With Tennessee Tech’s Fall Semester fast approaching, professors are putting the finishing touches on their preparation for the new school year.
Computer Science Senior Lecturer Eric Brown said the process for new year preparation is interesting. Brown said in the computer science program, there is no static material outside of foundational elements. Brown said he must adapt his content to the most recent developments.
“What’s been the current events, what’s are current things going on, what new innovations have come out in the last two or three months that are relevant to the course I am teaching,” Brown said. “So, a lot of it is making sure that our material is still relevant to the you know, a very quickly changing landscape.”
For Fashion Merchandising and Design Professor Hannah Upole, the transition from summer to school mirrors that of a student. Upole said she balancing rest with preparation as she gets excited for the new year.
“I really start about the middle of July or so with getting back into planning course material,” Upole said. “Getting everything put together, figuring out all of your new projects maybe that you want to work on, kind of reviewing what you had from past semesters, what worked well and what didn’t.”
In addition to taking time away from education, Upole said she teaches summer courses and oversees some internships. She said the bulk of the work for her begins around this time of year as she too updates her content to reflect the most current information.
Brown said new courses are planned over the course of several months, and they require similar preparation. Brown said strategic frameworks are in place to make sure the right course content is covered, but professors have some flexibility on how to teach the material.
Upole said she is teaching some new courses this year, as well as some courses she taught before. For familiar classes, Upole said she tries to make sure the learning objectives are still met with existing content.
“Also, just trying to think are there ways that maybe, different learning styles can be incorporated into some of those projects,” Upole said. “Are there more hands on opportunities we can look at? We do a lot of experiential learning in our department. So looking at a course you’re revising, is there something new you can do?”
Upole said new courses are based on what professors know needs to be the content, but the lack of student input makes it a learning curve. She said there is usually a good amount of revision after new courses because of their trial-and-error nature.
Both Brown and Upole said there is paperwork and content creation to be done online before classes start. PowerPoints, notes, and syllabuses make up the bulk of it.
Both professors said rest is a necessary component of the summer break. Brown said he prefers not to go into anything completely exhausted, and uses the summer to slow down and refocus.
“It’s an opportunity not to rush and be so regimented, but to free think a little bit,” Brown said. “And for some people, that opportunity to free think is actually rest. It gets you out of the grind and allows you to refocus because when you get very busy and focused on one thing, sometimes we don’t pay attention to the things going on around us.”
