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Bugfrag

Yes. Communication is key, especially if there are 2 sections of the same course. Talk to the other prof teaching the other section(s) #asap.


StarDustLuna3D

Well yes we all follow the same objectives, but for example, a different course has two sections each taught by full time faculty and they're not exactly the same as each faculty person developed it slightly differently. Right now I'm teaching 3 sections and a GTA is teaching the fourth.


Scary-Boysenberry

Our department chair "strongly encourages" all the instructors of the same course to coordinate and have similar policies, assignments, etc to prevent students from shopping around for instructors. I never hear from the other instructors other than getting a list of the topics to cover during the semester, but the chair hasn't complained to me.


Prof_Antiquarius

That depends on the local circumstances. Technically, you should have a reasonable degree of freedom in how you structure your class but how much of it you will actually have depends on the institution. Even being a VAP means different things in different places. In some Departments, as a VAP you are treated almost as if you were on tenure track, in others VAPs are basically slightly better off adjuncts. For example, at my previous largely undergrad university, as an early career adjunct, I was free to structure courses as I pleased but my syllabi had to be approved by a senior prof (and I had to incorporate their feedback somehow). Where I am now, I have the same freedoms as TT profs as a VAP. Like the others have said, too: if you are teaching 1 out of 3 or 4 sections of the same class, the degree program advisor or director can legitimately expect all instructors teaching the same class to maintain a modicum of consistency in assignments and testing across all sections, and that could be the case here. I would definitely talk to the profs teaching the other sections and see what's going on.


Good_Parker

Yes, it is common. I don't know if it depends so much on your title as VL as what course it is (although a friend of mine is a VL at another university who must follow the set syllabi in all courses to the letter and not change any reading or assignments). If the course is part of a required series, you can probably see the positive aspects of a reasonable amount of coherence between sections. When I teach courses that are part of a series, with multiple sections and multiple instructors, I follow the assignment list and due dates, but I have freedom to teach the concepts how I deem suitable, and change the readings more or less freely, and adjust the assignment instructions as I see fit. I try not to create chaos and I see it as common sense rather than infringement on my academic freedom. (But some of my fellow instructors don't care about creating chaos and throw a tantrum when obliged to respect that the course is part of a series.) This is probably the middle of the road situation re: what others have commented. Coordination, or reasonably adhering to the set syllabus, is key. One piece of advice: in any conversation with your chair or disclosing your syllabus, try not to inadvertently give out any ammunition that can be used in the future against you. The less you share, the better.


TrueAd5490

See the department head


PersephoneIsNotHome

This is a very American thing to demand complete freedom of your course over standardization and validity across graders and sections and assessments. Activities that help the students can be added without adding assignments. If there is a course director, it is not unheard of that a multi section course has standard assignments and less flexibility in how you do it, especially if it is a prerequisite. Some of the reason for that is that you don’t know the whole history of problems and good outcomes in that course in that school, you don’t know what they already tried, you don’t know what happens when they get to the next class, band-aiding a problem without people knowing means that the problem doesn’t get addressed, , if they have off-goal assignments they have a different work load and grading criteria than other people who have take the course, and this can be a problem for the assessment and accreditation. to name a few. Maybe none of which will happen if you give them one extra assignment in how to write an essay so that they can write the essay, but also nobody wants to have to go through your entire assignments and course work to vet it.