Guidance for Graduate Students , Post Docs and Early Career Faculty Karl A. Smith

1. Guidance for Graduate Students, Post Docs and Early Career Faculty Karl A. Smith University of Minnesota ksmith@umn.edu Introductory Session Nanyang Business School October 2012

2. Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate Ernest L. Boyer • The Scholarship of Discovery, research that increases the storehouse of new knowledge within the disciplines; • The Scholarship of Integration, including efforts by faculty to explore the connectedness of knowledge within and across disciplines, and thereby bring new insights to original research; • The Scholarship of Application, which leads faculty to explore how knowledge can be applied to consequential problems in service to the community and society; and • The Scholarship of Teaching, which views teaching not as a routine task, but as perhaps the highest form of scholarly enterprise, involving the constant interplay of teaching and learning.

3. Reflection and Dialogue • Individually reflect on interest in teaching and an academic career and what you’d like to get out of the workshop. Write for about 1 minute. • Discuss with your neighbor for about 3 minutes • Describe your interests & goals for the workshop. Make sure each person talks • Select some aspects that you would like to present to the whole group if you are randomly selected • Whole group discussion

4. Levels of Education Inquiry Source: Streveler, R., Borrego, M. and Smith, K.A. 2007. Moving from the “Scholarship of Teaching and Learning” to “Educational Research:” An Example from Engineering. Improve the Academy, Vol. 25, 139-149. • Level 0Teacher • Teach as taught • Level 1 Effective Teacher • Teach using accepted teaching theories and practices • Level 2 Scholarly Teacher • Assesses performance and makes improvements • Level 3 Scholarship of Teaching and Learning • Engages in educational experimentation, shares results • Level 4 Discipline Based Education Researcher • Conducts educational research, publishes archival papers

5. Levels of Inquiry • Level 1: Excellent teaching • Involves the use of good content and teaching and assessing methods • Level 2: Scholarly Teaching • Involves good content and methods and classroom assessment and evidence gathering, informed by best practice and best knowledge, inviting of collaboration and review.

6. Levels of Inquiry (cont’d) • Level 3: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning • The Instructor (a) Is aware of modern pedagogical developments and incorporates them in his/her teaching where appropriate, and (b) Reflects on, assesses, and attempts to improve his/her teaching (classroom research) • Is public and open to critique and evaluation, is in a form that others can build on, involves question-asking, inquiry and investigation, particularly about student learning.

7. The Basic Features of Scholarly and Professional Work • The activity requires a high level of discipline- related expertise. • The activity breaks new ground, is innovative. • The activity can be replicated or elaborated. • The work and its results can be documented. • The work and its results can be peer-reviewed. • The activity has significance or impact. Adapted from: Diamond R. & Adam, B. 1993. Recognizing faculty work: Reward systems for the year 2000. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

8. Basic Features of Professional and Scholarly Work • It requires a high level of discipline-related expertise • It is conducted in a scholarly manner with clear goals, adequate preparation, and appropriate methodology • The work and its results are appropriately and effectively documented and disseminated. This reporting should include a reflective critique that addresses the significance of the work, the process that was used, and what was learned. • It has significance beyond the individual context. • It breaks new ground or is innovative. • It can be replicated or elaborated on. • The work both process and product or result is reviewed and judged to be meritorious and significant by a panel of ones peers. Bob Diamond  (2002)

9. What Resources are Available? • Advisors and Colleagues • Center for Teaching and Learning Services • Department Chair/Head • Senior Colleagues • Professional Organizations - Disciplinary • Books

10. New Professor Handbooks • Davidson, Cliff I. & Ambrose, Susan A. 1994. The new professor’s handbook: A guide to teaching and research in engineering and science. Bolton: Anker. • Reis, Richard M. 1997. Tomorrow’s professor: Preparing for academic careers in science and engineering. New York: IEEE.

