Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!hao!noao!mcdsun!sunburn!gtx!al
From: al@gtx.com (0732)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: PHDs getting hired for teaching school jobs
Message-ID: <508@gtx.com>
Date: 4 Jan 88 20:40:40 GMT
References: <8712162035.AA09800@bill.ads.arpa> <39@hrsw2.UUCP> <589@nitrex.UUCP>
Reply-To: al@gtx.UUCP (Al Filipski)
Organization: GTX Corporation, Phoenix
Lines: 31

In article <589@nitrex.UUCP> rbl@nitrex.UUCP ( Dr. Robin Lake ) writes:
>Over the past decade or so, I've been asking new faculty (and some well-used
>faculty) at the various institutions I visit whether anyone ever bothered
>to teach them how to teach.  NOT A SINGLE FACULTY HAS ADMITTED TO ANY FORMAL
>TRAINING IN TEACHING, either course design, curricular design, delivery,
>evaluation, etc.  On occasion I still do site visiting and, if anything,
>the situation appears to be getting worse!

I'm sure part of the problem is the reputation of education courses and
people who take them. At least when I want to school, education courses
were considered, rightly or wrongly, something akin to basket weaving,
that no-one seriously interested in academics or scholarship would be
caught dead in.  I once saw a graduate-level class in Mathematics
Education in the hallways learning how to use meter sticks by measuring
the doorways.

But I agree in principle. A course called "No-nonsense Practical
Principles of Pedagogy for People who think that Teaching is a Trivial
Skill that requires no Training" should be a required course for any
Ph.D. If this were done right, this could be one of the most valuable
courses one takes.  What Universities offer a nice capsule course
like this, directed toward teaching post-high-school students?

I've taught on and off at Universities since 1974, and have figured out
some teaching methods for myself, but I'm sure it would have been much
better for myself and my students if I had had such a course.

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