25 Year Anniversary (Reflections on teaching)

As noted in my previous blog posts (see here and here) on the mark of 25 years of "professing", this post offers a few reflections on teaching.

Prior to teaching my first lecture course, I had approximately 5 years experience as a teaching assistant, which started in my final year as an undergraduate student for a critical thinking course.  I then TA-ed for intro philosophy as an MA student, and political philosophy as a PhD student.  My very first lecture course was in my final year of my PhD at the University of Bristol and it was to teach (on somewhat short notice) a full semester course on the thought of Karl Marx to approximately 40 students in year 2.  Luckily I had TA-ed that course the year before, but getting the lecture notes prepared was very labour intense.  This was back in the times when lecture notes were made on  acetate sheets for the overhead projector.  In the years to come, as I moved first to Aberdeen University, then Birmingham University and then to Manchester University I had to learn how to give lectures to large classes.  At Manchester, for example, I had to give lectures to the large 1st year course (300 students) and 2nd year theory course (200 students).  It was fortunate for me that I had about 3 years to refine my lecturing skills before doing larger classes.  In the first few years of teaching no class was larger than 60 students. 

By the time I was doing the large lecture course at Manchester power point had become a standard tool with large lectures.  I have a memory of using it in my first large class, with the text appearing on the screen  (unbeknownst to me) to the sound of screeching brakes!  I quickly learned the "ins and outs" of the new technology, and the feel for larger lectures, in that year at Manchester.  

I was always over prepared for my lectures (and probably still fall into that category).  I always had lectures prepared weeks in advance, and was prepared for the technology to fail (e.g. power point) so I had a backup plan prepared.  I once had a colleague who told me they would just scribble a few points on a napkin before their lectures, and then ad-lib the rest.  A stark contrast to my planning the content for each topic in the lecture, with critical quotations to cite, plus anticipating  various lines of questions students might ask (but rarely did).

Ironically the best thing to happen in a few large lecture courses was for the power point to fail, which first happened in a class of 200 students about 20 years ago.  I had to improvise, the room had a dated chalk board, and I managed to give a great lecture by relying on memory and jotting a few points on the board for all to see.  Once that happened my anxiety about the technology failing subsided as I knew I could manage if I had to.  In 2018 I actually went back to using chalkboard in a smaller lecture course of 60 students, and found it liberating.  But now my lecture courses are all large (close to 300 students), so I use power point exclusively.

I feel I really found my stride in teaching after around a decade of teaching.  I always enjoyed teaching from the beginning of my career, but once I felt my competence with the craft was more firmly established, my love for teaching flourished.  I enjoy teaching more now than at any other time in my career.  I see this as a blessing as I know this is not the experience of everyone in the teaching profession.  It is confirmation that I made the right decision in going into higher education as my vocation. 

I also attribute my love of teaching to my belief that research and teaching are intricately linked.  Over my career I have published 3 textbooks- here, here and (most recently) here.  I have never considered teaching as something that detracts from my research, but instead see it as integral to it.  On my sabbaticals in UCLA and Bilkent University I actually taught classes instead of taking the time away from all teaching.  And for over a decade at Queen's I taught an overload of courses, beyond what I was expected to teach.  I really benefit from the structure of having to be prepared to teach specific material at specific days and times during the fall and autumn teaching terms.  I continue doing research year round, but am always eager to get back to teaching after the summer term.  I enjoy engaging with students, their curiosity and enthusiasm fuels mine. 

Without a doubt the biggest challenge in the classroom for me over the past 25 years was the school closures during the pandemic.  I had to move all my classes fully online in 2020-2021, and ended up making over a hundred online lecture videos.  At first this was a really stressful process.  But then I became determined to make it the best experience possible for the students, to minimize the disruption to their education, and came to really enjoy the experience (though would prefer to always have the option of in-person instruction which I think is much better for both student and instructor).

Because I love teaching, I have no retirement plans on the foreseeable horizon.  I have taught thousands of students at 7 different universities in 5 different countries in departments of philosophy, political science and public policy.  And I look forward to making the most of all the future opportunities I get to play some small role in the intellectual development of more students, which in return helps ensure that I myself continue to grow and develop as both a scholar and teacher.  

Cheers, 

Colin