PSY 687 Practicum in Preparing Future Faculty I

Shore, Fall 2002

126D Benton, x92401, shorec@muohio.edu

Office hours TBA

course website: TBA

 

Course description

            This is a one-credit-hour practicum on professional development in academia.  This course is required to be taken concurrently with participation in the department’s Preparing Future Faculty program.   The purpose of the course is to orient graduate students to basic, practical issues related to college teaching, scholarship and service, and how these faculty roles are affected by institutional context. 

            Course goals include: familiarizing students with the diverse aspects of faculty roles such as: as university structures and governance, advising, construction of a teaching portfolio, service learning, diversity on college campuses, multicultural teaching and learning, working effectively with co-curricular and support functions of the university, ethical issues in teaching, research, and work relations; providing opportunities for hands-on experiences of how institutional contexts affect faculty roles; providing opportunities for individualized improvement in professionally-relevant skills, and introducing students to the scholarship of teaching and reflective practice. 

 

Grading and assignments

            Grading for the practicum will be Credit/No.  The criterion for receiving credit is ongoing active preparation and participation in the course (including completion of assignments). 

            1. Lecture series.   You are expected to attend the lecture series on Preparing Future Faculty sponsored by the CELT Graduate Student Learning Community.  Record your reflections on those sessions in your Reflections Notebook, described below. 

            2. Placements.  This is the core of the course. A key goal of Preparing Future Faculty programs is helping doctoral students become aware of the ways in which faculty roles differ across academic institutions.  Toward that end, we expect that our advanced grad students who are members of the APA PFF Scholars program will have some extensive involvement on one or more partner campuses, and receive mentoring by partner faculty members about faculty roles at their institutions. This may involve teaching, guest lecturing, shadowing a faculty member in committee service, advising, etc. 

We envision that each APA PFF scholar will spend approximately 50 hours over the year (including travel time) in involvement with partners. 

            3. Teaching/professional development project.  Over the course of the year, you will be doing a self-chosen teaching /professional development project.  More details will be provided. A progress report on this will be due at the end of the semester.

            4. Introduction to the Scholarship of Teaching:  Members of the PFF group will be expected to attend the MidAmerica Conference on Teaching of Psychology, to be held the second weekend of October in Evansville IN, and the Lilly Conference on College Teaching,  Nov. 15-18, held here at Miami University in the Marcum Center.    If there is some personal or professional obligation of a compelling nature, which conflicts with the dates of the conferences, please tell me as soon as possible.   Your and thoughts about these experiences  notes should be kept in your reflections notebook. 

            5.Program Reflections Notebook::  As a member of the department’s Preparing Future Faculty program, you will keep a notebook of your involvement with the program and your reflections on the meaning of those activities for you. This will enable you to, in a job interview, talk about your involvement with the program, what you learned over the year, and how this gives you an edge as a candidate for a faculty position.  It will also provide us with evaluative information about the program for possible use in publicity about the program.  More details will be provided. 

           

In order to receive credit, the student must achieve at least 70% of the total available points. Points will be distributed across the various assignments as follows:

1. Attendance at CELT speakers on PFF . 20%

2. Placement.  50%

3. Program reflections notebook. 10%

4. Teaching/professional development project.  10%

5. MACTOP and Lilly Conference on College Teaching.  10%

 

 

 

Tentative Course Calendar

 

Date

Topic/Activity

Assignments Due

Aug 31

Orientation meeting

 

 

Sep 28

Attend CELT speaker on Diversity

Project proposal due

Oct 12-13

Mid America Conference on Teaching of psychology

 

Oct 26

Attend CELT speaker on Advising

 

Nov 9

Attend CELT speaker on Co-curricular and support functions

 

Nov15-18

Lilly Conference

 

Dec 7

 

Project progress report due

Progress report on program reflections notebook due

 

 

Involvement with partner campuses: "Placements"

 

A key goal of Preparing Future Faculty programs is helping doctoral students become aware of the ways in which faculty roles differ across academic institutions.  Most doctoral students will be hired by institutions which differ from the ones in which they were trained; consequently, it is important for graduate students to understand institutional differences in the expectations of new faculty.  Toward that end, we expect that our advanced grad students who are members of the APA PFF Scholars program will have some extensive involvement on one or more partner campuses, and receive mentoring by partner faculty members about faculty roles at their institutions. 