11. New Professor Handbooks • Wankat, Phillip C. 2002. The effective, efficient professor: Teaching, scholarship and service. Boston: Allyn and Bacon

12. Tips for Busy New Professors Phil Wankat ChE & ENE, Purdue University Submitted to ASEE IL-IN Section, April 2010

13. Clarify Your Vision • Decide what goals are important to you • Promotion & Tenure • Significant other • Family: When to have a baby? • Starting a company • Becoming rich or famous • Running marathon, golf, fishing, reading? • Need to prioritize and balance • Spend time every week on important goals.

14. Promotion/Tenure Tips • Obtain & study the written rules. • Understand the procedure and timing. • Discuss unwritten requirements with knowledgeable professors • Preferably both inside & outside department • Understand impact & potential • Develop goals that will satisfy promotion & tenure committees. • Spend time every week on these goals.

15. Promotion & Tenure Requirements • Research Universities: • Money! At least enough to support research • Quality Publications, good journals. Goal: Impact! • Good teaching (great helps on margin) • Good citizen and service (may include advising) • Undergraduate Institutions: • Good to great teaching. Goal: Impact! • Advising, service and citizenship • Involve UG in research & Money to support research

16. Efficiency Tips • Never enough time. Need time management: • Set Goals & Prioritize – Use To-Do list. Include: • goals for P&T committee • your own work goals • high-priority non-work items • Delegate work • Give clear assignments & responsibility for details • Check on progress and provide feedback • Give credit • Learn to say no pleasantly • Maximum productivity: about 55 hours work/week.

17. Personal & Family Time • Reserve time for yourself & your family. • Work at most 6 days/week on regular basis • Spend time with family daily • On trips, call home every day • Take short vacations. • Develop flow activity - golf, cooking, etc. • Stress point – balancing work & family • All studies: balancing harder for women.

18. What Leads to Student Learning • Involve the students • Students actively processing material • Positive expectations • Practice – reflection – feedback, and repeat • Time on task – Deliberate practice • Challenged, yet successful • Enthusiastic, engaging teacher.

19. Organizing Lectures • Lecture Constraint: Attention span of students. • Use mini-lectures with active learning breaks. • Mini-lectures: • Opener & connector • Main Body • Brief Summary & connector. • Control content tyranny – relaxing in class is more important than covering everything. • Breaks: Introductions, brainstorming, stretch/restroom, one-minute quiz (demonstrated later), small group discussions, demos, & whatever else will make the students be active.

20. Building Lectures • Build a lecture like a house: • Foundation, frame, outer walls & roof first, then finishing touches room by room. • Houses and lectures are not built in one day. • Start with 10 to 15 minutes on the foundation and frame – add more later. • Max of 2 hrs prep time/50 minute lecture (assuming you know the material). • Relaxing & being human is more important than covering everything – avoid content tyranny.

21. Active Learning • Since it is what students do that leads to learning, teaching methods that force students to be active can be very effective. • Co-operative groups • Project & problem based learning (PBL) • Hands-on and computer simulation labs • Mastery learning • Since these methods are unfamiliar & can fail • Get assistance in starting • Start slowly (e.g., as part of a lecture class)

22. Teaching Tips • Write and share your course objectives. • Students are more likely to learn what you want them to if they know what that is. • Come to class early and stay late • Easiest time for students to talk to you. • Solve tests before you hand them out • Attend at least one teaching workshop • After 1st test, ask what will help students learn. • Lecture less! Use active learning methods. • Remember: What students do is more important than what you do.

23. Research Tips • Role of research advisor • Maintain professional relationship with students • Obtaining $ and budgeting • Use your start-up $ for maximum impact • Attend a Proposal Writing Workshop • Balance research projects: • Continuation PhD/postdoc & new research • Working with your own grad students & collaborating with other profs & research alone • Don’t expect grad students to get you promoted • Low risk & high risk • Fast pub/low impact & slow pub/high impact

24. Research: How much money? • Assume: • average one Ph.D./year at steady state. • Ph.Ds graduate in 4 (or 5) years (rapid). • one terminal MS every 2 years. • Thus, group is 5 (or 6) students (moderate size). • 1 grad student (incl. equipment, supplies, & overhead) costs $40(to 75) K/yr (reasonable). • PI: 2 months summer plus 10%AY (& overhead!) • Estimate: ~$250,000 - $500,000/year

25. Questions • Move into small groups & introduce yourself. • On 3x5 card write one or two questions about “Tips for Busy New Professors” that the group agrees are good questions. • Turn in the cards. • I will comment on cards in the order received. • This is called a “one-minute quiz” – it is useful in classes, and as a backup if you run out of lecture material.

