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Talk about Quality!
 

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Joe Daniel
Durham
60
Industrial Automation and SCADA



My Dean keeps putting more students in the class than it is capped at. She promises extra sections, overtime, help if needed, then does nothing and takes away everything she promised and denies it. Support staff are allowed to make management decisions regarding this and other issues such as faculty workload, scheduling, and special work considerations without my consultation and based on favoritism.
 

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Jorge Olenewa
George Brown
84
Information Technology, Networking, Wireless Networking, Data Communications, Network Management


Shortage of full-time teachers in the past three years has severely strained our ability to deliver the best quality in our programs.

 

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Mark Allemang
Sault College
28
Computer hardware, networking & security, programming.



Keeping up with current technology in this incredible changing field of computers (after I finish all my marking). The students demand that I do so I have to spend my own free time doing often self-funded PD.

 

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Name Withheld

 




I am picketing for the support staff, technical assistants, part time and partial load faculty as well. I constantly see one person working part time at a minimal payscale to do the work of two people working full time - and I empathize with their situation. We are all overburdened, and we need to take into account those who are sharing our faculty workload with good faith and professionalism. I march for you as well, and thank you from behind the picket line. We are marching to ensure that you can receive full time positions and proper contracts as well.
 

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Anonymous

 




I suffer inner conflict, anxiety, guilt, etc., due to the irrational personalization of responsibility for problems caused by ever increasing numbers of students and workload and other factors which I don't have control of or responsibility for.

For example, with these large class sizes, there are students who want and expect individual attention. If I were to try to accommodate them with just do one-on-one during class-time, I wouldn't get to everyone by the end of class and I wouldn't be able to teach anything holistically.

I try to spend one-on-one time with students, outside of class-time, but there is nowhere available to meet with them individually without either being interrupted by others in the same room or interrupting others in the same room. Often, I find that a student will need to speak with me confidentially but there isn't anywhere appropriate because of the sardine-can-like facilities, there's always someone else present, everywhere. As well, because of excessive workload, I don't have enough time to meet one-on-one with students.

Consequently, some of the students I don't get to feel ignored and cheated, become frustrated, disatisfied and resentful, don't do as well as they could, and some become disruptive and/or stop coming to class and/or fail. I empathize with those students and, although I, and the students, were setup by management to struggle and fail, I feel personally responsible and guilty for failing to enable those students to succeed. That's why I am on strike.
 

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Kathleen Moran
Conestoga College
28
Essay Writing, Business English, Technical Writing



28 students in one class provides a challenge, as one can't spend quality time helping students learn to write and edit their own work properly. As each section has, on average, more than enrolled, even being available outside class does not provide adequate time to meet with students individually. How can one teach students to communicate properly if a professor can't meet each and every student on an individual basis so that the student can learn where his or her individual weaknesses lie? Without this knowledge, no one can benefit from these courses!

 

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Mike Conte
Durham
60
Business Math, Statistics, Economics etc



As long as the position of academic manager (Deans, etc) can be used as a permanent escape from the classroom, our struggle for academic quality will continue. Real "teachers" would be more attracted to Managerial positions if those jobs were 3 or 5 year (possibly renewable) contracts and returning to the classroom was common rather than rare. What we have now is a gaping disconnect between the priorities of faculty and those of administration. Frankly, I don't trust them.

I wrote the following this morning....

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT………...BENTLEY ?

The strike by faculty at Ontario’s Colleges is NOT about teachers’ salaries but is IS about money.

Management negotiator Joy Warkentin (VP, Fanshawe College) tells us that staffing the classrooms with full-time faculty is too expensive and that a pay increase of 12.6 % spread over four years is a “good deal.”

Over the four year period 2000 – 2004, the salaries of College Presidents have increased, on average, by 41.7 %. Other senior managers have also enjoyed similar increases. Negotiator Warkentin, for example, has been treated to an increase of 44.7% over those same four years.

Striking teachers, however, are not out there for the sake of their own financial gain. In fact, with respect to salary, the two sides are apart by only about 1% per year.

In comparison to what their bosses have paid themselves, the teachers are an incredibly unselfish group.

But the strike IS about money. More money must find its way to the classroom in the forms of smaller class sizes, fewer part-time / more full-time teachers and better equipment.

