Teaching courses

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Ollie123

Full Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
5,526
Reaction score
3,481
Quick question for those who are currently or were recently on the academic job market or may otherwise be familiar.

Any significant advantages to teaching particular courses over others? So far I have taught mostly upper-level seminars. I'd love to teach stats but would likely need to TA for it in order to be eligible to serve as instructor. I imagine experience with the "unpopular" courses (Stats, research methods) would be beneficial on the job market, but I'm not sure if the advantage would be all that substantial. Given it would involve a new prep and possibly a semester of TAing before I could teach it myself, I'm debating whether that sacrifice is worth any advantage it would give me.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Quick question for those who are currently or were recently on the academic job market or may otherwise be familiar.

Any significant advantages to teaching particular courses over others? So far I have taught mostly upper-level seminars. I'd love to teach stats but would likely need to TA for it in order to be eligible to serve as instructor. I imagine experience with the "unpopular" courses (Stats, research methods) would be beneficial on the job market, but I'm not sure if the advantage would be all that substantial. Given it would involve a new prep and possibly a semester of TAing before I could teach it myself, I'm debating whether that sacrifice is worth any advantage it would give me.

I'd say it depends on where you are applying to some extent. I would say that you definitely want some "bread and butter" courses (e.g., research methods, intro) on your CV if you have a choice in the matter.

Not sure what your timeframe is, but you do want to get the most bang for your buck. Being able to teach stats is highly valued - some positions even look specifically for someone with a particular type of statistical expertise (e.g., a good quant person). But I am not sure if Stats 101 is going to make that case for you (unless you can teach grad students?).

I'd suggest getting research methods. Personally I found that class to be more enjoyable to teach than expected. I think a lot of search committees just want to see that you meet a threshold for teaching (have taught a few courses) and then don't care beyond that. But SOME committees are going to dive deeper into what you ahve taught, your evals, etc.
 
Hrmm.

Okay - I'll see if I can get into one of "bread & butter" courses. I should have 2-3 courses under my belt before I finish grad school, but all would be junior/senior seminars (ironically, I'm probably far more qualified to teach stats/methods than some of the classes I have gotten). No way they would let a grad student serve as primary instructor for a grad-level course here, but I might be able to make a case for undergrad stats or methods. I just wasn't sure "how" valuable it would be since obviously a new prep of stats/methods would be an astonishing amount of work (especially since they have labs so I'd need to plan those out too), so I'm trying to balance the merits of that vs. other things. Appreciate the input!

I'll probably be looking at R1s/R2s and academic med (at the latter I assume they won't really care at all). Generally speaking, the more research the better as long as it doesn't completely tank my ability to have some kind of social life:)
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Don't know whether this is helpful, but an acquaintance in clinical psych at my uni got experience teaching grad seminars at a nearby FSPS.
 
I thought about that actually, but most of the places I'll be looking at might consider any affiliation with one (even adjuncting) to be "toxic" to a CV. There's no guarantee it would have an effect but I think its probably as likely to hurt me as to help me. If I do a post-doc, it might be worth it to try and adjunct for a grad class someplace legit though.
 
Stats and methods are very helpful courses to have in your pocket, IMO. When I was on the market, I tried to sell myself as someone who was interested in and eager to teach stats and methods....and I know this was seen as valuable by the places who interviewed me. I'd taught methods as a grad student, but never stats (though I TA'd for an advanced stats class three times), and I was still able to market myself as a stats/methods person. Worked perfectly; I taught stats both semesters my first year on the job and this year I'm doing methods.

I'm not sure why you would need to TA for it before teaching it, unless that's a tradition upheld in your department. But either one would be a great tool in your application toolbox. Any clinical student can teach abnormal; few are able/willing to teach the core methods and stats courses.
 
Hrmm.

