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  • Book
  • © 2009

How to Become an Effective Course Director

Authors:

  1. Bruce W. Newton

    1. Medical Sciences, Dept. Neurobiology &, University of Arkansas for, Little Rock, U.S.A.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Jay H. Menna

    1. Dept. Neurology, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, U.S.A.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  3. Patrick W. Tank

    1. Dept. Neurology, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, U.S.A.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • How to avoid common pitfalls

  • Provides survival tips

  • Provides information on what the administration should do to support course directors

  • How to deal with issues of eroding professionalism

  • Special considerations needed for courses that have a laboratory component

  • The differences between integrated vs. traditional curriculum: Which is right for you?

  • 6-12 difficult scenarios/case studies that course directors face

  • Self-study experience: suggestions will be provided on how to deal with the potential problems highlighted in the case studies

Sections

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages 1-11
    PDF

  2. What Is A Course Director?

    • Bruce W. Newton, Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank
    Pages 1-1

  3. Whose Idea Was This?

    • Bruce W. Newton, Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank
    Pages 1-1

  4. Anatomy of a Course Director

    • Bruce W. Newton, Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank
    Pages 1-7

  5. Living With Our Differences

    • Bruce W. Newton, Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank
    Pages 1-5

  6. Where Do I Start?

    • Bruce W. Newton, Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank
    Pages 1-15

  7. Managing Courses with Laboratories

    • Bruce W. Newton, Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank
    Pages 1-4

  8. Responding to Student Problems and Issues

    • Bruce W. Newton, Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank
    Pages 1-3

  9. Measuring Course Effectiveness

    • Bruce W. Newton, Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank
    Pages 1-5

  10. Documentation

    • Bruce W. Newton, Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank
    Pages 1-2

  11. Impediments

    • Bruce W. Newton, Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank
    Pages 1-7

  12. Pitfalls

    • Bruce W. Newton, Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank
    Pages 1-8

  13. Professionalism

    • Bruce W. Newton, Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank
    Pages 1-3

  14. Administrative Support

    • Bruce W. Newton, Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank
    Pages 1-8

  15. Special Considerations

    • Bruce W. Newton, Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank
    Pages 1-6

  16. Back Matter

    Pages 1-3
    PDF
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About this book

Which Way Does Your Desk Face? Early in my tenure as a medical neuroscience course director, I started receiving comments on student evaluations stating that I was “unapproachable”. For the ten years prior to becoming the course director I taught full-time in the gross anatomy course and gave lectures in the medical neuroscience, histology and embryology courses. This amounted to over 130 student contact hours per year, during which time I had not received negative comments concerning “approachability”. At the start of my third year as the medical neuroscience course director, I asked Dr. P- rick Tank, who was, and still is, the gross anatomy course director, why I was g- ting such comments. He looked up at me while I was standing in his office do- way and simply said, “Which way does your desk face?” He then explained to me how he had arranged his office so that when he sat at his desk he faced the door to give students his immediate attention when they came to see him. My desk and chair faced the window, putting my back to the students. He stated that while my office arrangement avoided annoying refl- tions on my computer monitor, it sent an unintended message to the students that I did not consider them a priority. Once I moved my desk so that my chair faced the door the perception of me as being unapproachable was resolved.
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Keywords

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Authors and Affiliations

  • Medical Sciences, Dept. Neurobiology &, University of Arkansas for, Little Rock, U.S.A.

    Bruce W. Newton

  • Dept. Neurology, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, U.S.A.

    Jay H. Menna, Patrick W. Tank

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Bibliographic Information

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Access via your institution

Buy it now

eBook USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

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