Last week, Terence O’Neill (Michigan State), Nancy Lovas (UNC Chapel Hill), and I chatted for an hour about our work as entrepreneurship librarians and teachers of for-credit classes. Terence is writing an article about his class, Nancy is writing about hers at BizLibratory, and I’ve posted on mine before (links will follow). What we gain from teaching our classes, including sometimes extra income, was part of our conversation.
Here is a post about doing work a librarian really enjoys. It’s also a post about unfunded labor. (The work wasn’t at first.)
No, I won’t be encouraging librarians to pursue unfunded labor, or to acquiesce to unfunded labor when asked. I present my own cost/benefit analysis below.
Nor is this a post about the value of one-shot instruction versus embedded librarianship versus credit classes. All three can happily coexist and further the work and goals of a liaison, the library, and the campus.
Context
I created my entrepreneurship and economic development class as a Coleman Fellow for Entrepreneurship Education. The Coleman Foundation of Chicago funded faculty outside of business schools to teach entrepreneurship. The goal was promoting cross-campus entrepreneurship: arts entrepreneurs, science entrepreneurs, teacher entrepreneurs, etc. (Fun fact: the Colemans once owned the Fannie May candy company.)
Dr. Dianne Welsh, the head of the UNCG cross-campus entrepreneurship program, recruited me to become a Coleman Fellow and create a cross-listed research class. (A year after that post, the Marketing department asked to be added as the fourth cross-listing). I first taught the class in Spring 2014, and have taught it every spring since.
The UNCG grant for the Coleman Fellows compensated us mainly by providing professional travel money, a lot more than we receive annually from the UNCG library. I used these bonus travel funds to attend the annual Fellows Summit in Chicago; entrepreneurship education conferences like USASBE, GCEC, and SBI; and also library conferences like LOEX. I benefited greatly from the learning, networking, and yes, the fun at these conferences. Outcomes from that additional travel funding helped result in some awards and getting promoted to full professor.
So I owe Dr. Welsh much for the opportunities she opened up for me. And Coleman.
A few years ago, the Coleman Foundation decided to focus its efforts on Chicagoland instead of the fellows program. The fellows had one final summit in Chicago and then the game was over. No more extra travel money. (The foundation allowed us to continue using the title “Coleman Fellow” even though we longer receive funding from the foundation.)
I decided to continue to teach my class. I do consider “why?” on occasion. And sometimes people politely ask if I get paid for it.
Why I still teach my class
Let’s see…
Some of these reasons connect or overlap.
1. Fun & variety. I like teaching and really like getting to know students at a level not possible in other forms of research instruction. The students are usually nice, interesting, and appreciative. I also enjoy the variety that teaching a class once a year provides to my work at UNCG. I’ve been here a long time now, so fun and variety are very important in keeping me happy here.
2. Teaching vital topics. No other class on campus focuses on research skills like this. The students find value in the class and its learning outcomes. That’s very meaningful to me.
3. Better understanding of students and their needs. It can be inspiring, humbling, and/or saddening sometimes to learn about students’ goals, successes, needs and struggles. I also learn more about campus support services and policies concerning learning disabilities, health and safety emergencies, etc. (Yes, those things have come up too.) Understanding students at this level isn’t possible in one-shots.
4. Better understanding of teachers and their needs. I know now what it is like to deal with the complexities of teaching: managing instructional technology, negotiating campus systems (like the registration and grading infrastructures), dealing with academic bureaucracy, and experiencing the joys and frustrations of working closely with students. When I talk to other teaching faculty about their classes (often in preparation for one-shots), I can better relate to their teaching needs and often can provide better liaison service in response.
5. Improved connections with the faculty. Faculty who know I teach a class often recognize me as a fellow teacher. I’m perceived less often as an “other” and get more respect.
6. Keeping my teaching and research skills sharp. Staying up to date with Census datasets (and the Census website, which so often changes) is an easy example of this. What I learn from this class pays many dividends with one-shots and embedded work as well as with research consultations. I often test a new active learning idea in my class before using it in a one-shot or embedded class.
7. Finally, the workload is manageable. This is intentional (and would have to be, right?). The class is working well according to assessments, including student performance and evaluations, so I don’t need a lot of time to revise and update the syllabus each year. Class size has ranged from 3 to 15 students (currently, 12), so grading and student conversations outside of class are manageable.
If some of those things stop happening, yeah, I will have to reconsider teaching this class. For now though, I’m ok with teaching it for free. But make your own analysis when needed.
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