“Are Canned Courses Impacting Academic Freedom?”

by Molly McCluskey For some, they’re a blessing: a chance to focus less on course development and more on the actual teaching. For some, they’re a curse: eroding academic freedom and the very fabric of collegiate professordom. Regardless of the perspective, they’re being used more frequently. And the trend doesn’t appear to have an end in sight. They’re cookie cutter courses, pre-formatted by the respective institution and handed to incoming professors and instructors, dictating objectives, syllabus and assignment lists. They’re seemingly most popular in the virtual classroom, where colleges are scrambling to create, promote and meet the demand for alternative […]