When we look at a pay increase of 40% for a senior manager, we see only the tip of the iceberg. Consider the inflated budgets and wasteful empire building, that serves as justification for the obscene pay increases.

The provincial government has a duty here to provide adequate funding for Colleges AND to assure that the money is spent appropriately. College managements, with the endorsement of ineffective, volunteer Boards of Governors are clearly unaccountable for the waste.

An underlying presumption here, is that if the Government knew about the financial abuses of the Colleges that they would put a stop to it.

“It continues to raise suspicions that the initial lack of government urgency about settling or, preferably, avoiding this strike, had to do with snobbery against college students compared to their peers at the universities.”

The Toronto Sun.. editorial (March 20, 2006 page 18)…

The time is long overdue for the policy makers at Queen’s Park to come clean. Do they or do they not respect the work of 150,000 college students and their 9,100 teachers? Are management’s greedy pay increases warranted by performance or are they simply pay-offs for keeping their mouths shut and just going along as the system is allowed to crumble?

Meanwhile, the students have no classes to go to, the teachers shiver on the picket line and the administrators go to empty colleges and collect their pay cheques.

So, Minister Bentley, What’s it all about?

 

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Leslie Marshall
Mohawk
49
radiography skills; professional practice; patient care;



TIME! Time to discuss topics with students rather than just lecture. Time to mark assignments and give adequate feedback to so many students. I can't even put names to all the faces half way through the semester.
 

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Name withheld
Seneca College
45
Electronics
We teach 10 months in a year - that is two full semesters and one half of the summer semester. We have been following a four year cycle for the summer - we teach 6 weeks in May/Jun, May/Jun, July/Aug and the fourth year we do not teach. This cycle had been established to squeeze the maximum out of the faculty. Can you imagine having to deal with two Professors during *one* semester?

In the Electronics labs, we have two hour lab sessions. The Professor takes the first session and a technician takes care of the second session. This, again, is a cost saving measure.

One more thing, we have student start the program anytime within the first few weeks. You have a cheque - come on in! How can we possibly maintain quality in this situation?

The time table is packed in such a way that neither the students nor the faculty will be able to meet for one-on-one tutoring.

Sure, we have tutors in "learning commons". But there is no dialogue between the faculty and the tutors in the subject they are tutoring!

There seems to be a revolving pool of sessionals. Since they cannot teach more than 12 months in a 24 month period, some teach in two or even three colleges during the same semester. This is straight forward exploitation. This should stop as we wish to see a continuum in faculty.
 

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David White
Humber College
32
Advanced construction Horticulture apprenticship

 

Poor facilities management, rooms triple booked.

Lecture facilities are not big enough.

Lab facilities are not finished being constructed.

Poor preparation of students from prior institutions.

Not enough tools to go around.

Students have no time management skills and very poor communications skills.
 

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Lou Newell
Fanshawe
64
Ethics, Privacy, HR, etc



Must work in groups so forego essential individual assessment. Too many groups to manage effectively. Too many students to supervise in testing situations. Too little one-on-one time. Essential dialogue in these classes difficult to manage.

My students think I do a great job-if they only knew what they were missing!
 

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Sharon Dietz
Conestoga
40
Journalism Newswriting, Opinion Writing and Feature Writing


* not enough time to meet one on one with students during class to assist them with their writing and to permit them to do a rewrite where the real learning occurs because I have 40 students in the class

* smaller class sizes are necessary to solve this problem

* management refuses to take into account that writing courses where line-by-line editing of assignments is required takes more time to do than essay marking and there is no evaluation factor for this type of marking - as a result the time allowed for evaluation on my workload never accurately reflects the actual time it takes to do the marking and I work 60 hour weeks instead of 44 hours a week

* as a result I have repetitive strain injury and require an accommodation because I am permitted to do only four hours of marking a day every other day for a total of 12 hours a week - management will not hire a fact checker or marking assistant to do the fact checking or the grammar, spelling and CP marking so my assignments are not marked in a timely fashion and the students do not know where they stand in the course - all I can do is edit each assignment before they do the next one so they have feedback before they proceed to the next assignment and do the marking and marks calculation at the end of the semester - this is not fair to the students.
 

