OT: Teaching at a CC

[der.hans]

Am 18. Nov, 2010 schwätzte Eric Cope so:

> I don't speak from personal experience, but based on talking to professors
> at ASU, things only get more political the higher you go. Community college
> is less political than Universities. Based on those conversations, I agree
> that Lisa sugar coated it, and may even have some chocolate syrup on it too!

Thus far, 3 years, the department has been very supportive of our
GNU/Linux program at Mesa Community College. We're even having a
meeting tomorrow to discuss how the department can help us improve our 
program. The instructors get a chance to give input on what classes should
be taught for the degree. I think that's outstanding.

As an adjunct instructor I don't have to deal with politics.

I also have no realistic options for becoming a full-time instructor in
the current economy and state office political climate. Both of those
issues are above the community college level and way over my pay grade :).

For the department, the keys are that the students are learning and are
working towards a degree and usable skills. Students signing up for more
classes is also good as we need certain numbers for the class to run, but
the department seems more interested in longer-term outcomes.

At the college adminstration/infrastructure level I'm certain there are
politics, just like at most any large institution. The difference being
that faculty with little technical knowledge have input in addition to the
managers with little technical knowledge :).

The little exposure I've had was sufficient to convince me that Randy runs
a good technical and educational shop over at Estrella Mountain. I don't
know about the politics, but I'm certain the students have a great
opportunity to get the knowledge they're seeking.

I think we do a good job at Mesa, but I am definitely playing catchup to
Randy's environment. He's full-time, I'm adjunct, so I predict I'll always
be playing catchup.

ciao,

der.hans
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