From: David H Slavin <[log in to unmask]>
To: Contingent Academics Mailing List <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [adj-l] adjuncts in Harper's Index July 2013

The first six lines of Harper's Index for July 2013 issue

Number of US retail jobs Doritos Locos tacos created in the past year, according to Taco Bell = 15,000 Number of retail jobs created worldwide by Apple in that same period = 400 Portion of US factory workers who have college degrees - 1/4 Portion of university teaching positions that are filled by graduate students or adjunct faculty = 3/4 Percentage of college professors teaching online courses who do not believe students should receive credit for them = 72 Number of US states whose highest-paid public employee is a sports coach = 37

Perhaps the word is getting out?
David
Slavin, Decatur GA

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

Advanced Options


Options

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password


Search Archives

Search Archives


Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe


Archives

March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002
November 2002
October 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
June 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
February 2002
January 2002
December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
August 2001
July 2001
June 2001
May 2001
April 2001
March 2001
February 2001
January 2001
December 2000
November 2000
October 2000
September 2000
August 2000
July 2000
June 2000
May 2000
April 2000
March 2000
February 2000
January 2000
December 1999
November 1999
October 1999
September 1999
August 1999
July 1999
June 1999
May 1999
April 1999
March 1999
February 1999
January 1999
December 1998
November 1998
October 1998
September 1998
August 1998
July 1998
June 1998
May 1998
April 1998
March 1998
February 1998
January 1998
December 1997
November 1997
October 1997
September 1997
August 1997
July 1997
June 1997
May 1997
April 1997
March 1997
February 1997
January 1997
December 1996
November 1996
October 1996
September 1996
August 1996
July 1996
June 1996
May 1996
April 1996
March 1996
February 1996
January 1996
December 1995
November 1995
October 1995
September 1995
August 1995
July 1995
June 1995
May 1995
April 1995
March 1995
February 1995
January 1995
December 1994
November 1994
October 1994
September 1994
August 1994
July 1994
June 1994
May 1994
April 1994
March 1994
February 1994
January 1994

ATOM RSS1 RSS2



LISTSERV.UTK.EDU

CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager