Question for any university lecturers.....?

Question

this is particularly for those in science. do you actually have a desire to teach, i know university is about independent learning etc but really is it that hard to put together some decent notes you are getting paid? most of you seem only concerned about your own research/lab projects.

Answer 1

You have asked an important question but the answer is unfortunate. It happens that people at the beginning of their academic careers are almost exclusively evaluated on the basis of their research and any time they spend on improving their teaching comes at the expense of that function. Typically, someone who already has tenure "might" spend more time on the teaching function because it will not affect her career as negatively.

Ideally the teaching should be done by more settled scholars but that's not the way the system works. At the very best universities it is usually the case that very senior people do take responsibility for even elementary courses with the quiz sections taught by graduate students and teaching assistants. Having a young lecturer be responsible for a large lecture class is very often unfair to both the lecturer and the students.

Answer 2

I'm not a lecturer but I know what you mean. They are economical with information. Lazy sods

Answer 3

True. Try to engage your professor with interesting questions that make him think of something else besides his own research and the " publish or perish rule. "