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Anonymous

98
Variety of health and science courses over 28 years



Student numbers make classroom management the priority. Therefore, it is almost impossible to adequately cover the course material and simultaneously engage, motivate and personalize the learning.
 

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Darrin Cournoyea
Mohawk College
42
Introduction to Pathology, Sonographic Scanning Skills, Obstetrics and Gyn


Not enough time to review with the students in smaller groups, something more personalized.
 

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Mary Tuttle
Mohawk College
47
1.Introduction to Pathology, 2.Pathology and Procedures 1, 3. Patient Care



Preparation time for new courses. Powerpoint without resources...I'm trying to make these presentations showing x-ray images without an image bank. It takes many hours, plus all my other duties...writing manuals, making tests, marking assignments, answering student emails...and on and on. The job has changed with class sizes becoming large and technology...how do you do it all? It's impossible!
 

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Margaret MacDonald
Mohawk College
24
practical skills in echocardiography, adult echocardiography theory, adult cardiac pathology, professionalism for cardiac sonographers



Access to the necessary state-of-the-art technology for practical skills preparation time for lectures and time for assessment.
 

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Lloyd Caldwell
Humber College
110
Funeral Service Education


The interference of the education process within this specific field of work by requirements set forth for educators requiring teaching degrees hampers our efforts at providing proper education for our students within this program.
 

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Angela Grimminck
Mohawk
42
Pharmacy Technician



inconsistency and poor quality using multiple part time teachers

no time to properly upgrade lab and class materials and equipment
 

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Steven McDonald
Conestoga College
34
Business feasibilty, Professional Selling, Sale negotiations

 

Insufficient time to work with my students and give meaningful one on one feedback as to how they can improve there skills. Course hours have been cut from 64 hours to 45 hours, class sizes have gone from 20 to 35.

 

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Caroline Falconi
Mohawk
60
medical radiation sciences (physics & instrumentation, image recording, digital imaging, CT scanning

Student expectations are higher than ever with advances in educational technology. They want Powerpoint presentations for all lectures with the file posted electronically prior to class. They want rapid turnaround and personalized responses to email requests for assistance. They expect faculty to use and be familiar with ed tech (e.g. WebCT). At the same time, professional curriculum needs consistent updating due to rapid developments in the field. Last year's notes can't simply be reused without revision. Larger class sizes hinder two-way communication in the classroom, meaning students rely more on out-of-class help. Evaluation time is insufficient for me to provide meaningful feedback to student assignments.

 

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Lana-Lee Hardacre
Conestoga
38
Development I & II and Inclusion I & II

10-15% have learning differences or disabilities and 10-20% are students where English is their 2nd language. This means that about 20- 35% of my students need extra 1:1 help in & outside class to meet their unique learning needs. This has increased my work load because it takes longer to prepare and evaluate students, with this wide range of needs.

 

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Larry Drew
Conestoga
45
Marketing, Sales, Small Business Operations

With multiple sections often of 40+ students it is next to impossible to have a reasonable number and scope of individual assignments (including written reports and presentations) that EACH student completes individually. While a higher number of individual assignments would help to maximize learning and skill development, faculty are instead often forced to reduce the number of assignments or rely on group assignments in an attempt to manage the grading within the current workload formulas. This also reduces the amount of feedback received (and thus learning opportunities are lost)by each student.

 

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Conestoga College
12
nursing theory and clinical Bachelor of Science Nursing Program


First I will say that my "largest class number" may look unusual but read on and you may understand the implications of increasing these class sizes. 1. My theory course is based on the Problem Based learning model used by McMaster University (we are collaborative partners in their program). Small group, self directed learning is the underlying philosophy of this method. Each group, when the method is used as designed, SHOULD ONLY HAVE 8 STUDENTS. This creates an environment where the tutor can facilitate learning and provide constructive feedback on content and group process. The size of the group also allows for all of the members to get sufficient "air time" to demonstrate their knowledge and critical thinking abilities. We are already stretched at having 12 students per group. Increasing this number would make the method near impossible to follow and would diminish the quality of the experience for the students.

