When We’re Too Busy to Change Our Teaching

Credit: iStock.com/BrianAJackson
Credit: iStock.com/BrianAJackson
Time constraints—that’s what faculty consistently report as the reason they don’t implement changes in their teaching. It’s the barrier identified by almost 67 percent of 3,000 geosciences faculty (Riihimaki & Viskupic, 2020) and what 8 percent of faculty in a collection of departments at a single institution reported (Shadle et. al, 2017). Both of these survey analyses contain references to studies reporting similar findings, and these consistently high percentages got me thinking about time pressures and instructional change.

To continue reading, you must be a Teaching Professor Subscriber. Please log in or sign up for full access.

2 Responses

  1. Our fixation with “covering the material” fascinates me – as though there is a limited body of “material” that can be “covered”. In a world with rapidly expanding and easily accessed “material” (much of which is garbage) surely our time would be better spent training our students in learning how to access and evaluate the “material” rather than spoon-feeding the “material” to them?

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Articles

I have two loves: teaching and learning. Although I love them for different reasons, I’ve been passionate about...
For some of us, it takes some time to get into the swing of summer. Some of us...
About a year ago, I decided to combine the ideas of a syllabus activity and a get-to-know-students activity....
The use of AI in higher education is growing, but many faculty members are still looking for ways...
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but what if it’s also the best first step to...
Higher education has long recognized the value of Socratic dialogue in learning. Law schools traditionally adopt it in...
After 35 years in higher education, I continue to embrace the summer as a prime opportunity to strengthen...

Create a free account, or log in.

Gain access to limited free articles, news alerts, and select newsletters

Login here

Get unlimited access to The Teaching Professor

Stay informed. Subscribe Now.

WELCOME OFFER

$19.00 $14.00/month

for your first 6 months. Use coupon code TP6MO.

$19.00 thereafter. Cancel anytime.

Enjoy unlimited access to all of The Teaching Professor

You only have  free article views remaining.

WELCOME OFFER

$19.00 $14.00/month

for your first 6 months. Use coupon code TP6MO.

$19.00 a month thereafter. Cancel anytime.