Okay - I'll see if I can get into one of "bread & butter" courses. I should have 2-3 courses under my belt before I finish grad school, but all would be junior/senior seminars (ironically, I'm probably far more qualified to teach stats/methods than some of the classes I have gotten). No way they would let a grad student serve as primary instructor for a grad-level course here, but I might be able to make a case for undergrad stats or methods. I just wasn't sure "how" valuable it would be since obviously a new prep of stats/methods would be an astonishing amount of work (especially since they have labs so I'd need to plan those out too), so I'm trying to balance the merits of that vs. other things. Appreciate the input!

I'll probably be looking at R1s/R2s and academic med (at the latter I assume they won't really care at all). Generally speaking, the more research the better as long as it doesn't completely tank my ability to have some kind of social life:)

2-3 courses should be plenty for an R1. Not sure about an R2 or SLAC though. All i can say is that from my own experience, I had taught about 9 courses when I was on the market (but keep in mind, i kept teaching during postdoc).

Yeah seconded for UG stats - why would you need to TA first?
 
Just department tradition - for courses with both a lecture and lab component (stats, methods) they usually prefer to have people who taught the lab section serve as instructor (sort of a "promote from within"). I never did since I was funded through research grants most years. We are pretty strong on stats as a department, so there usually isn't any shortage of people willing/able to teach it.

I might be able to convince them to make an exception, just not banking on it.
 
Last edited:
I thought about that actually, but most of the places I'll be looking at might consider any affiliation with one (even adjuncting) to be "toxic" to a CV. There's no guarantee it would have an effect but I think its probably as likely to hurt me as to help me. If I do a post-doc, it might be worth it to try and adjunct for a grad class someplace legit though.

I did think about that as a possible detriment. The particular place I was thinking of wasn't on the level of Argosy, but still, I get your point.

One of my pals (now on the market as a "quant" person) got a VAP year without having ever served as instructor of record, but s/he also has a masters in demography. I'm assuming that VAP would be a fallback for you, but thought it to be an anecdote worth mentioning anyway.
 
I did think about that as a possible detriment. The particular place I was thinking of wasn't on the level of Argosy, but still, I get your point.

One of my pals (now on the market as a "quant" person) got a VAP year without having ever served as instructor of record, but s/he also has a masters in demography. I'm assuming that VAP would be a fallback for you, but thought it to be an anecdote worth mentioning anyway.

Yeah on the FSPS point, I was advised to avoid any affiliation at all costs before entering the market. There may be some committees that view it negatively.
 
Ollie, another idea to boost your teaching section is to guest lecture. Good way to try new topics and actually great practice. A small section with some invited teaching experiences looks nice, IMO, especially if you can't teach many full courses.
 
Already got a bundle of guest lectures (including one graduate-level and one medical) - agree that those were helpful. When you say you taught about 9 courses, was that 9 different preps, or just 9 times serving as instructor of record? I'll have a fair number of times serving as instructor, but have been re-teaching courses to save on time.

wig - Yes, VAP would actually be a very distant fallback for me. Never seen any advantage to those positions over more traditional paths if one is aiming for a research-heavy career.
 
Already got a bundle of guest lectures (including one graduate-level and one medical) - agree that those were helpful. When you say you taught about 9 courses, was that 9 different preps, or just 9 times serving as instructor of record? I'll have a fair number of times serving as instructor, but have been re-teaching courses to save on time.

wig - Yes, VAP would actually be a very distant fallback for me. Never seen any advantage to those positions over more traditional paths if one is aiming for a research-heavy career.

9 courses as instructor of record. I think I had 6 different preps, with 3 repeat courses. According to places I interviewed at, that was a little above average taking into account ongoing publications and such. Obviously if you had a year as a VAP or something then you'd have tons more experience, but I always adjuncted. For your goals, you sound like you are in good shape - a stats or RM course might make your CV look a little more attractive, but probably not necessary.
 
I'v had 3 courses, 2 different, and a bunch of guest lecturing experience I'm teaching for a fourth time for sure this spring and maybe a few more times after that. Is that a good start?
 
I'v had 3 courses, 2 different, and a bunch of guest lecturing experience I'm teaching for a fourth time for sure this spring and maybe a few more times after that. Is that a good start?

Sounds like a good start to me. It really depends on what kind of institution you want to go to as well.
 
Top