S2 E10: You're Handed a Syllabus. Now What?

Dr. Cameron Harris joins Keystone Concepts host, Dr. Rachel Yoho, to discuss the logistics and considerations for teaching when you are assigned to teach a new-to-you course.

Resources: Please be sure to also check out Episode 9, “Syllabi Supporting Learners and Instructors” https://stearnscenter.gmu.edu/season-1-fall-2024-keystone-concepts-in-teaching/ Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning Current Syllabus Guidance:  https://stearnscenter.gmu.edu/knowledge-center/current-syllabus-guidance/ Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning Designing Your Syllabus:  https://stearnscenter.gmu.edu/knowledge-center/designing-your-syllabus/ Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning AI Text Generators:  Resource Page https://stearnscenter.gmu.edu/knowledge-center/ai-text-generators/ 

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Rachel 0:08

Hello and welcome to the Keystone Concepts in Teaching podcast. My name is Rachel Yoho, and I'm your host for this podcast from the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning. In this work, we share impactful and evidence based teaching practices to support all students and faculty. In this episode, we're going to be exploring the situation in which you are a new faculty member, an adjunct faculty member, or any other space in which you're handed a syllabus and told to go teach a class. We'll talk about what to do, what to ask, how to personalize, and really how to support everyone, especially you as the instructor in this situation. I'm joined by this episode's guest, Dr. Cameron Harris. Cameron is an Associate Professor and area Chair in the Costello College of Business for Business Foundations, and a former faculty fellow in the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning at George Mason University. So thank you so much for joining us, Cameron.

Cameron 1:02

Thank you, and thank you for having me.

Rachel 1:04

So as we're getting started, you know, being handed a syllabus and being assigned to teach a class can be a really challenging situation. We might think about this as trying to go for a walk or a run in someone else's shoes. It might, might not work, but it's going to not be certainly as comfortable as our own our own shoes or a class we design or have more control over. So the framing for our conversation today is that we're a new faculty member or an adjunct and we're given a syllabus and what we want to do. So let's start off with what questions would you recommend this faculty member should ask?

Cameron 1:39

I think the first idea that I have is to think about why this availability exists. And so maybe it's the former HR background that I have or the idea that there's a reason that there's a need for a new person teaching this course, whether it's an adjunct or a full time person. And so thinking about the bigger picture and the curriculum that supports the need for this person teaching this course is the first place I would go to. Why is it a new need or is it an existing need where someone left? What role does this course play in the fulfillment of a student's, whether it's an undergraduate or graduate or another program, in their curriculum? And so thinking about the big picture and how it fits into the goals of a academic program, I think, is really important. The other piece is the adjunct culture. So if you are a new person, and are there other new people, thinking about the network of support you have, and whether or not you have been teaching or teaching is new to you, how you will get the support to make sure that you are feeling confident in the work that you're doing, but also thinking about what experience you have that you can bring to bear so that it is a successful situation. So, a couple of questions and things to consider about why there's a need for a new person teaching a course, what skill set do I bring to it, and how does it fulfill a requirement or maybe multiple requirements for multiple constituent groups or student groups across campus.

Rachel 3:15

Yeah, I agree. I think that's really interesting and something we might not think about as often with the syllabus. You know, we might look at the syllabus and be like, "Okay, this is what we're supposed to cover, this is what the students are supposed to get out of it." But it's also important, like you were saying, to think about that sequencing or whatever that looks like in that particular program or area of study is what the students are learning before this. What are they supposed to be coming into your course with? What are they building on in this course? And then what are they going to do after that, is really something that isn't perhaps as often discussed. And so that's a really interesting question as we're thinking about that. And so to expand on that a little bit, particularly when we're looking at standards or outcomes based courses, this might be in programs with secondary accreditation, or really just looking at the learning outcomes, or just in general, a course with an already defined and unchangeable set of learning outcomes, how would you recommend thinking about what you could or should modify?

Cameron 4:17

Knowing the sort of guardrails that exist for a course based on how it has existed in the past. So to get a history of why this course exists, how it has existed in the past, maybe from other folks who have taught it, I think is really helpful to know how did you reach this outcome? How did you create this section of a course or learning objective for a course that meets a requirement. And if there is wiggle room, right? So one of the things that I hope happens in most places where adjuncts are hired is that they have experience that they can bring to the classroom that they can bring to the curriculum. And yes, there are things that need to have happen. So I think about in the College of Business, for example, we have assurance of learning. And so they are programmatic across various programs within the college. And so they are assessed every year or every three years, I think it is, so that we understand that a particular course has a connection to other courses that connect to the bigger program. And so if that is the case, having a key understanding of why and how that happens and where there is space to sort of bring your own flavor and interest. And even if it meets the program outcome, there are various ways that you could do that. And so my hope is that in most places that there is flexibility, so that new folks can bring in their expertise, they can try new things, they can, you know, try something and maybe see if it works and then adjust as needed, of course, with the oversight of folks who have done it in the past. So that would be my biggest suggestion is to figure out what is the requirement and where there's flexibility and sort of build in between those two.

