Dr. A's resolution for this year is to be be less stressed out. To not sweat the small stuff. Good for me. Good for the kids. Take a lesson from Elsa and let it go (sorry - small females were contacted over the holidays, so we're all infected).
Q: So what of the proffie's job needs to go? What's big stuff that is secretly small stuff? What do you do to be less stressed out?
Office hours. The endless haranguing that the admin does about us being available in our offices is a waste of time. I have not had ANY kind of regular office visits from students in 3-4 years, despite posting hours, talking about hours, encouraging, etc. They'll "hit" me with a text or an email with a question, but not a visit.
I did away with office hours (so far the admin hasn't noticed) for exactly that reason (that, and the student who actually wanted to come to office hours always had a conflict no matter when I set my office hours). I tell the students that my office hours are by appointment, and most of them email me their questions.
Come to think of it, there was one time a student phoned me to make an appointment to talk to me and ask a question, and I said "We're talking now - wanna ask your question?"
Last semester, I held office hours in the Starbucks in the library, partly because the adjunct "office" is in the back end of nowhere (students would ask where it was, I'd tell them the building name, and they'd be like "what? Where is that?"), and partly because by the time office hours rolled around, I needed coffee. What I found was that because I was meeting them in a central location, I had far more students just drop by and/or make appointments to come see me (and actually show up) than when I was a grad student and forced to hold office hours in the TA office.
That said, if I had an actual office, I'd hold hours there unless it was just an hour or so between classes and I was in the middle of campus anyway.
Faculty committee meetings (the general ones, not the smaller ones that are committee assignments). I vote in absentia when there's something important.
And another vote for office hours. I schedule mine for the hour right after class, and ask them to let me know if they're coming; or to make an appointment. Nobody shows up, nobody makes an appointment and I give homework hints by email, in the rare cases when it occurs to them to ask.
When I was on the tenure track, I was judged by my research, teaching, and service, with service being a distant third. Therefore, anything unrelated to this trio is suspect.
Therefore, any of the half-baked, bullshit fads that university administrators dream up, largely in order to give large teams of administrative subordinates something to do to justify their bloated budgets, are prime targets. So is anything from the school of education. Assessment, anonymous evaluations of teaching by students, and regarding students as customers have all GOT to go.
Even worse is being required to write "strategic plans," or any other large document that, clearly, no one will ever read. Every time one of these comes up, I am tempted just to make stuff up.
One service task I will no longer do is judge K-12 science fairs. At first, I was enthusiastic about this, until I realized that all the good ones were clearly done by the students' parents. But then, I am not the only one concerned about whether school science fairs reward privilege over talent. See here:
I still keep office hours because I get students who come to them, because they genuinely need help, and I genuinely help them. Sorry, Hiram, but I do teach physics. Office hours are also useful in giving a time when other faculty ought to be in, so I can call or visit them.
Hey Frod, thanks! This reminded me our dept head asked us to send us a paragraph for the program review "self-study" (i.e., do his job). I had completely forgotten about it, and now I'll have to do it.
And I agree with you: teaching and research, and whatever BS committees the head puts me on. Already a full-time job.
(Typo: my earlier comment should start with "faculty meetings", not "faculty committee meetings".)
I wouldn't consider all committees to be bullshit. I'm on the Personnell Committee. which decides tenure and promotion, and I often serve on hiring committees (where I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who reads all 100+ applications). I've also been on the Research Committee, which also does useful work by reading proposals and deciding who gets research funding. Notice that with all these committees, there is a finite amount of work to be done. Committees that go on interminably and mainly serve for academics to thrill to the sound of their own voices are different.
I revamped the way I grade and now I'm less tied to the desk every two weeks with a stack of papers. I make more use of my rubric and one-on-one conferencing so that I don't have to write paragraphs of feedback on their final papers like I used to.
I'm doing this more, too. Considering putting a check mark in the lines next to grammar errors instead of taking the time to identify each one. Also, I have feedback for any essay below a B- that says "Please make an appointment with the instructor for help with your writing." So far, very few students have taken me up on it.
