Planning on Academic Success

1. Planning on Academic Success IFCS PhD Orientation - Aug. 14, 2014 Linda B. Nilson, Ph.D., Director Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation448 Brackett Hall, Clemson University * 656-4542 nilson@clemson.edu* www.clemson.edu/OTEI

2. Learning outcomes for future faculty • Plan the earliest stages of your academic career to achieve “success” based on lessons of new faculty before you. • Reserve enough time to achieve what you value most in your career.

3. How do you define “success” in an academic career for yourself?

4. To be able to move • Publish refereed articles & books in your discipline. Publishing = building up personal wealth. • Get glowing student ratings, but more pubs balance out fair ratings. • Except community colleges: All about teaching, student ratings, & research on teaching.

5. How will you organize your work time? 168 hrs/wk – 73 taken = 95 to schedule 49 Sleeping (7 nights x 7 hrs) 10 Personal hygiene, dressing, laundry, etc. 11 Food — shop, prep, eat (30 min x 21 meals, plus) 3 Commuting (work and other places) How many hrs/wkfor work?

6. Most new junior faculty take 5 years to become: • Productive researchers • Instructors with good student ratings But you don’t have that kind of time to learn.

7. Quick starters (13%) take just 1-2 years to: • Meet or exceed university expectations for scholarly productivity AND • Attain top quartile in (1) student ratings (2) observer ratings, and (3) self-ratings of teaching.

8. What makes the difference? • How can you be a quick starter? • Boice, R. (1992). The new faculty member. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. • Boice, R. (2000). Advice for new faculty members: Nihilnimus. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

9. How most new faculty start out • Equate good teaching with correct content in lectures. • Equate improving teaching with improving lecture notes. • Spend up to 27 hrs/wk on lecture prep – then rush to cover material.

10. Teach defensively, have incivility problems, and get low student ratings. • Feel isolated. • Give research and writing highest priority verbally, but produce relatively little.

11. What “quick starters” do • Make time for writing regularly—at least 15 mins/day. • Integrate research into teaching. • Network with colleagues 2-4 hours/week.

12. Limit course prep time after first offering to 1.5 hrs/class hour. • Teach at slower pace with more student participation—and teach better. • Maintain classroom control with balance of “authority” and “approachability.”

13. …and in my experience • Avoid teaching methods requiring a lot of your time (eg, S-L). • Avoid methods many students don’t like (eg, PBL). • Avoid dept. conflicts. • Seek advice of senior colleagues. • Join writing group or find writing buddy. • Control teaching time & time in general.

14. Choose teaching methods strategically • Find out about your campus teaching culture and student expectations from teaching center and colleagues.

15. Here: student-active, participatory, social, experiential, applied, f2f and online • More effective than lecture for all learning outcomes except memorization. • Get high student ratings when implemented well.

16. Teaching Alternatives • Straight lecture (avoid!) • Interactive lecture—short activities every 20± mins, “peer instruction” with clickers • Flipped classroom • Group work for in-class & outside assignments • Directed (organized) discussion • Reading compliance assignments & activities • Inquiry-guided activities & labs • Writing exercises • Case method • Role plays • Simulations & games • Field work, clinicals, internships • Self-regulated learning (SRL) • Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) • Online resources: virtual labs, animations, learning objects, demonstrations, visuals • Multi-modal teaching

17. Writing and publishing • Attend OTEI workshop “Scholarship Made Easier: Best Practices for Writing and Publishing.

18. OTEI’s Resources • www.clemson.edu/OTEI • How to get on OTEI’s mailing list for announcements • See OTEI flyer for more.