Summary of Objectives & Goals: The Teaching
Environment
Objective: To expect and provide excellent teaching throughout
of the Wooster curriculum.
Excellence in teaching depends upon the composition of the faculty, the
structure of its workload, the focus of its efforts, effective academic
advising, and the assessment of student learning outcomes.
In recent years, excellent teaching has required an expansion of duties.
Classroom preparation and instruction, independent study supervision, scholarship
and research, and service on college and departmental committees continue
to constitute core faculty responsibilities, but other responsibilities
have increased the expectations on faculty. More intensive emphasis on
writing in the curriculum, the obligation to incorporate new technologies
into course instruction, and the need to develop more comprehensive forms
of assessment are three examples. Other dimensions of excellent teaching
are recognized as requiring additional faculty time and attention: more
comprehensive advising, and informal student-faculty interactions extending
beyond traditional conferences. The combination of traditional teaching
expectations and new responsibilities has increased pressure on faculty
time and threatens to compromise the overall quality of teaching.
GOALS
To enable faculty to carry out the expectations and responsibilities of
excellent teaching, the following goal is judged of high priority to
pursue for 2004-08:
- To count six senior I.S. units (rather than ten) as a full course.
Assuming the student body size of 1750 to 1800, this would call for the
addition of at least eight faculty positions, and the addition of eight
positions would also achieve the goal of lowering the student-faculty
ratio (defined as FTE students on campus to FTE teaching faculty on campus)
from its current level of 12.1:1 to 11.5:1.
The following two goals should also be pursued for 2004-08:
- To give 1.5 course credits for First Year Seminar. This would call
for the addition of at least three faculty positions in addition to the
eight above.
- To achieve full replacement of faculty on leave. Three endowed leave
replacement positions have already been added effective 2004-05 through
gifts to the campaign; this goal would call for the addition of three
more such positions. A fourth such would be required if goal 4 above
were adopted.
For purposes of pursuing these goals, it is recommended that the following
tactical steps be taken:
- Charge an existing committee or an ad hoc task force to assess the
demands on and use of faculty time, particularly the impact of the new
curriculum and new teaching methods, and to compare Wooster with national
patterns of faculty workload, class size, and the allocation of resources;
- Set clear priorities for assigning faculty increases in departments,
such as average class size, gaps in program, newly recognized needs,
and necessary adjustments in teaching responsibilities;
- Explore ways of teaching junior independent study with increased effectiveness;
- Develop measures to assist faculty in using time more effectively (e.g.
mentoring and other programs to advise junior faculty); explore possible
work reallocation; and continue to provide instruction and support in
advising, the use of technology, and teaching writing.
There are additional goals regarding advising, the faculty, and assessment
that are important to be pursued in relation to an excellent teaching environment.
Academic Advising
- To improve academic advising of first year, sophomore and independent
study students, by:
- Amending the Criteria of Evaluation to incorporate academic advising
into the definition of excellent teaching;
- Developing a better system for assessing and rewarding student advising;
- Providing support and training for better developed academic advising,
especially in First Year Seminar and Independent Study.
The Faculty
A highly qualified and diverse faculty is essential to the excellence
and reputation of an academic institution. Faculty accomplishments can
attract national attention and recruit highly motivated students. The faculty
is responsible for the development and implementation of the curriculum.
Fundamentally, student learning is directly dependent on faculty members,
who serve as both instructors and role models.
An important value of education in the liberal arts is the co-dependence
of teaching and research. It is through individual research that professors
maintain living connections to their disciplines and model the active life
of the mind for their students, both in and outside of class. Increasingly,
educational institutions are emphasizing undergraduate student research
as the most effective way to develop critical thinking skills and intellectual
independence. Wooster has long been a leader in this approach to undergraduate
education. The College needs to maintain its commitment to faculty scholarship
and research.
- To support faculty involvement in research and scholarship, by:
- Clarifying and communicating the role of faculty research in hiring,
reappointment and promotion; and
- Making permanent the faculty grants officer position.
Likewise, a diverse faculty is essential to the strength of the teaching
environment. A commitment to faculty diversity is part of intellectual
excellence.
- To recruit affirmatively African-American faculty and other faculty
of color, in an effort to increase their overall numbers and ensure that
such faculty are represented in each of the three divisions: humanities,
natural sciences, and social sciences, as well as in the athletic and
coaching staff. It is suggested for this purpose to appoint a task force
to develop innovative strategies for recruiting minority faculty and
to assess progress in these efforts annually.
- To improve the mentoring and retention of minority faculty.
Assessment
- To continue development of tools for comprehensive and effective assessment
of student learning by:
- Developing and refining assessment measures (i) for each area of general
education, with feedback mechanisms for courses meeting the goals of "A
Wooster Education;" (ii) for major and minor programs, incorporating
them into the ten-year review cycle; and (iii) for Independent Study;
- Communicating to the campus community the role of assessment in the
development of student learning; and
- Providing support (i) for faculty and departments in assessing courses
and programs, and (ii) for assessment committees in doing other aspects
of institutional assessment.
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