2. In my clinical course, I am currently responsible for 8 students and the patients they are assigned to (sometimes up to 3 each). Increasing this number would increase safety risks as I would not be able to supervise the students' practice as closely. An increase in students would also decrease the quality of the one on one coaching and mentoring that is so vital to the growth and development of a professional nurse. They get very little of this after they graduate. The contact time for this course takes 12 hours of my week. In my non-contact time, I spend a great deal of time doing personal coaching and mentoring with each student in order to work within their personal learning styles to push them to their optimal learning. This prepares them for their final year of the program and models life long learning. However, this type of coaching detracts from the preparation time I need for my theory course. My concern is not with my class sizes now, but what they could become. And yet the nursing shortage is only going to get worse. We cannot prepare these professionals without honing their life and communication skills. Nursing is more than content.

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Pat Dockrill
Loyalist
79
Psychology Applied Psychology Student Success One and Student Success Two

-large classes prevent the use of student-centred teaching methods and evaluation, which are so important in applied education -students do not speak up freely in large classes and it is very difficult to get discussion going -cuts to program hours have led to downloading more and more learning onto students as independent study

-today's students work long hours while in school--many work as much as 25 or 30 hours a week--which makes them very stressed and often unable to do the homework that has resulted in cuts to program hours -with over 200 students a semester, and 60 to 70 students in a classroom, it is difficult to learn the students' names, let alone provide the individual attention so many of them need -I am no longer able to give weekly quizzes and small assignments because of large classes, so students get less frequent feedback, and tests and assignments are more heavily weighted, which increases student anxiety and stress -it is very difficult to develop critical thinking and communications skills in large classes -students are jammed into classrooms that have been made by knocking out walls, and as a result are having difficulty seeing the board/screen or hearing the teacher. The quality of air is very poor in these rooms. -I have taught for 31 years and frequently feel frustrated and angry over the conditions my students are subjected to. My working conditions are their learning conditions, and both of us deserve better.

 

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Barbara Hale
Conestoga
37
Organizational Behaviour and Student Success for Higher Learning

Interactive learning is difficult to orchestrate. Also, I am a partial load instructor and am not paid for prep, office hours or marking. Try marking 8 assignments, 4 tests and 2 major projects for 37 students. It takes time! I am only on campus on "my" teaching days, and students complaint that they can't see me when the need arises. The Liberal Studies faculty employs a huge number of part time teachers. The students with full time teachers have a big advantage.

 

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Amanda Allan
Humber
37
Mathematics


Broad range of skills; students of too many different levels in one class.

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Barbara hale
Conestoga
37
Organizational Behaviour

I am a partial load instructor and only come in on days when I work. My students are frustrated that they can't drop by and see me when the need arises. Also, they expect Web CT but I haven't got time to take the training. I am not paid for office hours, marking or lesson preparation. Try marking 8 assignments, 2 major projects and 4 tests for 37 people. It takes time!

Lastly, with 37 people in the class interactive learning is difficult to orchestrate. 5 people per group is large, for it allows some group members to loaf. However, it also means that there are 7 groups to report back and that takes too much time.

 

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John Withers
Seneca
38
AutoCAD

As I can not use Scantron for AutoCAD work, the marking of 110 students assignments in my present semester is very time consuming. I have had to reduce the number marked because of so many students.

 

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Graham Worth

Conestoga College
32
Electrical Theory Level 3, PLC Programming Level 3

Not enough time to spend with my students outside of the formal lectures.

 

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Vaska Tumir
Conestoga College
40
Business Communications, degree and diploma level Liberal Studies, degree programs

 

 

1. Not enough marking/evaluation time. I get 5.4 minutes per student per week to grade essay-type assignments. This is not nearly enough for the work involved or for the kind of feedback my students need in order to improve.

2. Not enough preparation time, especially for my degree-program liberal studies courses. These are university-level courses and require at least twice the amount of prep on my part as do my diploma courses.

3. Not enough one-on-one time with my students. This is crucial.

4. No time at AT ALL for research -- although a steady record of research is required of the faculty teaching in the degree programs.
 

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Suzann DeMille
Loyalist College
12
BScN clinical Nursing

 

I am a partial load teacher that is required to teach 12 hours of clinical nursing to my students per week. Outside of clinical time, some things I "volunteer" my time for are the opportunity to devise patient/student schedules, mark assignments, read student reflections and in turn write reflections to each of my students weekly, evaluate and update students on their progress and attend faculty and evaluation mtgs. I further am required to have contact with my year co-coordinator and other teachers weekly, in order to maintain continuity between academics and clinical practice.

