Resources

Lack of time may be the single most commonly experienced problem among American faculty. It is fair to say that the overwhelming majority of the roughly 400,000 full time faculty in American colleges and universities feel overloaded in their teaching lives; they perceive that they do not have time to do their basic faculty duties properly; and they believe that overload goes with the job. We complain yet we do not reflect on and evaluate our paradigms for how we use our time. Perhaps a pernicious norm has evolved: anyone not complaining about being overwhelmed is suspect. We act as if we have no choice. Einstein once remarked, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." A Lakota Sioux saying puts the idea in concrete terms, "When your horse is dead, the proper strategy is to dismount." When it comes to avoiding overload, many of us sit on our dead horses kicking them in the sides over and over again, insanely, wondering why we don't get anywhere. However, we do have choices about how we use our time. Einstein suggested a way to discover our choices when he further observed, "Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them." Essentially, that is the objective of this book: to elevate our awareness of how we use our time and how we might improve that use of time. We need to shift our perspective on using time from subject (a perspective from which we act naively) to object (a perspective on which we act intentionally). The tool that we will use to stimulate this shift in awareness comes from a vintage analysis of systems theory and research and focuses on managing the boundaries of our teaching selves better. In Making Time, Making Change, author Douglas Reimondo Robertson leads you on the road to a more rewarding, and less harried, teaching life! (From the Publisher)

“Academic leaders may be the least studied and most misunderstood management position in the world,” authors Gmelch and Miskin state. Although chairs come to the position for varied reasons, few come with any specific leadership training. Once in the position, they are critiqued, judged, and evaluated by both their faculty and administrators—groups which frequently have conflicting criteria. Based upon their extensive study of the demands on and needs of chairs, the authors have distilled their findings into a practical and highly accessible volume to guide chairs in their growth. Despite the varied paths to the position, the authors state that all chairs find themselves in an environment distinct from their former faculty situation. One of the most dramatic changes is that chairs need the ability to switch from one task or situation to another very quickly and must develop a facility for refocusing. As chairs, individuals assume four basic roles: faculty developer, manager, leader, and scholar. Because of these roles and the need to quickly refocus, Gmelch and Miskin advocate becoming a swivel chair. They state: “To balance their roles, chairs must learn to swivel without appearing dizzy, schizophrenic, or ‘two-faced.’” (From the Publisher)

This book records the story of how one professor at a research university used a form of active learning to change the way he taught— from traditional lecture and examinations to cooperative learning and student projects. Drawn from teaching notes, conversations with students, student evaluations, and annual reports, readers will learn the kinds of risks, assumptions, and decisions they will face as they change their teaching to emphasize student learning, particularly during the critical first days of change. Engagingly written, Leaving the Lectern offers an honest and insightful look at the challenges and rewards of achieving change in the classroom. This book: * Motivates faculty and graduate students to visualize what changing their teaching to enhance student learning will be like by illustrating through narration how a professor much like them made the change * Provides reflective questions at the end of each chapter to help readers use the information in the chapter * Enhances the readers' preparation for the change by citing references to pedagogical precepts, strategies, and tools * Summarizes the seven themes found in the book to help bring about the change (From the Publisher)

Journal Issue.

This book emerges from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teachings study of the most pressing concerns involved in preparation of clergy across all faiths and denominations. Working with accrediting bodies and professional associations as well as the educational institutions themselves, the findings reported in this book can be used to improve the quality of education for future ministers, priests and rabbis. (From the Publisher)

Journal Issue.

This issue on the educational debt of theological students revisits a topic first studied ten years ago by the Auburn Center for the Study of Theological Education. The 1995 report found that debt was indeed becoming a problem for a significant, although small, proportion of students. A majority of students now carry educational debt, and they are borrowing larger amounts than in the past. As a result, many theological school graduates report that their level of debt is affecting their career choices, holding them back from purchasing homes, preventing them from saving for their children’s education, limiting their retirement savings, causing them to delay health care needs, and creating stress in their personal and professional lives. Some students, schools, denominations and congregations have, in response to the signs of impending trouble, found ways to keep debt under control. All resources of the church—educational, institutional, theological, financial—need to be brought to bear to avoid the gathering storm of debt that threatens the next generation of clergy and lay church professionals. (From the Publisher)

This book provides a basic road map for addressing the critical ethical issues in service-learning in order to prepare students, faculty, and administrators for the sometimes difficult ethical dilemmas that arise during the service-learning process. Included is a synopsis of the theoretical context of moral decision-making and a proposed code of ethics for students, faculty, and administrators and a model of ethical decision-making, as well as a review of current literature on formative and summative assessment in service-learning and an overview of risk management. The book also offers examples of hypothetical dilemmas that consider several perspectives, followed by a set of questions to guide the reader through the model of ethical decision-making. (From the Publisher)

Journal Issue.