 

We are flexible about the nature of this involvement.  Some partner institutions, for example, make use of adjunct faculty for teaching courses, and some Scholars will be able to take on this responsibility.  Other Scholars do not wish to take full responsibility for a course, but still wish to be involved in teaching: for example, teaching a course, co-teaching a course, leading a discussion section attached to a larger class, or supervising undergraduate students' research projects.   However, other forms of involvement with the partner campuses will introduce Scholars to other aspects of faculty roles.  Scholars can visit undergraduate organizations (e.g., Psi Chi), involve students in their research, do mock job talks, give presentations/guest lectures on their specialties, shadow a partner faculty member, attend Faculty Assembly meetings, serve as Science Fair judges… etc.  Some Scholars may wish to concentrate on a single partner campus, while others may want a taste of different institutions.   Consequently, Scholars will need to take considerable initiative in setting up these experiences.  It would be wise, if you are going to be teaching/co-teaching a course, to spend some time doing some classroom observations in advance, to learn about the norms of teaching on that campus.

 

We envision that each APA PFF scholar will spend approximately 50 hours over the year (including travel time) in involvement with partners.  If a student takes full responsibility for a course, it would be expected that s/he would be paid as any other adjunct faculty member.  Other arrangements, such as co-teaching or supervising undergraduate research, would be unpaid.  If you receive formal evaluations of your work on the partner campus, e.g., teaching evaluations, please give Cecilia a copy, to document your performance as part of the program’s activities. 

 

Each APA PFF Scholar would be linked to a partner faculty member who would agree to meet with him/her 5-10 hours over the course of the year.  If the Scholar is teaching on that campus, they could discuss how the teaching experience is going, compare and contrast it to similar experiences the grad student may have had at Miami.  We hope you will also discuss other issues about academic life on that campus, such as how hiring and tenure decisions are made, how teaching assignments and committee service are determined, curriculum revision, etc.  We hope that you will talk about the range of service activities that faculty members contribute, and that students can attend faculty meetings when that is appropriate. Depending on the situation, you might observe each other’s teaching.  It is possible that you will find opportunities to do collaborative scholarship.  Eventually, Scholars might ask mentors for a letter of recommendation for a job application. 

 

 An important issue is how to compensate faculty for the time they spend in mentoring the grad students.  Some mentoring arrangements in which the graduate student partially relieves the faculty member of some teaching load, e.g., co-teaching a course, have some built-in compensation for the mentoring efforts expended by the faculty member.  Other contributions, such as mentoring a student who is serving as an adjunct faculty member, or allowing a grad student to observe your class or shadow you for a day, will need to be figured into the service responsibilities of faculty members in whatever way is most appropriate to their campus. 

           

There are substantial differences across partners in the types of activities in which doctoral students h would be of most use to them.  The following is a brief introduction to each campus, and some of the “placement” opportunities there.  Scholars are encouraged to visit the websites of each campus to learn more about their institutional mission, faculty, and curriculum.  Please also see the handout of partner faculty research interests for ideas about possible mentors and/or shadowing opportunities. 

           

College of Mount Saint Joseph a private Catholic college in the western suburbs of Cincinnati, enrolling 2000 students, 75% of whom receive need-based financial aid.  Their student-faculty ratio is approximately 13-1.  The interquartile range for their students’ ACT scores is approximately 19-24.  “The Mount”  is approximately an hour’s drive from Oxford.  Their five psychology faculty are part of a Behavioral Sciences department, and several of them are committed to administrative or semi-administrative positions in the program/department.  Consequently, they always need adjunct faculty to do intro and clinical-type courses.  These are generally in the days.  Such slots will likely be available for spring.  It might also work to help with student projects in research methods--this might be available for fall.  They are open to having a pair of students co-teach and split an adjunct faculty salary.  They also have indicated considerable interest in having undergrad students work on grad students’ research projects, and arranging for grad students to attend Faculty Assembly meetings.  Their website is: http://www.msj.edu/academics/behs/psych/Psycho.htm

  

            Northern Kentucky University is a public institution in a southeastern suburb of Cincinnati enrolling 11,000 students, 50% of whom receive need-based aid.  The student faculty ratio is 16-1.  The interquartile range for ACT scores is 18-22.  They are about 75 minutes drive from Oxford, and have about 14 psychology faculty members.  NKU also often has need of adjunct faculty, especially for evening courses such as Intro, Lifespan, Social, Abnormal, and Race & Gender.   They too are open to two scholars co-teaching and splitting an adjunct salary.   It may also work to be the lab TA for perception, cognitive, social, biopsych or Research Tools.  For the fall, perception and social are open, cognitive and biopsych for the spring, and Research tools both semesters.  These are generally day courses.  NKU has a vigorous Psi Chi program, and welcomes grad student involvement with this organization.  Their website is: http://www.nku.edu/~psych/

 