Out of ten students last semester, five of my students were international students that spoke English as a second language, two students struggled with their academic/clinical requirements and one student struggled with the professional requirements needed to be a nursing student.

As educators we are faced with these issues on a daily basis. It has become very clear to me that I continue to teach for the love of my students and not for the paycheck I receive. If these two issues were reversed I would have quit years ago.
 

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Anonymous

 

 

 

Please read the following for an example of the incredible workload which can be assigned and still comply with the expired Collective Agreement.

The colleges' management is publicly claiming that they offered a 12.6% pay raise (incrementally over 4 years) and no increase of workload (in spite of getting increased funding to hire more full-time faculty and reduce class sizes). Although the colleges' management thinks that their offer-of-settlement is reasonable, and have been trying to convince the students and the general public that their offer is acceptable, and that faculty are unreasonable, a 2002 workload arbitration proves that the existing workload provisions of the previous Collective Agreements and the workload resoulution arbitrator's Orders were inadequate and unable to ensure that colleges' management would be reasonable in assigning workload. The system-wide statistics used in that workload arbitration are from 2002 and, since then, the workload situation has worsened, generally, for the college system. This and other, similar, workload arbitrations should be provided to students and the general public to educate them about why college faculty are on strike. I have provided some of the pertinent excerpts from the 2002 Workload Arbitration, of which the full text can be found at: http://www.interlog.com/~opseugbc/untitled/WRA%20AWARD%20P%20BURGESS.htm

 

IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION

BETWEEN

GEORGE BROWN COLLEGE

(Herein after referred to as “the College”)

AND

THE ONTARIO PUBLIC SERVICE EMPLOYEES UNION

FOR ACADEMIC EMPLOYEES LOCAL 556

(Herein after referred to as “the Union”)

Workload Dispute of David Burgess

 

 

DATES OF HEARING: September 23, 2002

LOCATION OF HEARING: Toronto, Ontario

 

 

AWARD

Mr. Burgess teaches in the Faculty of Business and Creative Arts - School of Business. The Collective Agreement requires the College to prepare a Standard Workload Form (“SWF”) for each teacher prior to each teaching term. Mr. Burgess takes issue with the SWF issued August 29, 2002, for the “Principles of Marketing I” course he teaches.

Mr. Burgess had a number of issues regarding his SWF and they will be dealt with individually below.

... (Content edited out)

 

MERITS:

1. Number of Students and Hours for Routine Out-of-Class Assistance

In accordance with article 11.01 F of the collective agreement, Mr. Burgess has been assigned three hours for out-of-class assistance and two hours for normal administrative tasks.

Article 11.01 F states:

11.01F Complementary functions appropriate to the professional role of the teacher may be assigned to a teacher by the College. Hours for such functions shall be attributed on an hour for hour basis.

An allowance of a minimum of five hours of the 44 hour maximum weekly total workload shall be attributed as follows:

three hours for routine out-of-class assistance to individual students

two hours for normal administrative tasks.

Mr. Burgess has a total of 500 students in his “Principles of Marketing I”course.

The Union pointed out that in an Academic Workload Survey conducted by a joint OPSEU and Council of Regents committee in 1998-1999, [1] the average number of student contact hours per week across the province was 401.1. George Brown had the highest fall average of contact hours at 496.9. Similarly, while the winter average was 370.5, George Brown again had the highest average at 448.6.

In order to determine student contact hours, the number of hours of instruction per week are multiplied by the number of students. In Mr. Burgess’s case this results in1500 student contact hours. The Union pointed out that this is about 350% higher than the provincial averages of 401.1 and 370.5.

The Union also pointed out that Humber, Centennial and Seneca, the three other large Colleges, averaged 390.6 student contact hours for the fall and 378.1 in the winter.

A five year summary for the Academic Years 1993/94-1998/99 [2] showed that the class size at George Brown for the fall term had increased by 53.5% and that the student contact hours had increased by 37.4%. This was contrasted against other schools such as Centennial which had seen an increase of 16.3% in class sizes and 4.9% in student contact hours.

The Union pointed out that Mr. Burgess’s situation took him well beyond even the relatively high average increases experienced at George Brown.