26. Resources Teaching Engineering, free at: https://engineering.purdue.edu/ ChE/AboutUs/Publications/TeachingEng/index.html Wankat, The Effective, Efficient Teacher,Allyn & Bacon, 2002 Reis, Tomorrow’s Professor, IEEE, 1997. Monosson, Motherhood, The Elephant in the Laboratory: Women Scientists Speak Out, Cornell Univ Press, 2008. Diamond, Preparing for Promotion, Tenure, and Annual Review. A Faculty Guide, Anker Pub. Co., 2004. Burroughs Wellcome Fund & Howard Hughes Medical Instit., Making the Right Moves. A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty, 2006. http://www.hhmi.org/labmanagement

27. Promotion and Tenure Guides • Diamond, Robert M. 2004. Preparing for promotion and tenure review: A faculty guide, 2nd Ed. Bolton: Anker • Diamond, Robert M. 2002. Serving on promotion and tenure committees: A faculty guide, 2nd Ed. Bolton: Anker.

28. Principles of Good Practice: Supporting Early-Career Faculty • Mary Deane Sorcinelli • Improving Tenure Process • Good practice communicates expectations for performance • 2. Good practice gives feedback on progress • 3. Good practice enhances collegial review processes • 4. Good practice creates flexible timelines for tenure • Encouraging Collegial Relations • Good practice encourages mentoring by senior faculty • Good practice extends mentoring and feedback to graduate students who aspire to be faculty members • Good practice recognizes the department chair as a career sponsor • Easing Stresses of Time and Balance • Good practice supports teaching, particularly at the undergraduate level • Good practice supports scholarly development • Good practice fosters a balance between professional and personal life

29. Paradise Lost: How the Academy Converts Enthusiastic Recruits into Early-Career Doubters • Cathy A. Trower, Ann E. Austin & Mary Deane Sorcinelli • AAHE Bulletin, May 2001 • What We Can Do? • Provide consistency, clarity, and communication of reasonable performance expectations (throughout graduate school and the probationary years). • Ensure formal orientation, mentoring, and feedback. • Offer flexibility and choice, and help scholars understand various career tracks (Ideally, we need to legitimize those tracks outside of the tenure system). • Afford support for ongoing self-reflection and dialogue with colleagues about the kind of work and life we want to have.

30. Heeding New Voices: Academic Careers for a New Generation • R. Eugene Rice, Mary Deane Sorcinelli and • Ann E. Austin. AAHE Inquiry #7, 2000 • Three core, consistent, and interwoven concerns on the minds of early-career faculty: • Lack of a comprehensible tenure system • Lack of community • Lack of an integrated life

31. Additional References • Boyer, Ernest L. 1990. Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities for the professoriate. Princeton, NJ: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. • Diamond, R., “The Mission-Driven Faculty Reward System,” in R.M. Diamond, Ed., Field Guide to Academic Leadership, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002 • Diamond R. & Adam, B. 1993. Recognizing faculty work: Reward systems for the year 2000. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. • Shulman, Lee S. 1999. Taking learning seriously. Change, 31 (4), 11-17. • Smith, Karl A. 2000. Guidance for new faculty (and students). Journal of Engineering Education, 89 (1), 3-6. • Wankat, P.C., Felder, R.M., Smith, K.A. and Oreovicz, F. 2001. The scholarship of teaching and learning in engineering. In Huber, M.T & Morreale, S. (Eds.), Disciplinary styles in the scholarship of teaching and learning: A conversation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.