            Earlham College is a private Quaker college in Richmond, IN, enrolling approximately 1000 students, 60% of whom receive need-based aid.   They have an 11-1 student-faculty ratio.  The interquartile range for their SAT scores is 1060-1320.   It is about 40 minutes drive from Oxford.   They have about 6 psychology faculty members, including our own Beth Harrick, who holds a visiting appointment.  Earlham indicates a strong need for grad students to involve their undergrads in the grad student’s research, and to work with 1-5 undergrad students supervising their senior projects.  It might also work to lead a discussion section attached to a lecture course, like intro, developmental, abnormal, or social, or to teach a unit of a course like intro or social.  They have also indicated willingness to have scholars visit Faculty Assembly meetings.   Their website is:

http://www.earlham.edu/~psyc/

 

            Miami’s regional campuses, in nearby Hamilton and Middletown, each have 2500 students.  They have much smaller class sizes—for example, over the last three semesters, Introductory Psychology at Oxford has averaged 200 students per section, whereas the comparable figure for Hamilton was 37.  They have many more non-traditional students (the average student age is 25- 27 and 75-80% work at least part-time).  The regional campuses are also open admissions campuses, and consequently have many more students who come from less-educated and less affluent family backgrounds than on Oxford campus.  At Hamilton, for example, 50-80% of the students are assessed as needing developmental courses in reading, writing or math.  They each have two psychology faculty members.

 

Middletown is about 50 minutes’ drive northeast from Oxford.  There is a need for someone to assist with student projects in Research Methods in the spring.  There is also openness to co-teaching a course with a faculty member.  Their website is: http://www.mid.muohio.edu/

 

            Hamilton is about a 25-30 minute drive southeast from Oxford. Sometimes adjunct faculty positions are open.  There is also openness to co-teaching a course with a faculty member or doing a unit or guest lectures.  Their website is: http://www.ham.muohio.edu/main_about.html

 

FINAL SELF-SELECTED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT  PROJECT

            The final project for the course is to be in an area in which you would like to grow as a prospective faculty member.  You should plan on spending about 6-10 hours on the project.  The following examples are provided just to get you started thinking:

·         summaries of several videos which might be useful for your course, with handouts to guide students’ viewing

·         a website you constructed for your class

·         read and summarize books on college teaching (see instructor for suggestions)

·         develop a set of case materials or sample data for use in student projects

·         develop one or more computer simulations to serve as course demonstrations

·         implement and evaluate some instructional innovation, such as having students give feedback to each other on rough drafts of projects

·         design a teaching/workshop for the general public (e.g., PTA) on your area of expertise (e.g., communicating with your teenager, eating disorders)

·         attend a regional conference on teaching in your discipline

·         shadow faculty members in committee meetings or serve as a graduate representative to faculty meetings

            Your project should be something that will help your development as a potential faculty member.  It should result in some kind of tangible product, plus a one or two page reflection by you on the strengths and weaknesses of this project.

            A brief (paragraph or two) proposal for the project will be due early in the fall semester (see syllabus for date).  In the proposal, describe what you would like to do, about how long you think it will take, and what kind of product will result--a paper describing the project, a website, a computer program, etc. 

            At the end of the semester, you will hand in your product and reflections.  Be prepared to share your project with the rest of the class, in a 15-minute presentation (which may or may not include a demonstration). 

            Criteria for evaluation will vary with the nature of the project. 

 

Instructions for Program Reflections Notebook

As part of the CELT Learning Community on Preparing Future Faculty, you will participate in a variety of activities.  One of those activities is to keep a notebook of your involvement with the program and your reflections on the meaning of those activities for you. This is for two reasons.

First, when you apply for a job, you will want to be able to talk about your involvement with the program, what you learned over the year, and how this gives you an edge as a candidate for a faculty position.  If you keep notes of your activities and what you think about them as you go along, you will be in a much better position to summarize this experience at the end of this year. 

Second, the university would like to have evaluative material about the program, to help us learn what works and what doesn’t, and which may be used for publicity about the program. 

            What is a Program Reflections Notebook?  You could think of it as a journal of your involvement with the CELT community.  Each time you participate in some element of the program, such as guest speakers, Lilly conference attendance, doing projects for the course, spend some time writing a paragraph to a page about what the activity was and what you learned from it or thought about it.  Keep a record of the meetings you have with your partner faculty mentor, the topics that were discussed, and reflections on these.  Community members will be expected to submit progress reports on their reflections notebooks at mid-year, and the final version at the end of the year.   A final summary statement of your involvement will be written at the end of the year, which eventually may serve as the basis for what you would include in a job application.  At the end of the year, please also write a brief abstract (about 150 words) of this summary to be used in publicity for the program.  

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