Office hours. The endless haranguing that the admin does about us being available in our offices is a waste of time. I have not had ANY kind of regular office visits from students in 3-4 years, despite posting hours, talking about hours, encouraging, etc. They'll "hit" me with a text or an email with a question, but not a visit.
ReplyDeleteI did away with office hours (so far the admin hasn't noticed) for exactly that reason (that, and the student who actually wanted to come to office hours always had a conflict no matter when I set my office hours). I tell the students that my office hours are by appointment, and most of them email me their questions.
DeleteCome to think of it, there was one time a student phoned me to make an appointment to talk to me and ask a question, and I said "We're talking now - wanna ask your question?"
I still have office hours. But I scheduled them for a time that I pretty much have to present anyhow -- right before a lab period.
DeleteLast semester, I held office hours in the Starbucks in the library, partly because the adjunct "office" is in the back end of nowhere (students would ask where it was, I'd tell them the building name, and they'd be like "what? Where is that?"), and partly because by the time office hours rolled around, I needed coffee. What I found was that because I was meeting them in a central location, I had far more students just drop by and/or make appointments to come see me (and actually show up) than when I was a grad student and forced to hold office hours in the TA office.
DeleteThat said, if I had an actual office, I'd hold hours there unless it was just an hour or so between classes and I was in the middle of campus anyway.
Faculty committee meetings (the general ones, not the smaller ones that are committee assignments). I vote in absentia when there's something important.
ReplyDeleteAnd another vote for office hours. I schedule mine for the hour right after class, and ask them to let me know if they're coming; or to make an appointment. Nobody shows up, nobody makes an appointment and I give homework hints by email, in the rare cases when it occurs to them to ask.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was on the tenure track, I was judged by my research, teaching, and service, with service being a distant third. Therefore, anything unrelated to this trio is suspect.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, any of the half-baked, bullshit fads that university administrators dream up, largely in order to give large teams of administrative subordinates something to do to justify their bloated budgets, are prime targets. So is anything from the school of education. Assessment, anonymous evaluations of teaching by students, and regarding students as customers have all GOT to go.
Even worse is being required to write "strategic plans," or any other large document that, clearly, no one will ever read. Every time one of these comes up, I am tempted just to make stuff up.
One service task I will no longer do is judge K-12 science fairs. At first, I was enthusiastic about this, until I realized that all the good ones were clearly done by the students' parents. But then, I am not the only one concerned about whether school science fairs reward privilege over talent. See here:
http://blogs.plos.org/scied/2013/04/15/science-fairs-rewarding-talent-or-privilege/
I still keep office hours because I get students who come to them, because they genuinely need help, and I genuinely help them. Sorry, Hiram, but I do teach physics. Office hours are also useful in giving a time when other faculty ought to be in, so I can call or visit them.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHey Frod, thanks! This reminded me our dept head asked us to send us a paragraph for the program review "self-study" (i.e., do his job). I had completely forgotten about it, and now I'll have to do it.
DeleteAnd I agree with you: teaching and research, and whatever BS committees the head puts me on. Already a full-time job.
(Typo: my earlier comment should start with "faculty meetings", not "faculty committee meetings".)
I wouldn't consider all committees to be bullshit. I'm on the Personnell Committee. which decides tenure and promotion, and I often serve on hiring committees (where I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who reads all 100+ applications). I've also been on the Research Committee, which also does useful work by reading proposals and deciding who gets research funding. Notice that with all these committees, there is a finite amount of work to be done. Committees that go on interminably and mainly serve for academics to thrill to the sound of their own voices are different.
DeleteI revamped the way I grade and now I'm less tied to the desk every two weeks with a stack of papers. I make more use of my rubric and one-on-one conferencing so that I don't have to write paragraphs of feedback on their final papers like I used to.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing this more, too. Considering putting a check mark in the lines next to grammar errors instead of taking the time to identify each one. Also, I have feedback for any essay below a B- that says "Please make an appointment with the instructor for help with your writing." So far, very few students have taken me up on it.
Delete