The Union further noted that the summary [3] also showed that in the five years examined, the percentage of classes with more than100 students never exceeded 1%. In Mr. Burgess’s case, he has two classes of 200 students each and one class of 100 students.

The Union pointed out that with Mr. Burgess’s class sizes and outside contact hours he is well above both the provincial and George Brown average.

The Union also referred to the resolution of a workload complaint of Gwen Buttle, considered by the WMG in December 1997. [4] In that instance, Ms. Buttle had a total of 324 students and was unable to limit her out-of-class assistance to three hours per week. The Committee resolved the matter by directing Ms. Buttle to spend no more than three hours per week for out-of-class assistance to students and by indicating her supervisor was responsible for providing any/all additional remedial time to the students.

The Union maintained that if a faculty member’s SWF properly reflects their workload with regard to the required time for out-of-class assistance, then that assistance can be provided. However, if the SWF does not adequately reflect this workload, then students are turned away. The result is that students are unhappy and may interpret this as the teacher not being concerned about their academic well-being. This may in turn be reflected on the students’ evaluation of the teacher.

The Union argued that Mr. Burgess’s SWF provided insufficient time to assist 500 students outside of class. The Union further maintained that his situation was atypical and he should receive additional attributed time, pursuant to Article 11.01 G 2, to enable him to provide the necessary assistance to his students.

... (Content edited out.)

 

ORDERS:

1) The number of hours Mr. Burgess has attributed on his SWF to his routine out-of-class assistance shall be increased to nine hours.

2) Mr. Burgess shall maintain a case study in his testing policy and his evaluation factor shall remain .0188.

3) The College shall provide assistance to Mr. Burgess in the form of proctoring of examinations.

4) No further time will be attributed to Mr. Burgess’s SWF for course preparation related to the revised materials.

5) Mr. Burgess’s SWF will be amended to add an additional two hours per week for the time required to operate and maintain the WebCT.

DATED AT TORONTO, THIS 8TH DAY OF OCTOBER, 2002
 

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Brian Donnelly
Sheridan, Trafalger
156
Design history, Illustration, Design studies



Not having sufficient control over curriculum, class size, delivery format, lack of TAs, lack of time in class and out, marking load (over 400 students), office not suitable to meet students in, management unable to communicate when and where my classes take place, SWF incomplete, incorrect, and deliberately misleading (grossly underestimating hours).
 

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Lynn Dee Eason
Sault College
50
Desktop Publishing, Web Publishing, Access 2003, Info. Technology I & II, Office Communications I & II, Interpersonal Dynamics, Introduction to Computers

 

We have been pushed into an accelerated format which means that our students do 14 weeks of work in seven. It also means that half the number of teachers are required to teach the courses, but we have 1.5 times as many students in each class and half the time to mark and return assignments to them. To follow that math again, half as many teachers with almost twice as many students in half the amount of time! It means that we are not able to give students the feedback that they need to ensure they are ready for their tests (two at 50% each in many cases). If a student misses any time due to illness or family situations, they fall very far behind very quickly with no slack in the system to allow them to catch up.

The normal work week is 36 to 40 hours - we are already sitting at 44 plus we do not work according to the clock - we do what needs to be done so management has been downloading more and more work our way - everything from marketing our own programs (or they will be cancelled) to emptying our own recycling bins because the maintenance staff refused to do the extra work.

We also no longer have the traditional May/June period to engage in Professional Development activities, revamp our handouts/presentations/tests/assignments, research new books, develop new curriculum, and ensure that our program is on track as we are teaching from September until June. However, the above tasks all continue to be done, of course!! Even during holiday time in the summer, we are checking up on the availablity of books, contacting prospective students and generally ensuring that things are on track for our return - especially the coordinators. 44 hours per week is laughable!

One of my biggest difficulties is that in my largest class, I have the most students who need help (Intro to Computers). When I lose a student in this class because I cannot get to them in the 50 minute period, it angers and upsets me as they are the very people who have made the biggest effort to make a change in their life and deserve better. We work with adults (not just continuing high school students) who have made a commitment to return to school to prepare themselves for a better future - for themselves and their families - often at great personal sacrifice to all. They are scared, unsure, and need that extra nurturing to get back into the swing of education. I used to be able to hold onto these students until they got their feet under them - now I can't get to them fast enough and can't spend enough time with them to help them through the difficult periods :-( Breaks my heart to be frank!
 

