Journal of Excellence in College Teaching

by Mark J. Drozdowski

As a recently appointed adjunct faculty member, I’ll consider any teaching
tips or tricks I can find. Naturally, I eagerly picked up the Journal of
Excellence in College Teaching, hoping to learn how to become a more effective instructor. Does it help?

First, a brief background on the Journal is in order. Founded in 1990,
the Journal answers Ernest Boyer’s call for a “forum to present the scholarship of teaching and learning.” Its three-part mission is to increase student learning through effective teaching; to foster interest in and enthusiasm for the profession of teaching; and to facilitate communication among faculty about their classroom experiences. In short, the Journal aims to provide faculty an “opportunity to share proven, innovative pedagogies and thoughtful, inspirational insights about teaching.”

Every issue is peer-reviewed. According to Gregg Wentzell, managing editor, the acceptance rate hovers around 24 percent. Wentzell and his colleagues at Miami University publish the Journal three times per year.

I pored over two hard copy issues and surfed the Journal’s Web site, which archives all articles, searching for useful advice or encouraging thoughts. In all honesty, I wished for more of the former and less of the latter.

Initially I dove into an article that considered reasons why students choose particular classes. Having just survived teaching a somewhat unpopular course offered late in the afternoon, I was especially curious about this topic. To my chagrin, the author employed a statistical technique called conjoint analysis. When I arrived at the point where he summarized a finding as Yi= b0 + b1X1i…, I felt the familiar early signs of a mathematical migraine and moved on.

Next, I reviewed a piece on the use of humor in a statistics class. What a
great idea, I thought. I looked forward to reading this one, given my (often
failed) attempts to inspire students through laughter. The author recommends we “take humor seriously,” adding, of course, that “it is no
laughing matter.” His forays into humor involved syllabi quirks, opening
jokes and skits, “Jeopardy”-type questions, er…answers, and in-class
spontaneity. Unfortunately, I found little to apply to my own classroom, perhaps because my sense of humor differs. The author concludes “one interpretation…might be that the students simply wanted to be entertained.” I had hoped for the same from the article.

Others, while supplying useful insights, state the obvious. One author, encouraging faculty to include student journals in their courses, reveals that “Journal writing can make a difference.” Another provides data on how students decide which courses to take, summarizing that students base decisions on how easily they think they can get a good grade. Fair enough, but hardly counterintuitive.

Yet another, on incorporating group discussions in the classroom, states that “Among the key issues facing professors is how best to engage their students in the material.” And in a piece on reducing verbal miscommunication, the author comments that the “use of language is a remarkable, though poorly understood, phenomenon that affects people in numerous ways.”

These caveats aside, I did find several articles worthwhile. One study sought to determine if students who study together outside of class fare better on exams than those who study alone (they do). Recent issues present timely pieces on plagiarism and grade inflation. An amusing article (not the one on humor) contains an anecdote about an instructor obsessed about appearing overweight in a classroom videotape. Still others propose how institutions can promote quality teaching or submit thoughts on grading policies. I should also mention one peculiar article examining professors’ development as teachers during their career. The author illustrates his findings as a series of parallel lines, squares,
rectangles and other figures aligned in various patterns–good, this time, for a geometric migraine of epic proportions.

In my perusal, I searched specifically for information relevant to adjunct
and part-time faculty. Unfortunately, I found precious little. In the article
on grade inflation, the authors quote a source as stating, “Part-time faculty tended to give higher grades than full-time faculty,” suggesting the growing use of adjuncts supports inflation. In a piece addressing adjuncts and teaching portfolios, the authors assume most adjuncts (at least on their campus) teach adults, concluding that such portfolios can help part-timers focus their “attention on teaching techniques appropriate for adult learners.” They also assert that, for adjuncts, “teaching is an avocation and not their primary career….”

Managing editor Wentzell acknowledges this relative lack of focus on adjuncts, and supports the idea of a special issue devoted to adjunct concerns. (Every so often the Journal offers thematic issues on topics such as teaching portfolios and collaborative learning.) Wentzell did identify a couple of articles relevant to beginning faculty, including one on constructing a syllabus.

So, does the Journal deliver what it promises? Yes, but I’d anticipated more practice and less theory. In my scramble for knowledge I sought useful advice and how-to suggestions. I wanted articles on dealing with unruly students or fielding questions about changing a grade. What about case studies assessing trials and errors? Or book reviews? The Journal doesn’t include them, but might soon as exclusive on-line content. For now, the Web site http://ject.lib.muohio.edu/ is essentially an electronic representation of the print volume, save for the value added via the search function. Subscribers (currently around 1,000) can opt for the web feature only, at an annual cost of $99 for an individual or $199 for campus-wide access. The print version runs $43 per year.

I recommend exploring the Web to determine if the articles serve your needs. If you’re a student of pedagogy, you’ll find kindred spirits. Keep in mind that it offers limited value to those interested in adjunct faculty issues. But regardless of your status, you’ll find clearly-written, well-organized material on a range of important topics.