I am currently feeling completely overwhelmed by the administrative side of teaching this term. I’m teaching a distance education course with 200 students. Luckily, I’m working with a fantastic co-instructor and two undergraduate teaching assistants, so the responsibility and tasks are somewhat spread out.
However, over the past few days, things have exploded. Classes ended last week so we’ve been hustling to get assignments graded and returned. This is probably where the feeling of quickly spinning in all directions began. I discovered two students submitted the identical personal reflection. Students who never registered with Student Disability Services began requesting special accommodations for their final exam. Students were getting sick and having to leave town for family emergencies. Suddenly I was immersed in Senate Bylaws, procedures for reporting academic misconduct, and learning about aegrotat status.
Then the exam happened.
That was followed by emails from more sick students, students facing emergencies, and more than one student who’d overslept. I can’t find a policy for “I slept in, can I write the makeup?” !!! I don’t think that this being a distance education course is making anything easier.
This is a side of teaching I never prepared for. I’ve spent years going to workshops about active learning, engaging students, leading effective discussions, using technology to enhance learning, creating rubrics, giving feedback, etc. When it comes to determining what’s an acceptable excuse, when to use the official channels, and when it’s okay to bend, I’m drawing on my undergrad philosophy courses and thinking about how I’d want to be treated. And when it comes to learning about the university’s official policies, I’m using google site search and consulting with the department director. I haven’t had time for much else this week. In retrospect, I think I was pretty lucky last semester that no one missed the final and I didn’t catch any plagiarism. Life was so much simpler then…
I’m not sure where the preparation for this side of the job should come from, but I think there needs to be some. Should this fall under the umbrella of a centre for teaching and learning? Should it come from the office of the registrar? Would any grad student choose teaching if they knew what was in store?
Image: Creative Commons licensed “38..365 Stack Attack!” by Katkamin
Ah yes, I remember being introduced to this hell. Only for me it came as a TA, because at Mac we TAs (in Philosophy at least) had to deal with a lot of these issues. Then, when I taught my first course solo it was a huge first-year course and these problems multiplied.
I’d say you’re handling it in the best way that could be expected: trying to make informed and ethical judgments.
Not sure whose responsibility it should be to help people navigate such terrain. It isn’t about teaching and learning per se, but really a set of administrative issues related to the logistics of teaching at a particular institution. Probably it should be done by the Registrar’s office, then, but it might make a good joint venture between them and our office. Or perhaps the GATA Network could organize something! 😉