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Shawn Adkins - Moments from Week 12 Readings

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Shawn Adkins - Moments from Week 12 Readings

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1) Academic Freedom - I feel that I have a better understanding of what academic freedom is meant to be and what it's not meant to be after reading the article from Inside Higher Ed. The intent of academic freedom is to open dialogue on various topics, including controversial ones, while not taking advantage of such freedom by harassing or demeaning others.

2) Collegiality and academic freedom go hand-in-hand to hold institutions together.  Collegiality helps get through the politics while teaching students how to solve problems in an effective and civil fashion.

3) Know your resources - faculty are busy and may not be able to help in every student scenario or situation. This is where student support services come into play.  As outlined in Sharma chapter 12, students should know where to find their campus students support services.  This could be for tutoring help, assistance with a disability, or other organizations designed to foster student support and care.

4) Imposter syndrome - if you ever feel you don't belong, you may have imposter syndrome.  Don't be afraid to ask for help. You belong where you are it just may take some support to help you realize it.

5) Shared Governance - it's meant to encourage the campus community to engage and communicate for the greater good of the institution. It's meant to be inclusive of all departments -- faculty, staff, and students included.  I found the image below to be quite helpful in understanding it.  This is from a nursing bulletin that had been shared when I worked in the college of nursing, but would apply to any organization.

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Below are a few key ideas that stood out to me from the readings:

1. ) Learning Needs: I valued the reminder on best practices when meeting with a teacher or supervisor. Sharma (2020) encourages the one seeking help to focus on his learning and what he can do to maximize the learning experience. The responsibility and accountability should be placed mostly on the student. It’s easy to become defensive or to blame others when struggling. Therefore, I also appreciated the table of examples on how to best approach these types of situations (p.72). See screenshot below.

2.) Reading your Professor’s Door: This section actually horrified me, namely because I don’t think I’ve been very mindful of this unspoken “door language” (Sharma, p.73). It’s quite possible that I have been violating these guidelines for most of my academic career. Although, as a teacher myself, I really should have known better; I can recall many experiences when I would have given anything to secure periods of uninterrupted office/classroom work time in order to catch up on seemingly unending grading or research. And even with a door only cracked open - or even closed - students or colleagues would enter, sometimes without warning. Again, knowledge of this faculty practice is a helpful reminder for me, both as a student who needs to be mindful of these boundaries and as a teacher who shouldn’t feel badly about asking students to respect them as well.

3.) Collegiality Assessment Matrix: Baporikar (2015) mentions a “Collegiality Assessment Matrix” (p.61), which piqued my interest in measuring observable behaviors around collegiality. I was not able to find this instrument; however, I was able to uncover a similar Teacher Collegiality Scale (shorturl.at/AG156, Shah, 2011). I find this scale useful for leaders to develop a more objective understanding of their department or institution. Additionally, Olson (2009), asserts that soliciting feedback from stakeholders about their experiences increases communication, trust, and decision-making which, in turn, bolsters shared governance.

4.) Ralph S. Brown Award for Shared Governance: In AAUP’s Shared Governance document, I noticed that AAUP offers an award for administers who are exemplary in the area of shared governance. Perhaps some of you visited that link as well; but, if not, here it is. I always appreciate opportunities to recognize good in the world and think this is a noteworthy way to celebrate shared governance. The criteria are listed below. Perhaps we know someone who should be nominated? :)

1. Demonstration of the candidate's strong commitment to shared governance;

2. Ability of the candidate to work with multiple constituencies (with supporting evidence provided);

3. Capability to bring about effective change;

4. Capacity to communicate to multiple constituencies about the importance of shared governance.

5.) Collegiality and commonalities: Easterling (2011), notes that collegiality necessitates interactions between colleagues. This may seem obvious. But the point is an elegant reminder that faculty and leaders must be intentional to encourage common spaces, activities, and collaboration within their work in order to build shared experiences. This, of course, is only a starting point, as these interactions can be collegial, “hollowed” (p.8), only civil, or even uncivil in nature. Yet, interactions are what provide opportunities to take steps toward collegiality such as setting strategic goals, establishing common goals/vision, hiring right, encouraging faculty contributions, building on individual strengths and minimizing weaknesses, encouraging cooperative work, and working closely with alumni, friends, and advisory boards (Baporikar, 2015).

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This is my work-a-round to responding to Rachel using the audio tool, as I couldn't find one under the "add comments" section.

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I enjoyed the books we have read and I really enjoyed Chapter 12 in Sharma, much of the chapter resonated with me.  That being said, it was hard to pick 5 or 6, so I'll do my best.

1)  The IMPOSTER SYNDROME, I think we can all admit that we at some point in our lives have felt like the one who shouldn't be somewhere, the fear of will someone realize that I don't belong with the rest.  Grad school, the real world, this to me is a feeling that we all have had at some point.  I might be wrong, but if honesty is occurring,  I am probably right.

2) Learning needs- we need to feel that we can approach teachers, likewise we should all strive to be approachable as teachers.  I guess this one stuck out because I have worked in special education at the secondary level as a sub and currently as a para.  We don't all earn the same, we can't all sit and listen to a lecture, take notes and recall what we heard two days later for a test.  I am a visual learner, an active learner, I learn by doing and seeing not just hearing.  Its important that we understand how we learn and that we articulate our needs in a respectful manner.  Respecting different learning abilities and challenges is also key as a teacher, we need to familiarize ourselves with what our school has available for resources for students. We need to welcome these resources in our classrooms.

3) Self-Inventory on seeking help.  I thought this was a great list that was included in Sharma, page 66.
a) do I appear weak
b) am I a disappointment
c) faculty doesn't care
d) faculty is unable to help me
e) I'm a failure for not being able to do it myself.
f) negatively judged by peers or faculty
g) I don't deserve help
I have this need to turn this list into a positive Self-Inventory on seeking help.
a) I appear strong
b) faculty wants me to seek out help
c)faculty does care
d)faculty is there to help me
e)I am not viewed as a failure
f)I am praised for seeking help
g)I do deserve help but I don't deserve someone doing the work for me

the last two I have are from our readings online, specifically the academic freedom article.
4) what does academic freedom mean to me.  It means that I have choices, choices in what I study and research, the choice to express my views without fear of being censored, the choice to debate amongst my colleagues in a fair and respectful manner,  the choice to assign work and the freedom to grade that work respectfully
5) What academic freedom does not mean.  It does not mean that I have the right to harass anyone or be harassed. It doesn't protect a student from not doing what has been reasonable asked of them, it does not mean I have job security and can do whatever I want. it doesn't protect me from disagreements, nor does it give me the right ignore the rules.