This question has a short answer but, as you might have guessed, I'm going to take the long way around...hang in there. Those of you who have read my posted replies to items in blogs sponsored by #chronicle and #facultyfocus are already familiar with my thoughts on the findings in the book "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses," which was released earlier this year and written by Arum and Roska. Students in their study were found to study less, yet achieve higher grades, than students on the 1970s and 1980s. PArt of the problem appears to be grade inflation (after all, today's B is yesterday's C), but there's another piece of the puzzle. Based on my interactions with faculty at several institutions, here's the trend I continue to see: student engagement is often a reflection of faculty engagement. That doesn't mean that, just because a faculty member goes to the football games that his or her students will miraculously care more about learning...but they might care more about school and why they are attending. It pays to show an interest, and everyone benefits.
So back to the original question: we push faculty engagement because we know it drives student engagement, which tends to drive retention and (later) career placement. Of course, this is no easy task, so we'll spend several posts in the future identifying ways to engage faculty...especially adjuncts and part-timers.
No comments:
Post a Comment