Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on August 16, 2007 - 07:43.
At the community college/vocational college level faculty members are recruited from 'industry' assuring extensive practical knowledge and applications. However, that does not mean they are good teachers.
Necessary skills in supportive and appropriate communication, patience, understanding, lesson planning, appropriate supplemental material gathering, and the ability to create coursework from scratch (i.e.: syllabi, course outlines, etc.) is necessary.
At our college we have classes in education/teaching that new faculty members can take outside of their contract hours, thus receiving and immediately applying this new knowledge. In addition, new faculty members are assigned a faculty mentor within their department or division in addition to a senior faculty advisor. This supportive mechanism has produced excellent faculty while weeding out those who do not meet the student's needs.
The Bachelor in Vocational Education coursework I completed, was the first of it's kind. Access to a MVE is limited. I found the written information helpful and interaction with colleagues supportive and enlightening, however, the actual instruction was disappointing for the most part.
The ultimate challenge is presenting enough material to students to stimulate the analytical and cognitive functions, "feeding" more material as desired. We must also challenge students to think out of the box - while being fully aware the outcome may be something outside of our own knowledge base.
I fully agree that many programs fail to provide initial preparation and support for beginning teachers. Increasing pre-service may be a solution. However, many schools/institutions are bound by fiscal restrictions. Until the general public buys into fully supporting educational growth and evolution, we will be limited in what we can do while rapidly falling behind the rest of the world.
At the community
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on August 16, 2007 - 07:43.
At the community college/vocational college level faculty members are recruited from 'industry' assuring extensive practical knowledge and applications. However, that does not mean they are good teachers.
Necessary skills in supportive and appropriate communication, patience, understanding, lesson planning, appropriate supplemental material gathering, and the ability to create coursework from scratch (i.e.: syllabi, course outlines, etc.) is necessary.
At our college we have classes in education/teaching that new faculty members can take outside of their contract hours, thus receiving and immediately applying this new knowledge. In addition, new faculty members are assigned a faculty mentor within their department or division in addition to a senior faculty advisor. This supportive mechanism has produced excellent faculty while weeding out those who do not meet the student's needs.
The Bachelor in Vocational Education coursework I completed, was the first of it's kind. Access to a MVE is limited. I found the written information helpful and interaction with colleagues supportive and enlightening, however, the actual instruction was disappointing for the most part.
The ultimate challenge is presenting enough material to students to stimulate the analytical and cognitive functions, "feeding" more material as desired. We must also challenge students to think out of the box - while being fully aware the outcome may be something outside of our own knowledge base.
I fully agree that many programs fail to provide initial preparation and support for beginning teachers. Increasing pre-service may be a solution. However, many schools/institutions are bound by fiscal restrictions. Until the general public buys into fully supporting educational growth and evolution, we will be limited in what we can do while rapidly falling behind the rest of the world.