How to Become an Effective Course Director - by Bruce W Newton & Jay H Menna & Patrick W Tank (Paperback)

About the Book

The monograph presents data from faculty who may become course directors on what they consider are the most important attributes. These data are compared and contrasted to what current course directors believe and to what the students actually desire.

Book Synopsis

Which Way Does Your Desk Face? Early in my tenure as a medical neuroscience course director, I started receiving comments on student evaluations stating that I was "unapproachable". For the ten years prior to becoming the course director I taught full-time in the gross anatomy course and gave lectures in the medical neuroscience, histology and embryology courses. This amounted to over 130 student contact hours per year, during which time I had not received negative comments concerning "approachability". At the start of my third year as the medical neuroscience course director, I asked Dr. P- rick Tank, who was, and still is, the gross anatomy course director, why I was g- ting such comments. He looked up at me while I was standing in his office do- way and simply said, "Which way does your desk face?" He then explained to me how he had arranged his office so that when he sat at his desk he faced the door to give students his immediate attention when they came to see him. My desk and chair faced the window, putting my back to the students. He stated that while my office arrangement avoided annoying refl- tions on my computer monitor, it sent an unintended message to the students that I did not consider them a priority. Once I moved my desk so that my chair faced the door the perception of me as being unapproachable was resolved.

From the Back Cover

If you think you know what students expect from a course director - think again. The surprising results show that students desire qualities in a course director that are different from what course directors think students want. This book gives advice on how to manage the differences in expectations between students and veteran or beginning course directors. The authors learned the hard way and bring over 60 years of collective course director and academic dean experience to bear on topics such as "Living with our Differences, Course Organization, Responding to Student Issues, Measuring Course Effectiveness and Pitfalls to Avoid". Written from the perspective of medical education, this book is germane for anyone who directs a health-related professions or college-level course. This is an essential, concise survival guide for anyone who desires to be a course director or, more likely, who has been thrust into the position and needs a primer. Get the upper hand on the students (and the administration) right from the start by applying the advice given in this book.