Required Faculty Training - How to Teach Civil Engineering

摘要

Most new civil engineering faculty are hired with the presumption that they know how to teach. However, the usual extent of their formal faculty training is occasionally filling in for their faculty advisor while in graduate school. At West Point, we could claim that since our new faculty trained soldiers every day prior to going to graduate school, there is no need to waste valuable time and resources on formal faculty training. But, is that enough? At West Point, that answer is a resounding no! Everyone can improve their performance with proper training, but especially anyone doing something for the first time - like new teachers! Every department at West Point has some form of instructor summer training for their new faculty. The training programs range from two to six weeks with all programs having some type of practice teaching sessions. Even with the formal training programs, United States Military Academy (USMA) new faculty are expected to continue to learn a lot about the basics of leading classroom instruction throughout their first and second semesters of teaching. However, the faculty training gives our new instructors a theoretical foundation, and tangible examples as well as in-class experience prior to their first day in front of students. The experience also provides our new instructors a much higher maturity and experience level before the first semester begins and prevents on-the-job training from interfering with the students' education.