1. Good Practice Encourages Contact.
Frequent faculty-institution contact is the most important factor in faculty motivation and involvement.
This lets out the adjunct faculty. Usually we see the boss one time a semester.
2. Good Practice Develops Reciprocity and Cooperation.
Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated.
Again this is often and easily a problem for adjuncts. We’re not in any groups, on any committees, or working any other way that gets us in touch with the teachers.
3. Good Practice Encourages Active Learning.
Faculty must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences and apply it to their daily lives.
I think this blogging helps with that.
4. Good Practice Gives Prompt Feedback.
Knowing what you know and don’t know focuses learning.
This is essential. I had a large group of students who went to large public university tell me that they didn’t get their English papers back till they had turned in three to five papers (depending on what teacher they had). That’s atrocious. I would hate it.
5. Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task.
How an institution defines time expectations for students, faculty, administrators, and other professional staff can establish the basis of high performance for all.
6. Good Practice Communicates High Expectations.
Expect more and you will get more.
I like this idea. It worked well at CC2 this semester. But at CC1 it has been working less well in the evening classes.
7. Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning.
There are many roads to learning. People bring different talents and styles of learning to college.
Absolutely. But how do we pull them together in a single classroom?
Chickering, A.W., and Gamson, Z.F. (1991). Applying the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education . New Directions for Teaching and Learning. Number 47, Fall 1991. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass Inc.