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Kelly Noble-Putt
Fanshawe
35
I am a partial load instructor teaching Technical Drafting, Drawing/Rendering, Perspective Development (all within the Interior Design & Decoration Programs)


In manual, hands on courses such as the ones I teach it is extremely difficult to get around to all the students during class periods for one-on-one input, especially on larger scope projects in the drafting courses. This is even more noticeable in the first year beginning semester when we usually have 38 students per instructor with on average maybe 15-20% of those students having taken any kind of related drafting course at the secondary school level.

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Have had some other staff on the picket line tell me 35 or so students isn't much to complain about, however here's the math: Fall semester = 35 1st yr drafting (Interior Design program) students with approx. 4-5 main projects per semester. Each project averages about 20 min of marking time to check, add comments to drawings & grade. Therefore 35 x 20 = 700 minutes (or about 11 hours for that week as I like to get them back as soon as possible) Double this (as in the fall I also have another 1st year drafting class in the Decoration program)& add in two presentation classes with approx 25 per class and bi-weekly hand ins to mark (averaging 10 min ea)- I figure I average about 6-8 hours outside of class per week marking (in addition to my 10hrs of class time weekly as partial load).

Winter semester has 2 drawing classes (about 26/27 students each), perspective drawing class (approx 27), & 2nd yr drafting (about 25) - the last class of which has a 60% weighted retail store project (that lasts 8 weeks) with a plan or sheet a week for grading which has full comments & corrections noted so that they can correct their work & resubmit all the previously marked drawings with a new revised set (both are reviewed at end of term & given an upgrade mark if corrections made). I also am constantly redeveloping my drawing/presentation classes (on PowerPoint which I taught myself because don't have enough hours avail. to get to staff help sessions) as one is a prerequisite for the other and I will have to adjust this fall to make up for portions cut this term due to the strike. And I get paid for 10 hours of weekly class time...love what I do so that's why I keep at it! (In addition to another full time job & a 5 1/2 yr old...oh yes and a husband...) Sure many others can relate. Would be a godsend to get 2 hrs/week extra pay for the extra 8 I do if the faculty plan gets accepted! Cheers to all - keep up the pacing!!!
 

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Nancy Levy
Seneca
40
Nursing

 

Less time for family, my own health and other responsibilities, as I want to give students the best which means providing in-depth feedback. helpful, fair evaluations, and individual assistance and guidance. With large classes, these things take hours.
 

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Brian Richmond
George Brown College
60 per class
General Education

 

In this survey/forum, my colleagues have expressed the challenges I also have. We are all trying to do the best we can with the inadequate support we get. Many statements by the colleges' managers are, at the least, unhelpful and some has been demeaning and insulting. Because of this, after the strike, we all have to work together again but any trust we had for, and good will that we had with, management will probably be lost - that will be an additional serious challenge to the quality of education.

There are students who understand why we are on strike and are demonstrating their support for what we are trying to achieve. One of them has begun a Blog in support of us. It is at: http://studentwoes.blogspot.com/
 

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David Wright
Seneca
38
Marketing for Tourism, Field Placement

 

Too many students in a class with insufficient seats and too many students in a computer lab without a computer to work at. My marketing class began the semester with 45 students in a lab with 39 computers + one for me to use. By the third week, the number had dropped below 40. Seven classes with computer labs (out of approximately 35 professional subject classes) were in the same situation as myself at the beginning of the semester.
 

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Sheridan
49
Math, Business

 

As many people had said over and over, too many students, not enough time. With the exception of 1 3rd year class, my class sizes have been 42-49 over the past two semesters (10 classes). I don't know where this number of 29 comes from...?

It's sad to see that so many good teachers are leaving to pursue other jobs because they can't get full time positions. As partial load, if you work 4 classes, you work as hard as some full timers for 1/2 the pay. I have seen a number of people leave for this reason.

On of the things that is definitely going to decrease quality is not doing more to keep the good instructors that are currently part time. There are many great teachers out there in the college system and they are leaving to find more secure jobs. It's the students definitely lose when this happens.
 

