We have had this discussion many times over the years. For us it boils down to this. We have had and do have some wonderful adjuncts for intro but over the years have had some horrible disasters as well. We prefer to hook students into the major with our tenure/track folks simply because of greater consistency. We will continue to try new folks as needed but generally don't like the risk, especially when it comes to instilling a sense of psych as a science.
To help us we have developed common learning outcomes and a list of topics chapter by chapter of what must be covered, what should be covered, and what can go. We distributed a topics list to our entire faculty (12) and frankly I was shocked. The developmental folks don't cover infancy much in intro, the clinical folks don't cover humanistic approaches much. But this has allowed me to pick topics judiciously based on time constraints. I love this common approach. So I have to say we are on the camp that economics are less important than pedagogical issues. Sorry this is just more anecdotal evidence only. Annette Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone "Bourgeois, Dr. Martin" wrote: Oops, if that's how I sounded, I apologize, Beth. Some of our adjuncts are excellent instructors (our own Jim Matiya started as an adjunct). And you're of course correct that there are senior faculty who aren't excellent teachers. But we have much more variability in training, background, teaching experience, etc. among our adjuncts than among our full time faculty, and I'm worried about relying too heavily on them for the intro courses. But my question was aimed more at trying to find literature on the importance of having excellent instructors (full time, part time, or whatever) teaching introductory courses. ________________________________ From: Beth Benoit [beth.ben...@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2010 9:42 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Introductory psychology Not so fast, Marty. Please don't paint all adjuncts with the same brush. It could also be argued that adjuncts, without the benefit of the job security that tenure provides, are motivated to try harder, since they won't be hired again if they don't do a good job. Another argument (which also describes me, I believe) is that adjuncts probably/often don't teach for the money, but for the love of teaching. Being a senior faculty member doesn't automatically equal excellent teaching in an introductory course, or any other course. Beth Benoit Granite State College Plymouth State University New Hampshire On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 9:27 AM, Bourgeois, Dr. Martin <mbour...@fgcu.edu<mailto:mbour...@fgcu.edu>> wrote: Does anyone know of any literature on the importance of having excellent instructors teach introductory courses? I see them as ambassador courses in a sense; that is, students may or may not decide to pursue psychology as a major based on their experience with intro psych. Also, they provide a foundation for students who do decide to pursue the major. The reason I'm asking is because my chair (a non psychologist, we're in a larger social and behavioral sciences department) has decided to take our intro courses away from senior faculty and rely more on adjuncts to teach the course (for obvious reasons), and I'm trying to argue that this will ultimately harm our program. Thanks! --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: beth.ben...@gmail.com<mailto:beth.ben...@gmail.com>. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aaf72&n=T&l=tips&o=5461 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-5461-13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aa...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-5461-13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aa...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: mbour...@fgcu.edu<mailto:mbour...@fgcu.edu>. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13390.2bbc1cc8fd0e5f9e0b91f01828c87814&n=T&l=tips&o=5462 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-5462-13390.2bbc1cc8fd0e5f9e0b91f01828c87...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-5462-13390.2bbc1cc8fd0e5f9e0b91f01828c87...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: tay...@sandiego.edu<mailto:tay...@sandiego.edu>. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a21b0&n=T&l=tips&o=5464 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-5464-13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a2...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-5464-13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a2...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=5471 or send a blank email to leave-5471-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
