Hi Michael,

Thanks for the comment! So, what I think may be different from department to department in general — I have noticed that research agenda for professors is very important (hence R1). I think if it’s possible, making research agenda a part of a course or creating a course based off research is very common. It allows for ideas to be expanded upon, built, or at least discussed. Because I’m from the computer science department it’s very common to have these things. Especially in capstone courses (and even early courses depending on the research).

At my institution — this wasn’t the case. Research “#1 priority” and even research labs weren’t a thing. And the focus was specifically teaching the material as textbook as possible (with variation to some professors interests, but not research related). As for hindrance, I don’t think it hinders per say but the material and focus is taught differently.

I believe students here are prepared for the working work regardless. Although, I do believe if they chose to go to graduate school they would be at an advantage given the exposure.

Take this with a grain of salt as these are my observations and opinions through lived experience. But hopefully it gives it some weight to at least the college of engineering district.

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Great post! As far as the service portion is concerned, how do you manage to incorporate service work into your already busy schedule as a graduate student? And do you believe any service opportunity helps you discover yourself, or should it be an activity that relates to your interests?

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Hi, you’ve given me some great tips on being more comfortable as myself in the classroom. I teach a lab class at Tech and find that while the students are growing more comfortable, some will come to office hours and will either be cautious to ask any questions or simply want the straight up answer without working for it. It becomes challenging to ask them anything and try to teach them without talking”at” them. Any ideas?

Hi, great post! and interesting take on teaching at different institutions. Do you think that at places like VA Tech teach specifically to prepare students for research (since this is a R1 school)? And if so, do you think it helps or hinders students from grasping the core concepts?

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I think open access, peer-reviewed journals are the way to go. I worry about self-publishing on places academia(dot)edu, specifically about quality and the ability to trust the work enough to build on it or use it as a citation. I think for peer-review journals to be available open access, they will all have to abandon print formats and switch to online online. And I think they will need to be supported by colleges and universities. I think Journal of Career and Technical Education is a good model.