My website poll of 96 junior faculty members has an unequivocal winner. The poll asks, “What is the hardest part about being a junior faculty member?” Over a third of the respondents chose “Teaching takes up so much time” as their response.
Exactly How Time Consuming is Teaching? Surveys of how professors spend their time indicate that professors as a group, from junior to full professors, spend 29-30 hours a week at a minimum on activities related to teaching. Obviously, new faculty, who tend to have a higher teaching load than do full professors, and who are often teaching classes that they have never taught before, probably spend more than 30 hours a week. At some colleges with more of a teaching emphasis, it has been estimated that new professors may spend 50-60 hours a week on teaching.
What Can You Do To Lighten Your Teaching Burden? Robert Boice, the author of Advice to New Faculty Members, devotes the first 100 pages of his book to teaching. His advice can be boiled down to “moderation in all things.” When it comes to teaching, there are specific actions you can take. Here are some of his recommendations that I believe...