Are Senior Faculty Members Still Effective Teachers?

Writing in Faculty Focus, Maryellen Weimer takes a brief, balanced look at what is known about whether teaching effectiveness meaningfully declines with age. She says that most of the research is from 3-4 decades ago, and thus was measuring a very different senior faculty that those we now have. Weimer concludes that if there is a decline, it is very small, a perception matched by surveys of students. However, the time demands of being a professor that aren't directly related to the time actually spent teaching, can be difficult for senior faculty, especially if they are socially isolated in their practice of teaching.

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 14–16: Baltimore, MD
• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA