• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Bob Emiliani

Lean Leadership

  • About
  • Customers
  • Workshops
  • Books
  • Speed Leadership
  • Lean Professor
  • Blog
  • Contact

The Value Of A Professor

June 19, 2014 by Bob Emiliani 1 Comment

What is the value of a professor? This is an increasingly important question as administrators evaluate options for teaching courses beyond the use of full-time and adjunct professors. If we cannot articulate our value to students and to our university leaders – and back it up with actual results – then our role in higher education will change significantly – perhaps for the better, but likely for the worse, as is normally the case when value is assumed to be recognized by institutional leaders (and other stakeholders) as high.

The work that we do consists of teaching, research, and service. Let’s look at the value of a professor from the principal job function, teaching, which is the focal point these days. To more effectively comprehend and answer this question, I make reference to my own teaching and what I think is the value that I bring to that part of my job. I’d like to know what you think of this and your views on the value of a professor in relation to teaching.

Here is what I believe comprises the value that I offer to my students and my institution:

  • Sort through articles 365 days per year to find interesting and relevant reading materials that resonate with students and help them learn
  • Create unique weekly assignments closely aligned with reading materials and responsive to focused learning outcomes
  • Make good use of precious face-to-face time in the classroom
  • Use mostly current (not dated) sources of information
  • Ability to improvise in the classroom when needed
  • Develop my own teaching materials based on my unique lines of research and industry work experience
  • Assess students in ways that align with their learning style and contribute the most to their learning
  • Develop and apply original ideas to teaching
  • Be responsive to students needs in and out of the classroom through personal attention
  • Act on feedback, from students, self, and others
  • Continuously update and improve my course materials
  • Continuously improve my teaching

In addition, I do work related to teaching pedagogy that other faculty can learn from and work related to leadership and general management that top university administrators can learn from.

The value of a professor for teaching is determined not just by what the professor does. Policy changes could help improve the value proposition of higher education for students. For example, in Lean management, decision-making is driven to the lowest level. Therefore, give students the freedom to choose all of their non-major courses. Students are adults and can readily do this to create educational experiences that have greater personal and professional relevance.

Professors must not ignore the increasingly competitive landscape for differentiated forms of human and automated teaching. Instead, we must react to it by improving the value that we offer to students and to our institutions, and by making that known to our administrators.

Filed Under: Continuous Improvement, Conventional v. Lean Thinking, Lean Teaching, LeanProfessor.com, Respect for People, Voice of the (Student) Customer

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Marcelo Veiga says

    June 19, 2014 at 10:26 am

    You mention many interesting points in your list, which deserve a careful consideration (I’m aware that most have already been discussed in some previous posts). In any case, the summary seems to highlight the value of the personal touch (in the development of course materials and the assessment process) and the physical presence of the professor, quickly reacting to students needs and acting as a mentor. I can only agree with you on that, and believe the unique combination of knowledge and experience that each professor brings to the “event” of each class is a major value proposition for the student. However, a full-time position may not necessarily be required for that. Also, the individual contribution to improving the school management processes and research activities may not justify a general case. Technology and mobility are continuously developing new solutions for a more complex mix of staff to collaborate effectively.
    Thanks and regards,
    Marcelo

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Blog Categories

  • BobEmiliani.com
  • Continuous Improvement
  • Conventional v. Lean Thinking
  • Funny Stuff
  • Kaizen
  • Lean Leadership
  • Lean Practices
  • Lean Principles
  • Lean Teaching
  • Lean Teaching Q&A
  • Lean Tools and Methods
  • Lean University
  • LeanProfessor.com
  • Question & Answer
  • Real Lean v. Fake Lean
  • Respect for People
  • Shared Learning Resources
  • The Back Story
  • Time Machine
  • Voice of the (Student) Customer

Footer

Contact Bob

[email protected]

Providence, Rhode Island

  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Special Goodies!

Origins of Lean Management in America

Lean Leadership and Music

Lean Behaviors

Sign Up For News

Search Footer Widget

Cubic LLC
© 2019 · Bob Emiliani · Website by Ella J Designs