In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, a VAP writes:
How should job-market candidates next year deal with the effects of COVID-19 in their documents?
For example, I suspect teaching evaluations for this term will be all over the place: some will have remarkably good evals, I bet; but many will have terrible ones (the transition might have gone poorly, communication expectations weren't met, etc.) Should instructors issue some sort of caveat? (I mean, obviously everyone will know that COVID happened; but is it worth making this explicit?) Or should we omit these evals altogether?
A related issue concerns syllabi: I would typically put my syllabus in my dossier among the others for courses I've taught. But now I have this weird, ad-hoc syllabus-within-a-syllabus that attends to all the issues that have arisen from COVID-19, including adjusted expectations, new assignments, etc. I think this showcases important skills and highlights innovative approaches to teaching, etc. etc. But I am curious as to its relevance (in the eyes of search committees) going forward.
Any thoughts on these and other issues would be useful. (And yes, I'm aware the market will be a ghost town next year. But many of us are surely going to prepare for it all the same, so we might as well start thinking about some of these things now.)
Good questions, and I'm curious to hear what everyone thinks. Here are a few of my own reactions.
I think leaving Spring 2020 evaluations out of one's teaching portfolio is just fine, though by all means include them if they are good! In terms of syllabi, I'm inclined to think that anything that displays your creativity and willingness to 'go above and beyond' in the classroom is likely to be helpful. My experience working at an institution where teaching is taken very seriously is that people put a real premium on this. So, if you think your post-COVID-19 syllabi and assignments reflect on you in a good light, I would absolutely include them. Further, who knows what the post-COVID reality will bring to higher education. Some universities are already planning for online-only delivery, and depending on how the pandemic proceeds, other institutions may as well or introduce hybrid course-delivery methods. I think showing your flexibility as a teacher post-COVID is only likely to be to your advantage!
But these are just my thoughts. What are yours? Besides the obvious–namely, the importance of preparing for backup, non-academic career paths–do any of you have any other tips for candidates heading on the market this fall?
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