3.525 PhDs, teaching loads -- and computers? (81)

Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca)
Sun, 1 Oct 89 20:45:04 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 525. Sunday, 1 Oct 1989.


(1) Date: Sun, 1 Oct 89 16:04:47 EDT (24 lines)
From: unhd!psc90!jdg@uunet.UU.NET (Dr. Joel Goldfield)
Subject: "The Ph.D. gap & teaching loads"

(2) Date: 01 Oct 89 16:48:27 EDT (14 lines)
From: Jim Cahalan <JMCAHAL@IUP.BITNET>
Subject: course loads

(3) Date: 1 October 1989 (18 lines)
From: Willard McCarty <MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: can computers help?

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 89 16:04:47 EDT
From: unhd!psc90!jdg@uunet.UU.NET (Dr. Joel Goldfield)
Subject: "The Ph.D. gap & teaching loads"

I appreciate Martin Ryle's recent, pithy comments about course activities,
teaching & research expectations. Having taught for 7+ years at a state
college where the usual teaching load is 12 semester hours, I must concur
that Martin is on-target with his observations about three (or often
four) preparations evaluation of essay-oriented examinations and similar
student materials absorbing much time that would otherwise be spent on
research by the energetic scholar.

If one regards one's scholarly research activities, including the technical
part (playing around with various computer gadgets, trying to program and
author courseware, etc.), as also an important "hobby," this precious
"free" time still seems well spent. However, I would recommend that all
colleagues in search of the ultimate computer-based solutions to various
literary and pedagogical problems of better preparing our students
read Honor'e de Balzac's _La recherche de l'absolu_ (1834) ("The Search for
the Absolute").

Best wishes,
Joel D. Goldfield
J_GOLDFI@UNHH.bitnet
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------20----
Date: 01 Oct 89 16:48:27 EDT
From: Jim Cahalan <JMCAHAL@IUP.BITNET>
Subject: course loads

In reply to Lynne Cheney and James Halporn about course loads, may I note
that faculty at many schools (such as mine) where the teaching load is
often four courses in a semester would love to have Cheney's three-course
load imposed on them? Many may also have difficulty, in this light,
sympathizing with Halporn's lament that his two-course load is really
three when you throw in tutorials, etc.

Jim Cahalan, Graduate Literature <JMCAHAL@IUP.BITNET>
English Dept., 111 Leonard, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Indiana, PA 15705-1094 Phone: (412) 357-2264
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 1 October 1989
From: Willard McCarty <MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: can computers help?

In view of the teaching loads referred to above, what is the current
opinion of informed Humanists on whether or not computers can help *in
the long run*? Many of our labs are old enough now to be demanding a
significant amount of hardware support and replacement. In some
universities it is difficult or impossible to get the administration to
pay for such ongoing costs, which then must come from departmental
budgets. The newness of computing applications has worn off, and with it
the extra excitement and pedagogical attention. Are we now seeing that
computers give us even a limited hand with teaching that is cheaper than
a freshly minted Ph.D.?


Willard McCarty