Teaching autonomy

I am posing a question to those of you who already teach at the college level. How much autonomy does a professor having in what is taught in his classroom? Put differently, if I were to get my first university teaching position would I be put in front of a class and basically told what to teach and how to teach it or could I go in and teach what I deem is correct?

Your comments are welcome.

 

I think that this varies tremendously from school to school and from department to department. I know in my case a large part part of what was taught depended on what we had told the Department of Education, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, and NCATE that we were teaching.

Clearly other departments had fewer restrictions (but also offered degrees that did not lead to licensure).



Tom Nixon

 

Re: Re: Teaching autonomy

I agree with Tom. I would also add that in my department (Psychology) - the broad Psy101 has the same syllabus for EVERY section and every teacher. We utilize a learning center to assist students for this course. The rest of the classes that I teach, I created my own syllabi (with books and other materials).

On a side note, if you are starting out "from scratch" and need guidance in creating syllabi - check out this site - ESPECIALLY if you are teaching in the Pyschology arena.

http://www.lemoyne.edu/OTRP/projectsyllabus.html


peACE,

ACE

 

.... to add to my last post - you can go here for other discliplines:

http://www.adjunctnation.com/tools/syllabus/



peACE,

ACE

 

I agree with Tom and Ace. There are a lot of variables that factor into the amount of autonomy allowed to faculty. In addition to the points already made tenure status and the level of instruction also play significantly in this equation. A new assistant professor, lecturer, or adjunct can expect a lot more departmental oversight and direction than an associate or full professor. Likewise, if you are teaching undergrad courses, there tends to be less flexibility than one would have in teaching small, highly specialized graduate courses.

Cheers,
Tony Maranto

 

Another Reply

Others have made a number of good points here. As I see it, your degree of autonomy depends on several factors:

1. The level of the course - the lower level the course, the more likely it is that the course is pre-defined. Many schools, for example, have common syllabi, common finals, etc. This is essential for low level courses that are pre-reqs for higher courses. Accounting 1, Calculus 1, etc. have to be pretty common or students won't be ready for advanced courses. Advanced electives may offer a lot more autonomy.

2. Your standing with the school - As has been said, new adjuncts are likely to be more tightly monitored, while tenured full-timers have lots more freedom.

3. The school's governance model - if you're teaching for a school that follows the "corporate model" (e.g. for-profits and some aggressive non-profits), you may have things pretty well spelled out. In fact, some of these schools use the title "facilitator" instead of "instructor" or "professor". Many of these schools use common syllabi and expect teachers to follow them. They've done a division of labor that separates planning course assignments and executing a course.

If you are teaching at a school that believes in faculty governance, the situation is different. It isn't that you won't be told what to teach - it is who is doing the telling (faculty or administration). Most schools that in this model are stong of supporters of "academic freedom". In such a case, faculty are typically given a fair amount of lattitude in what they do.

Regards - Andy

 

Re: Another Reply

Andy, you are beginning to scare me, we are thinking on the same page for a while now. You posted my thoughts!!

After my first semester, when I followed the book to a tee, I decided to be a bit more risky and put in some personal points and really let go, it has made for a fun and great class. The school supports me, and I wouldn't have done so without their support.

 

autonomy

I teach fulltime at a Phoenix-area community college (and love it). I have quite a bit of autonomy to teach the way I want as long as my class meets the learning objectives of the course that are in the Maricopa Colleges course bank.

Now, I've taught at the University of Phoenix. They are more structured. And Devry, too.

I also teach at the University of Maryland Unviersity College. There is some structure there, but I've found them to be easier to work with as far as me wanting to do things I like.

I prefer more autonomy and less "control" that I really don't need.

 

Re: autonomy

Hi Cogent,

Per chance, might you be with the UMUC CIS program?

I had the unfortunate experience several years ago of taking the basic C programming course with an instructor who failed to cover basic content (ie, classes). This left me clueless about how to approach the sequel OOP course. After much gnashing of teeth and reaching out to the upper echelon of the administration I was eventually contacted by the University Provost who acknowledged the department had become lax about oversight of key course content.

IT study was strictly avocational, I'm a PhD psychologist, and I couldn't agree more with the idea of academic freedom but this experience left me with an appreciation that there are always tradeoffs. .

David

 

UMUC

Although certainly qualified to teach CIS at UMUC, I teach communication courses there. I am not a programmer, either, haha.

At UMUC you are trained and have model classes to see. I pretty much stuck with what I was given until I taught it a few times, then I added my own material and imprint on the course.

Sorry about your less-than-favorable experience at UMUC. I find them to be a pretty professional place. They are at http://www.umuc.edu

Best,

Jim