People not in academia keep asking me, “How’s the second half of the semester? Must be stressful, right?” I’m always like, “Nope. You have it backward. It’s stressful for the students, not for me.”
Before I did this job, I didn’t understand how much teaching (at least the subject I teach (design)) is front-loaded. Meaning, the beginning of the semester is much heavier, for two reasons. First is that you are doing the most reading, lecturing, and discussing at the beginning because you are introducing concepts that the students will then apply throughout the second half of the semester. One of my colleagues described it as “wind them up, then turn them loose.” The wind-up is more labor-intensive because you’re explaining, delivering, and adjusting lots of content.
The second reason is that in the classes I teach, the initial projects are usually individual ones to make sure students are personally grasping the learning objectives of the class. Individual projects are far more time intensive for faculty because it’s more grading than team projects. Team projects, which come at the end of the semester, are easier to grade, simply because there are fewer. Note that I think team projects are harder on students because they are more complex and it requires coordination, people skills, etc. But I also think those are valuable skills to learn and jobs in user experience are team jobs. Design is a team sport.
So, no, I’m not stressed about the end of the semester. What I am stressed about is the beginning of next semester when I’m teaching solo—and that starts two days after this semester ends.
Day 101: The Back Nine
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I do really enjoy reading from what you have evolved from a student there with Dick and now being a professor teaching. This is really resonating with me personally. If you need help, I am more than happy to offer a hand. I simply want to learn from your teaching. I have been running my UX bootcamp for over 7 years.