Advocate Online

Yes, professors need to continually evaluate and refine their own effectiveness.
Denise Bazzett *

Today's teachers need opportunities to learn, either through practice or example, how to define and refine their own styles of teaching.

I left my MA program proficient in my subject area, ready to theorize and analyze, support a thesis, document any reference, and snag every dangling modifier. But I had no idea how to write a curriculum, identify goals and objectives for a course, much less a methodology for reaching a goal. Yet I had what was required to teach at a two-year college, right?

I don't believe there is a "standardized" method of teaching to which we all must subscribe. But how can we believe that, as teachers, we don't need coursework or professional learning experience that supports the very nature of our work?

Simply offering coursework in teacher preparedness to provide a minimum selection of "tools" would be helpful. TA positions could be more effectively developed as a true training ground, not a dumping ground for freshman classes or a recruitment tool for those not even interested in teaching.

Mentoring is a fantastic method of teaching teachers, specific to the school and the curriculum. Well-supported mentor programs provide a learning experience for the new as well as the established faculty.

As we continue to expand our knowledge and awareness in such areas as learning styles, and with the steady increase in the use of technology in academia, we need to share methods of practical application of these with one another as professionals. We cannot persist in believing that simply knowing our subject matter is enough to make us effective teachers in the classroom.

*Denise Bazzett has been a full-time English instructor at Alpena Community College in Michigan since 1999. She was a bounced-around part-timer from 1992 to 1999.

No, most college faculty, through their work in graduate school, already know how to 'teach.'
Alan E. Yabui *

Many graduate schools have emphasized teaching as opposed to pure research; mentoring programs and courses in pedagogy have increased significantly in the past decade.

Also in recent years, the majority of colleges are seeking faculty with experience in teaching and a concern for students.

By the time one finishes the rigors of graduate school, one is ready to teach in higher education. In addition, college teachers gain experience in teaching as their careers progress.

Teaching in higher education is one part of a faculty member's overall responsibilities. Most college and university faculty's primary tasks include community service, research, campus governance, and teaching.

College teaching is also unique in its approaches, "facilitating" inquiry and the "framing" of research questions to create new knowledge within a discipline or an interdisciplinary field of study. In order to establish context for the inquiry, a professor normally provides a learning environment that is based on factual information.

This learning environment consists of the presentation of concepts, hypotheses, and theorems that form the foundation of a discipline's academic existence. As opposed to pre-college studies, in college, students are responsible for their own learning. It is the faculty member's responsibility to create a positive learning environment for the student to learn.

In order to do so, faculty members use their experiences in their own learning and their best judgment in creating a positive teaching and learning classroom or laboratory environment.

*Alan E.Yabui is chair and instructor in the speech department at Bellevue Community College in Washington. He is past-president of the Bellevue Community College Association for Higher Education and a retired U.S. Air Force officer.