It's always the last place you look!

Parents Forum
1

<p>I was going to post this before I saw the topic on Big Intro Lectures and figured that made it even more relevent.</p>

<p>Before going off to college, I heard dismissive things about professors in large lecture classes, professors who had not yet achieved a terminal degree, and professors who are part-time adjuncts. Such professors seemed to represent Everything That Makes a Class Bad. They were supposed to be inattentive, poor lecturers, uncommitted, inacessible, and most especially, they weren't supposed to now or care who you were as a student. Well, first semester comes, and I enroll in an 80-ish person lecture taught by a part-time lecturer with a Masters. Bad luck, right? This class won't matter as more than a degree requirement, no?</p>

<p>Wrong. The class was entertaining and informative. It made me laugh, and I retained what I learned because I loved going in and learning it. It was awesome, but that's not the point I'm here to make. Because even if a class is awesome, the professor still won't care about the individuals in a large lecture class, right? (And certainly not when the class is over!)</p>

<p>A couple weeks ago I emailed said professor with a couple of assorted questions and comments related to class, but not in an adminstrative, "answer or I'll sue" way, just questions about the subject matter. As the professor isn't teaching this semester, has a "real" job anda life, and no futher contractual need to even acknowledge my existance, I wasn't expecting an answer. So, imagine my surprise when I get a reply a few days ago that not only extensively answers my (rather random) question, but also includes several warm, kind thanks for my comments and questions as well as a note praising my work as student. To top it off, the email ended not with a request to stop wasting the prof's time, but with a invitation to contact the prof. in the future if I had any other questions or whatnot. I was shocked! This professor had absolutely no obligation to care who I was and certainly no obligation to reply to my email, and yet seemed geniunely happy to hear from me, to entertain my questions and just to know how I was doing. </p>

<p>So I guess the point of this long and rambling post is that talented, engaging "professors who care" aren't the excusive property to of small LAC's and small seminars and that a kid who winds up at big state u is automatically not resigned to 2+ years of being a SSN. Look and they may find. Who knows, they may even find one in a part-time lecturer still pursuing a PhD!</p>

2

<p>Well put. </p>

<p>The thing is every single college and university is going to have poor lecturers and outstanding lecturers. No matter where you go, no matter the size, no matter the level. Some people are just born to teach. I had a sociology professor who knew the names of every student in a class of 95 by the third class, and facilitated meaningful and insightful class discussions every class session with that group. I also had profs who couldn't keep track of 15 students or effectively lead discussion on a book that 22 honors students had all read.</p>

<p>The way I figure it, if medical schools across the country routinely use large lectures (my class has 118 or so students and all our lectures are to the entire class) to teach future physicians, then the method can't be all bad. And believe me, there are some lecturers who are absolutely phenomenal, and others that are phenomenally poor even in medical school.</p>

3

<p>FWIW, adjunct faculty usually teach because they like teaching -- the pay usually doesn't come close to compensating for the time and hassle involved. I would be surprised if the average mid-career professional who chooses to teach isn't a BETTER lecturer than most tenure-track faculty. YMMV for sure, but in my experience part time lecturers range from average to way-above-average.</p>

4

<p>There are times when departments deliberately assign their best lecturers to larger classes and their worst to smaller ones. The former occurs when a department is trying to increase the number of students taking their courses in order to make the case to the university to increase faculty hiring, and wants to impress upon the largest number of students possible the quality of teaching in that subject. The latter occurs under similar conditions when the department knows a particular faculty member is a poor teacher and wants to limit the damage to as few students as possible.</p>

5

<p>More than 30 years ago I attended the U of MN to get pre-requisites I needed for a nursing program. I had some huge classes, but not a single bad one. Most were excellent. An Intro to Sociology course had a new prof and over 700 students and was a stimulating, interesting class where we even managed to have class discussions. I also had some small discussion-based classes that were great. Some had visiting lecturers I never would have had at a small LAC. Tuition was almost free at that point for in-state, so it was a wonderful opportunity. I also loved the small LAC I started with and my son is applying to small LACs, but I know he could create a super experience for himself at a large U as well.</p>

<p>My Masters program in Psych had all adjunct profs who were working in the field. You can imagine what their real life experience brought to their teaching! It was a wonderful program.</p>

<p>So much depends on attitude and taking advantage of opportunities and creating opportunities.</p>

<p>Wolfpiper, you sound like someone who would do well anywhere.</p>