the average prep time was 15 minutes? Are these TAships where the students aren't lesson planning at all, or classes they have taught several times in the past? Because I don't know how you can prep a new hour-long lesson in 15 minutes, that seems insane (but if you figure out how let me know, cause I spend almost twice as much time prepping each new class as I do teaching it).
Ha, no. The averages were only taken on makring time (and from < 10 students)
We used to get an hour prep for each class. :(
(I would note the 15 minutes prep is also only for the FIRST time you teach a class - after that you get nothing. So if you teach say, Calc 1 to 4 groups, you get 15 minutes prep time for the lot, whereas last year you got 4 hours)
The only explanation we've been given is
"It might be that an inexperienced tutor requires more preparation time, but as Matt points out, a more experienced tutor doesn't require so much. So, I expect the 15 minutes is trying to strike a balance with that, without requiring the billing system to take on an extra level of complexity"
Which makes no sense when you can only claim 15 minutes prep time for the first class. There is no averaging opportunity.
Okay, I'm not in math, but it takes me longer than 15 minutes to prep for a course that I've taught repeatedly, with the same textbook, for four years now. I'm psyched to have gotten to the point where an hour of prep time is all I need. I probably could prep it in fifteen minutes or less, but the quality of the course would definitely go down. Instead of tailoring the class to the needs of the specific group of students I have I would just give the same lecture over and over with no reference to current events or current texts, and no references to things the students brought up in past discussions. Boring and ineffective.
WTF. My husband is an assistant professor and has been teaching college-level math for... at least 8 years now, I think? He still budgets an hour for each lesson plan for a class he hasn't taught before (it doesn't always take that long, especially with lower-level classes, but 15 min?????).
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We used to get an hour prep for each class. :(
(I would note the 15 minutes prep is also only for the FIRST time you teach a class - after that you get nothing. So if you teach say, Calc 1 to 4 groups, you get 15 minutes prep time for the lot, whereas last year you got 4 hours)
The only explanation we've been given is
"It might be that an inexperienced tutor requires more preparation time, but as Matt points out, a more experienced tutor doesn't require so much. So, I expect the 15 minutes is trying to strike a balance with that, without requiring the billing system to take on an extra level of complexity"
Which makes no sense when you can only claim 15 minutes prep time for the first class. There is no averaging opportunity.
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That's a pretty ridiculous system.
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If only I could convince the department of this!
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