Getting a Job in Academia

For many of you working on a graduate degree, you can turn that into a lucrative career by teaching. There are some things to keep in mind if you are going after an academic job.

Depending on whether you are going for something full-time or part-time, there are many opportunities to teach at college and university. Lately, to get your foot in the door of a college, having a PhD does help, although people with master’s degrees do receive jobs. It truly depends on the program your coordinator is thinking of hiring you for.
Some people make the mistake of approaching the chair of a department to inquire about teaching. The chair many times is not responsible for hiring decisions – if they are, keep in mind their job is has a heavy load and if they take some time to get back to you, this is the normal process of how slow the academic job search can be.

The main person to deal with is the coordinator of the program. They are usually highly approachable and good at returning phone calls and e-mails – this is part of their work. In larger programs, it is the coordinator who is responsible for hiring and making a connection with this person can be your way of getting into academic teaching, either at the university or college level.

If you have prior teaching experience this really helps. Having patience helps a lot too because of the nature of the academic year; it may take quite a bit of time before everything works out in such a way before you are hired. Obtaining part-time work can be rather easy – it is getting the full-time work that is much harder. First securing part-time work can lead to full-time work down the road – this can definitely happen.

Good luck with your academic job search.

Understanding Part-time Professors

Some of the professors you may have in university and college may be part-time and there are special things you need to keep in mind about having professors as this. There are advantages and disadvantages.

Some of the advantages of having a professor that is part-time is that most likely they are active in the industry that you are seeking to work in and can serve as an excellent reference for you. They may even be able to help you to get a job.

Some of the disadvantages are that the professor may not be as available as a full-time professor would be because they are not on campus as often. It may be a little bit more difficult to reach a part-time professor, however the benefits may outweigh the disadvantages.

Make sure that if you do have a professor that is part-time, you get all their contact details and try to keep in touch with them when you need to. Also, try to understand the part-time professors are trying to make a living and if they do not get back to you right away, it may be because they are busy making a living elsewhere than just the college and university environment.

The above photo is cover art for The Education Generation which I have wrote. You can buy it at: http://stores.lulu.com/kakonged, along with many other books.

The Big Business of Education

Education is big business. Many new programs that schools come out with are designed to raise the profile and to raise the profits of the school. This is why it is important to get your money’s worth.

Making sure that at the start of your application process with the school you are dealing with good administrative staff is important. These are the people you would need to deal with from time to time, so you want to make sure they provide excellent customer service. If you are finding that the administrative or support staff is not helping you to get what you need, you may want to try another school with more supportive staff.

The professors at the school are also important. It is part of the faculty’s responsibility to make sure you feel like you are getting educated. Education is big business; however the price you are paying will help you to advance your career and is an investment that will pay off in the end. Make sure your professors are there to help you. Equally important is making sure the school has writing centres, a good library and other resources that will help you to get the most out of your money.

One major thing you need to keep in mind is to ask as many questions as you can think of. Do not be afraid to ask questions of the administration, support staff and your professors to get what you need and want. School is big business and it is a major investment. You should be made to feel that your needs are being met at all times.

As well what is important is to make the best of your experience. As hard as you work is how much you will get out of the experience. School, although it is a moneymaker for many people, is also a wonderful time for growth and most of time an extremely ethical business to invest in and something that will secure a future for you. Work hard and it will pay off.

Professors’ Perspective: Ending the Class Well

So you have made it through yet another semester with a fresh group of students, or either this is your first time teaching and you are amazed you made it through. How do you end the class on a high note?

If it is a yearlong course or even a course for either 14 or 15 weeks in a post-secondary school, sometimes everyone, that includes both the students and the professor, lose some of their initial enthusiasm for the course. This is when a professor really needs to start to think creatively about how to infuse more life into the class. Here are some tips:

· Field trips are not something that are just for students in grade school. Field trips can be a great way to infuse some life into a class that has gone on for many weeks and stir things up quite a bit
· Bringing in a guest speaker in the few final weeks of the course can be a great way to break up some of the monotony of the course material. Let’s face it too, sometimes students may get bored of seeing the same professor week after week, sometimes even as much as every day depending on the program – this can be a great way to introduce them to a new face and give the professor a well needed break to make sure the class finishes strong
· Keeping in touch with students through convenient devices such as e-mail can be a great way to make sure that student attendance does not suffer in those final weeks of the course. If a professor notices that a student has not been coming to class, they should contact the student to find out what is going on, as well as letting them know they care
· Organizing classroom activities such as debates and interesting games in language classes can be a great way to spice things up in the final weeks of a course
· Depending on the program a professor is teaching, the final weeks may serve as a perfect opportunity to have a more flexible schedule when it comes to the student needing to attend the class. One-on-one consultations can be planned with students where they have an opportunity to fully develop a project they are working on and have the professor’s full attention to ask questions. Many students would probably really appreciate this teaching method because they would be so bogged down with homework from their other courses

When that last day of class does arrive, keep in mind that is not appropriate for a professor to go out to any special place, such as a restaurant or café where alcohol is served. If you choose a campus cafeteria, this may be a great way to say a fond farewell and also to conclude the class in a more relaxed environment.

The final class can also be a great way for a professor to let their students know of any upcoming activities, courses, research or work-related projects they may be involved in. At the same time, it is good time to find out what the plans of the students are. Many professors should encourage their top students to ask for recommendation letters at the end of the class when the instructor would have a good sense of the student’s final grade – this way it avoids the need to write a reference letter for the student years after a professor may have forgotten about their performance in the class.

For more information about how to end a class well, please visit www.developfaculty.com.

Professors’ Perspective: Starting the Class Well

With the high price of education, the experience of taking a course can be greatly improved with a well-organized classroom environment that is also fun to learn in. From the professor’s perspective, here are some ways to make that happen:

· A professor needs to understand that students coming into the class may view the person as a complete stranger. That initial class is a great chance to get to know the students and let them know the experience you bring to the subject matter. This can make all the difference in the student deciding to stay in your course, or either choosing another section or another course all together
· A professor has to be interested in getting to know their students just as much as the students need to know about him or her. Creating these bonds with students makes a huge difference in student success down the road. Richard E. Lyons from his website and books linked to www.developfaculty.com, recommends creating a student profile on each student so you can get to understand the experience they also bring to the subject matter, as well as the special talents they have
· Early in the course, a professor should have an informal class evaluation so they can get to know if their teaching style is effective for the classroom environment. One of the methods that is often used in teaching is the “stop, start and continue” exercise given in class anonymously. A professor will ask all of the students to write down what they would like him or her to stop doing, what they would like the professor to start doing and also what they would like the professor to continue doing. This is a great way to find out if a professor is on the right track
· If it is an English writing class, especially in first year, it may be a good idea to ask the students to do a non-graded writing sample as their first assignment. This way, a professor can identify any writing problems in a student before those same problems affect their marks on graded assignments
· There is a movement in education known as “the art of not lecturing” and many professors are aiming to do just what this adage says. Getting students involved in discussion and the professor becoming more of a facilitator of the classroom environment, rather than a “sage on the stage” by lecturing for hours suits the sometimes attention-deficient generation we live in where is so much tugging at our concentration. Getting students involved and/or having them do many in-class exercises can do a lot to make sure they do not sit there during a professor’s lectures chatting to their friends on Facebook if there are computers in the classroom

A professor’s task is a challenging one, however with a lot of planning, preparation and thought going into the process of executing the courses they have before them, everything can turn out to be a win-win situation for everyone involved.

A professor should not be seen as the enemy, rather as part of the learning team towards the success of their students.

Professors’ Perspective: Student Evaluations

Students get a chance to voice their opinions about their professors by evaluating them in class. For new professors, this can make the difference between continuing with their career, or their career cut short.

It is only fair that students have an opportunity to evaluate the performance of their professors, considering that for the whole semester, the professor has been evaluating them. Some of the things professors are evaluated on include:

· Did the professor start and end the class on time?
· Did the professor return assignments in a reasonable length of time?
· Did the professor seem knowledgeable about their subject matter?
· Was the classroom environment suitable for the needs of the course? (This is more an evaluation of the school’s resources than the professor, however sometimes the professor influence the decision of the classroom the course is held in)
· Did the professor provide enough information about assignments required for the class?
· Did the professor make himself or herself available for consultation outside of classroom hours?
· Did the professor encourage classroom discussion?
· Does the professor answer questions in a timely and knowledgeable way?

These are just a few of the questions that are asked of students in order to evaluate their professor or instructor. Some professors do not take the student evaluations seriously, however many professors use these evaluations to improve their teaching skills.

Other ways a professor can improve their teaching skills is to videotape their presence in front of the class. This may help them to hone in on some of their strengths and weaknesses while they are facilitating the classroom environment.

There are many ways to improve one’s teaching methods that are even available online. A site such as www.developfaculty.com has a “Tip of the Week” section for professors that will help them to get the best student evaluations they can. As well, there are many books associated with that site that can help new professors strengthen their skills, as well as old professors learn some new tricks.

Professors’ Perspective: Marking and Grading

Unless the course material is something like math, marking and grading can be an extremely subjective topic. Here are some tips from a professors’ perspective on how you can best improve your grades:

· If there is a particular style guide that your professor would like you to use, try to read and understand that style guide thoroughly. Your professor will probably be using it to judge your work, this will help you to follow the style he or she likes
· Ask your professor if they are willing to review your assignments before you hand them in. If they agree, this will help you to get the highest marks you can
· If your professor will not agree to review your work before submission, there are writing centres on most campuses that can help you to improve your writing and catch flaws or errors in your assignments
· Before you hand in assignments, make sure you read your work out loud to catch any errors you may have made – this will greatly improve the flow and the quality of your work – plus, make sure that you have not made any typos
· It is also a good idea to get someone else to read your work as well. There is that old saying that “two eyes are better than one.”

If at any time you are unsure of a mark you have received and would like to question your professor about it, feel free to do so – these are your rights as a student. Professors are not perfect and they make mistakes too. Marking and grading is a difficult thing to do and sometimes there is always that margin of error where a professor gets an assignment and does not really know what mark or grade to put on it.

One foolproof way to make sure you get the best grades you can is making sure your work is clear and simple. If you try to sound smart – you are probably shooting yourself in the foot and actually damaging the kind of mark you could get. If you keep your writing plain, simple, clear and something that anyone could understand – you will make sure you are communicating your ideas clearly. This is what makes the difference between an A+ and a B-.

Plus, if you are proud of the work you have done – your professor will be too.