Rachel 6:07

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think we see there that we're not often or perhaps ever changing learning outcomes. But we are looking at the other perhaps spaces that we can change. And so certainly a good university or program or department or other academic unit should take advantage of the insights and the experiences and the professional expertise of both new and adjunct faculty. Their experience, what they bring to the courses, their richness of information they can give to the students. And so maybe can you give us some more examples about what they might be able to personalize in different situations and how we become more than just say a fill in person following a script.

Cameron 6:52

I think oftentimes new faculty, new adjuncts are brought in because they have expertise, they have knowledge that is both academic in nature, but also practical, right? There's stories that they can tell. There's experience that they can share with students in courses, but also with other faculty, that could be useful to the learning environment. So the example is a real one, that I teach professional skills courses. And so often, adjuncts who are teaching maybe one or two sections, have a little bit more flexibility to bring in guest speakers, to do things that are creative in nature because they have a lower volume, right? If they're teaching one section versus four, having six of your friends who work in HR come in to provide feedback to students is a much easier, potentially at least, much easier task to do versus doing that for four sections. And so I think there's a way to consider how you organize a course, how you can be creative about deploying even the same thing in a different way when you have the flexibility to test it out, to learn how other people have been doing it, and then maybe adjust for your own expertise and experience. The second piece is the stories that they have. Having experience, especially in a practical way that you can talk to students about how the concepts they're learning in a course apply to the work that they could potentially be doing in the future. I think in places like business, of course, that makes a lot of sense, but there are other places where that could really be useful as well.

Rachel 8:32

Absolutely. And so it all sounds good as a concept, but let's talk about perhaps a situation in which you're teaching one of those courses, where you're teaching one or two sections of a many, many section course. And maybe you do have the opportunity to bring in guest speakers, which is a huge challenge of its own. But let's talk about the assignments in that type of course. We have often standardized assignments across multi section courses to make sure we're meeting those learning outcomes. But what would you recommend people consider for what personalization of those standardized assignments might look like in practice?

Cameron 9:10

You're right. As someone who teaches a course that has, or two courses that has, 20 sections a semester, that's a real application of issue. So I think understanding how full time folks in this case, deploy an assignment, how they explain it, how they provide background and additional information, I think, is really helpful. And where possible I know it's not always possible in academia to do this if you can shadow or see how 1 or more full time folks or folks who have done it before sort of go through the assignment. How they consider it, how they share the conceptual pieces, how they share even the details of the assignment. I think it's really helpful if you can see how someone else does it. And in my head, how multiple people do it. Right. So maybe it isn't, you'll do one person's way wholesale, but you'll take pieces of how one person does it sort of adjust for your own personal way. And then watch someone else do it and take that in as well. So I think there's, and back to the first question, thinking about ways that we can share information, especially in courses that have multiple sections, if it is possible to have a place in the course management system that tells you, okay, here are the assignments and here are the instructions that I give. Maybe your instructions look a little different, but you have a starting place. And I know for so many adjuncts, especially new adjuncts or new faculty, having a starting place is really the most important aspect, right? So you're not starting from scratch. You don't have to design everything new necessarily, but even if you do, you have someone you can talk to about how it's happened previously, what the options are, what the guardrails are, so that you know what it is you can adjust for and can do.

Rachel 11:09

I think that's really key here is that we're not starting from scratch. So even if we're handed a syllabus that might not be how we want it, we have something, which is in many cases, hopefully, better than nothing for a course. But even like you said, Cameron, with the assignments, seeing what other people do, you know, some areas, some departments have a little bit more formalized mentor or instructional buddy or whatever that they might call them. But even if your area doesn't, many faculty, many other people who have taught the course or are currently teaching the course are often very willing to share insights, to, you know, get a cup of coffee or a virtual cup of coffee or, you know, whatever other beverage and just kind of talk over what works, what doesn't work, what I've tried, things I've learned. And so it doesn't have to be a lot of time, but maybe there are some of those insights we can gain and really get that because again, it's not, it's not cheating. It's not copying, or something like that, if we take the insights we can learn, especially like you said, from multiple people. And so when we're thinking about the week to week, the implementation side of the course, and we've talked a little bit about the syllabus and some of the guardrails, like you mentioned there, and assignments. But how might we think about personalizing and making a course or a section of a course, if you will, our own, bringing yourself, your expertise into the classroom in whatever modality your instruction is, rather than just say the assignment instructions or something. What could that look like on a week to week basis?

