TFs Air Qualms About Gen Ed in Town Hall

Nearly 30 teaching fellows from across multiple academic disciplines shared their qualms about teaching for the Program in General Education at a town hall meeting Wednesday in Dudley House, the only meeting of its kind to help a committee charged with reviewing the program.

The meeting, which drew graduate students with varying levels of experience from departments as widespread as History and Astronomy, was the fifth in a series of town halls intended to gather feedback about Gen Ed from a variety of perspectives, according to committee chair and Philosophy professor Sean D. Kelly. The committee met with students four times during October and plans to meet with faculty members in similar meetings this semester.

Prompted by questions from Kelly and Maya R. Jasanoff ’96, a History professor and a member of the reviewing committee, TFs discussed the purpose of the current General Education program, section sizes, and TF assignment, among other topics.

The issue of section size in particular spurred heated discussion among the TFs, many of whom said they could not provide adequate feedback and time for students in sections of 18 or more students. TFs unanimously said that “a lot” would be solved if section sizes were smaller.

“Structurally, Gen Ed does not give me the opportunity to give these students the time they deserve,” said Taylor H. Cowdery, a doctoral candidate in the English department who has taught in departmental courses as well as in Gen Ed areas.

He added that unlike in the Program in General Education, department section sizes tend to be smaller, and level of interest among students tends to be greater.

Ryan Loomis, an Astronomy graduate student who teaches a course in the Science of the Physical Universe category of Gen Ed, agreed, suggesting that administrators lower the section size in Gen Ed courses before making other changes to see how that might improve the program.

“This is one place where it’s one change in one dimension,” he said. “You can use that as a scientific measure to see if this actually did change something.”

TFs also argued that having students with differing levels of background knowledge in these Gen Ed courses tended to exacerbate grade inflation and makes it difficult for the TFs to gauge at which level to teach their students.

Raymond W. Coderre III, an assistant dean for faculty affairs who helps facilitate the town hall style meetings, said that the undergraduate and TF meetings touched upon overlapping themes, like the purpose of the program and the level of difficulty in these courses.

Once the committee finishes a report on its findings in the spring, it will then give it to Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith for further review, according to Kelly. After Smith reviews it, he may then green-light the report for discussion among the faculty in the FAS.

—Staff writer Meg P. Bernhard can be reached at meg.bernhard@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @Meg_Bernhard.