Max. Classroom Capacity
Marcus W. Dickson
Wayne State University
I saw a sign in a classroom the other day that said “Maximum Classroom Capacity: 35. Clearly, the sign was about how many students are allowed to be in the classroom at any one time—useful information for people scheduling classes for a university.
But it got me thinking in another way—what’s MY maximum classroom capacity? In other words, what is the most—the most content knowledge, enthusiasm, experience, pedagogical knowledge, developed classroom philosophy—that I can bring into my classroom when I teach? What can I do to increase my maximum capacity in the classroom? Where would I turn for assistance in doing so?
That’s what this TIP column is going to be about. There are many excellent columnists in TIP who address issues of practice, various aspects of academic life, court rulings, history, and many other interesting topics. In this column, we’re going to focus on the classroom and other settings for student learning. I’ll try to highlight resources you might not have known about and will ask guest columnists to share their thoughts on teaching. We’ll focus on I-O, HR, OB, and related topics, and both the undergraduate and graduate levels, but always our focus will be on students in classes and how we can increase our maximum classroom capacity.
I’ve been doing a column for TIP (Good Science–Good Practice, with Jamie Madigan) for a few years now, and Wendy Becker asked me to consider taking on this new column about the I-O classroom. (That column is still going strong, with Tomas Giberson taking over my role there. Be sure to check it out in this issue.) I was excited about the prospect of this new column because, as with many of you, classroom teaching at graduate and undergraduate levels has been an important part of my work for many years. I’ve had the privilege of serving SIOP as member and then chair of the selection committee for the Distinguished Contributions in Teaching Award, and I am currently serving as the chair of SIOP’s Education and Training Committee where I work with Mikki Hebl (E&T chair-in-training) and Jim Outtz (Instruction and Education officer) on education issues. So I-O education is something I have a passion for, and I look forward to interacting with so many SIOP members who share that passion.
There are two issues I’d like to get some feedback on right off the bat. The first has to do with the issue of adjunct teaching in I-O psychology. Colleges and universities, facing budget crunches, are moving more and more towards having adjuncts teach many (mostly undergraduate) courses, and faculty unions all over the country have decried this movement on the grounds that adjuncts are exploited with very low pay and have less opportunity to be effective because of fewer resources (e.g., offices, support staff, tenure) available to them, and that ultimately, students suffer. But I-O has always been a somewhat more specialized field than some of our fellow disciplines in psychology (e.g., developmental, social), with fewer people having experience in I-O that would prepare them to teach it. So let me ask, to what extent are I-O courses being taught by adjunct versus full-time faculty where you are, and what is the impact of that? Is there something SIOP should be doing to be active on this topic? Is there “crash course” material to provide to non-I-O folks teaching I-O, or are the adjuncts teaching I-O courses trained in I-O to begin with?
The second (and somewhat related) topic is targeted toward graduate students teaching I-O courses. Given that I-O is an inherently applied field, and that many of the students taking undergraduate I-O courses have substantial work experience, what challenges do graduate students face in teaching I-O courses effectively, especially when their work experience is limited? What strategies have graduate students found to be effective when teaching workplace topics when they themselves may have less applied experience? (Of course, not all graduate students have limited work experience, but many do, and that’s the focus of this question.)
In future columns, I’ll focus on some of the initiatives from the Education and Training Committee, including the SIOP Teaching Aids Wiki (headed up by Julie Lyon; http://siopwiki.wetpaint.com/) and the efforts of the Study Abroad Subcommittee (headed by Bill Attenweiler) to promote international experiences for I-O graduate students, especially. Some of the recipients of the SIOP Distinguished Contributions in Teaching Award may also grace these pages as guest columnists (expect a phone call, you know who you are).
Reaching me is pretty easy. I am at marcus.dickson@wayne.edu, or you can give me a call at 313-577-0753 if you’d like to chat about issues affecting our max. classroom capacity. I am looking forward to hearing from you with your ideas for columns, your questions to pose to the TIP readership, and the challenges you face in the education part of your jobs.