Comments on: The Cost of Cheap Education: Another Perspective http://teachingthursday.org/2009/10/08/the-cost-of-cheap-education-another-perspective/ A Teaching Blog from the University of North Dakota Office of Instructional Development Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:49:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Tom http://teachingthursday.org/2009/10/08/the-cost-of-cheap-education-another-perspective/#comment-112 Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:26:32 +0000 http://teachingthursday.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/the-cost-of-cheap-education-another-perspective/#comment-112 “Secondly, since these instructors are not tenure-line faculty, the quality of teaching can suffer.”

Does the literature back up this premise? I know this is a commonly held brief, usually by tenure-line faculty ;-) , who are sure they will do a better job in the classroom than the non-tenure instructors. I’m not sure I’m buying it. I should add that I’m referring to lecturers and instructors, full-time educators and not TA’s.

]]> By: Scott J. Baxter http://teachingthursday.org/2009/10/08/the-cost-of-cheap-education-another-perspective/#comment-111 Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:33:29 +0000 http://teachingthursday.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/the-cost-of-cheap-education-another-perspective/#comment-111 Just a thought.

“First, since these classes generally have the largest enrollment, they tend to be taught in the least pedogically optimal manner.”

For some courses, maybe, but when considers first year composition and first year speech communication — two courses required of all students at many universities — the situation is different. These are usually small classes (20-25 in many universities) that are either writing or communication intensive. And, at least in my experience, they are spaces where many of those teaching them use and are encouraged to use all sorts of innovative teaching methods.

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