Cameron 12:48

I'm going to start in a non traditional place. I think the first thing I'll say is to make it fun. If there's an opportunity to share a story, to share a video, to share an audio clip or a personal something that could be interesting to students, build it in. I think if it is interesting to you, hopefully chances are it'll be interesting to students. So that's the first place I'll start. If you can think about the weeks of a semester or a quarter, whatever organization, this semester or the class may have, where do you have expertise and knowledge and experience that could be useful and interesting and connect to the learning outcomes? And I think that's the 1st place to start, because in any course, there are going to be things that you're more excited about, and maybe other things that you're less excited about. And so, finding a way to personalize a section of the course or multiple sections of the course. And also understanding that you don't have to shift everything the first time you teach it. If there's something that works, if there is a lesson plan already laid out and you're comfortable with it, go for it. I think the second and third time you teach the course, you become that much more comfortable with the content. You can be comfortable to shift things and maybe to add your own flair and your own resources and readings and et cetera. So figuring out the place where you want to have a value add and in going with that. You don't have to change everything, especially if you're given a syllabus and you're teaching it for the first time, it is a lot to try to shift every week, every lesson plan to be your own. And if you don't have to, you don't necessarily have to at least the first time you do it. So relying on what is there, but also relying on your own expertise so that you can make it yours, because the more you make it yours, the more you feel accountable to it, the more you feel interested in it and the more that it connects to your students.

Rachel 14:52

Yeah, I like that point of making it interesting and having that be a focus, because it's really looking at, where we're investing our time with our interests and passing that along to the students. You know, we're not going to have every single thing be completely unique. But having that be where we bring the excitement, you know, that might be personal stories, like you mentioned, or maybe we're bringing in current events. Current being, oh, this was in the news last year, or maybe I just spend too much time online and thinking about my classes and bringing in this feature and hey, did you see this? And did you know this was going on? But whatever it is that we're excited about, we can bring that and hopefully pass it along to the students to make it more interesting and more engaging. So I think those are great points. And so, as we're also thinking about this, you know, I think when we're talking about making our course a little bit more of our own, making something hopefully less awkward the first time through, a little bit less uncomfortable, and just sharing information with other faculty, being a little open to passing along that knowledge, if you will, what works, what was less successful. As we're wrapping up our conversation for today, can you tell us how this conversation to you represents a keystone concept in teaching?

Cameron 16:08

I think there's an increasing reliance on adjunct/contingent faculty, and it is important that institutions/departments recognize how important it is to invest. And so I would encourage new adjuncts to ask questions of their area or department that could be helpful in them being successful. And so a couple of the things that I would recommend is to ask how reviews are done. If there is real time feedback, if there are opportunities to do shadowing, there are opportunities to do observations and to be observed as well. Those are all important steps in getting feedback that is going to be useful to your teaching, but also in learning the culture of teaching and in a new area, a new department. So seeing how someone else does something is going to be really helpful to see what the expectation might be of you. To think about professional development opportunities. So in most places, there are opportunities to learn instructional techniques to think about inclusive teaching to think about modality and if there are opportunities to teach in a variety of ways and experiential learning. There are a ton of other opportunities to think about how to expand your skill set, but also to expand the offerings that are available in a department or an area. And the last thing is to think about the network that you have. So I think it's incumbent upon the department or area to think about how to socialize a new person in an area. For example, how are you connecting adjuncts who may be teaching the same course? I think it's great to build in that network. We have the adjunct coordinator, for example, and I know other places have similar things. If you have a person who is responsible, how are they then connecting all of the people that teach a particular course or have a scholarly interest in a topic, right? It could be really helpful if there are ways that you can connect people even across campus that may have similar interests. And so being able to think about them, yes, as an instructor, but also as someone who has a background or interest that could connect to the institution. Because yes, we are teaching in a course, but we're also part of a community. And so making sure that a new adjunct or a new professional is connected to the larger community, I think it's really important.

Rachel 18:40

I agree. Thank you so much Dr. Harris. I really appreciate your time and your insights and your expertise. As we finish up our conversation again, thank you so much for joining us. We look forward to sharing future episodes of Keystone Concepts in Teaching with you. And so please make sure to subscribe on your podcast platforms as well as follow along with some of our other episodes, announcements, and show notes. So thank you so much, Dr. Harris.

Cameron 19:09

Thank you.