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Session 1647

COMBINING TEACHING AND ADMINISTRATION: Faculty Evaluate the Practice

Patricia L. Fox, Cliff Goodwin, and R. Andrew Schaffer Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

Abstract

This pilot project assesses the practice of having school administrators routinely teach courses as part of their workload. It identifies the reactions concerning the practice, from both faculty and administrators, in the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). How this practice relates to the perceived effectiveness of the teaching administrator is evaluated in detail. The assessment questionnaire (see Appendix A) can be adopted by any school and used to assess perceptions of the practice. Schools, who require their administrators to teach courses, or those considering it, have much to gain from the information collected in this assessment project.

Introduction

There has been a great deal of assessment activity in higher education in response to recent pressures exerted from external and internal sources. Assessment is occurring at every level at IUPUI and probably occurring at every level at your institution. If you are not already personally involved in assessment you will be. Likened to the “…build it and they will come” line from the Field of Dreams movie, higher education’s line could be, “…build it and they will come and assess it.” In IUPUI’s particular case, “they” are accrediting agencies such as, The North Central Association Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (NCA Commission), the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), and the assessment experts at IUPUI’s Office for Planning and Institutional Improvement. The faculty in our school, during the fall of 1996, adopted an assessment plan that involves assessment at all levels. The plan requires assessing goals, objectives, and outcomes for courses, programs and school wide initiatives for the purposes of instructional, administrative, and programmatic improvements.

Rationale for Project

There are many rationales for this emphasis on assessment. They vary across departments and schools, but essentially, institutions of higher education are attempting to demonstrate accountability to their constituencies. They wish to prove or at least provide evidence that they “add value” to their stakeholders (i.e. taxpayers, employers) through quality teaching, research, and service. The proof or evidence likely lies, in part, in the faculties’ and administrators’ abilities to focus on outcomes. Outcomes are those things ”produced” from their inputs. To this end, many institutions of higher education have begun the process of implementing some form of Total Quality Management (TQM) into their practices as a framework for improving their institutional practices. Why TQM you ask? The experts’ answers vary but in general go something like this:

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Schaffer, R. A., & Fox, P. L., & Goodwin, C. (1998, June), Combining Teaching And Administration: Faculty Evaluate The Practice Paper presented at 1998 Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/1-2--6968