Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanC
Use money and resources to attract good profs to Mac, implement a program for evaluating and advocating the removal of professors during the semester, an upper-year run MSU-supported peer tutoring for specific courses, or events that showcase good professors throughout the year. I see a lot of very 'safe' things being tackled usually seeming not to step on people's toes; no actual solving of issues...?
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Hey Ryan,
Good ideas. I agree that there need to be some major changes made to the quality and format of our education here at Mac. The MSU obviously holds a considerable amount of sway, but some ideas are easier said than done. I understand your concern over 'safe' issues as opposed to change. We have complete control over how the MSU operates, but when it comes to making changes to the university institution, all we can do is advocate; we can't force them to do anything. So yes, we do offer/promote things like social campaigns, clubs, teaching awards, businesses and services (I assume that's what you mean by safe things) because we can do these effectively within our organization (and do a damn good job with them). Making headway into educational issues is slightly more difficult, but definitely still doable. When communicating with the university, we just need to be clear with what the problem is, what we are proposing, and how to go about changing it (i.e. less complaining, more addressing, suggesting, and solving). For example:
- Using money and resources to attract good profs isn't specific enough as a solution. It seems to me that once a professor begins teaching at a university, they typically stay there for the remainder of their teaching career (not likely to switch schools). Mac, like other schools, does have its fair share of less than stellar professors... but how do they get their positions? From what I know, it's a weird cycle. A lot of profs begin as fellows, like apprentices to the current professor at the school. Then they work their way up to teaching more through the prof in place. So that's probably the problem; maybe this is a system that's in need of change. That's a tough one though, since it's such an engrained way of doing things (grad school --> PhD --> teaching fellowship --> tenured prof).
- I like your ideas of implementing an advocating system to notify the university of subpar professors. It sounds similar to the Ombuds office that we currently have, yet the ombuds generally deal with specific issues that a student may have against a prof (among many other things). But yeah, what about profs that simply just aren't very good at teaching? Now that kind of issue is something the MSU could look into; but getting a prof fired is not something that the university will take lightly, or even want to do. Again, maybe fixing those types of situations from the beginning (as mentioned above) would be more effective.
I'm on the SRA this year (Science caucus), as well as the Teaching Awards committee. I'll be sure to pass on your ideas about prof quality, teaching advocacy programs and peer-tutoring programs to the VP Ed (Huzaifa Saeed) and your idea about prof showcasing events to the TAC Co-ordinator (Rebecca McDougall).