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Timothy Ayerst
Seneca
39
Field Placement, Interviewing for Human services. Social service worker program

 

Class size, partial load time pay inequity
 

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Shauna Longmuir
Fleming College
220
Political science and human growth and development

 

True learning comes from personal interaction. Between prepping, researching, and planning it is difficult to find the time to meet with students in a way that will make learning meaningful
 

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Pat Dockrill
Loyalist
79
Ethics, Abnormal Psychology, Psychology, Student Success 1, Student Success 2

 

One thing we have not heard much about during this strike is the cuts colleges have made to program hours over the years. In order to save money, the colleges reduced program hours, with the result that in the program I teach, we now have 18 hours a week to teach the same curriculum we once had 25 hours a week to cover. And, we are teaching to classes that have more than doubled in size.We are trying to put 10 pounds of potatoes into a 5 pound sack! As a result, teachers are assigning more independent study and homework to students who are working unprecedented hours while attending college. Today's student works 20, 25, 30 or more hours a week while going to school and as a result of program cuts are overwhelmed by their course requirements. We have a different student than we did 31 years ago when I began to teach. Today's student are very stressed, and this changes the dynamics in the classroom and increases the demands on the teachers. We have more students with learning disablities, more ESL students, and more students who are parents. Today's students have only 4 years of high school and their basic skills, such as written communications, are weak. They need and deserve more of our time! With large classes and multiple sections, I am often unable to learn all of my students' names, let alone get to know them and treat them as individuals. Trying to contact and counsel students who are not doing well takes a great deal of time and some students fall through the cracks. Using student-centred activities is very difficult or impossible in large classes, so I revert to lecture, which is not an effective way to deal with material in courses such as Ethics. Students do not ask as many questions and it is difficult to get them to interact with me or each other in large classes. I have taught in a classroom in which the desks were jammed in so tightly, I had less than 3 feet between the front row and the blackboard. Students are not comfortable in these large groups and do not speak up if they are confused. Assignments, such as journal writing, debates, or class presentations, which are excellent ways to develop critical thinking and communication skills, are overwhelming or impossible with large classes. as a resutl, multiple choice testing is being used more than it should be, but think about it. If I have 200 students, then every time I give an assignment, I mark 200 assignments. Weekly quizzes and writing assignments, which benefit the students greatly, are unmanagable even for the most dedicated, hard working teacher. Students have fewer opportunities for evaluation and less feedback.

Most of my colleagues and I would welcome a 44 hour week, but what adds up to 44 on our SWF takes more time in reality. Something we don't see on our SWF's is the hours spent coordinating our efforts with the part time teachers who have been assigned sections of the courses we teach. As well, full time faculty often pick up the remedial work and counselling for the students who are assigned a part time teacher. By necessity, most of these teachers have other jobs and are limited in the time they can dedicate to their teaching despite a high level of commitment.

I have been a college teacher since 1975 and have taught classes with over 80 students, and I can testify to the loss of personal contact with students over the years. It diminishes the educational experience for both me and the student. What I wouldn't give for a class of 25 or 30 again! What I will do is walk the picket line. It's wet and cold and windy and I'm not 25 anymore, but this strike speaks to the heart of education, which is providing the students with an environment in which they can learn and develop the skills they need for their future jobs and lives as citizens. We owe it to them. Our working conditions are their learning conditions, and we both deserve better.
 

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Shane Ayres
Centennial
41
Math, Computers and Environmental Issues

Teaching in an Access program (General Arts and Science) smaller class size is even more important for student success. As class size continues to rise the students who need your attention most get left behind. More students mean there is less contact time for the one on one instruction that they need and deserve.
 

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Anonymous
Durham
38
Various

 

I like my counterpart below are one of a string of "part time profs"--seems to be more of us and depending on number of hours we are in or out of the union's protective arms!! My problem is lack of time as I have to hold down another job as well to make ends meet--so I am not always available after class when the students NEED me and many of them due as they are underequipped with lacking skillsets that have not got them to speed. Teaching mostly 1st year I find they are "ready to party" and not much else and that those that are "ready to learn" soon tire of the child-like behaviours and want to move along so I have to manage conflict in the classroom as well as manage the learning. I am loathe to use the multiple choice fill in the bubble quizzes and exams, but what can I do since working two jobs and not receiving pay for prep, marking or meetings in many semesters. SPace is an issue--with the encroachment of the university I have many times that my classroom is small than a class with students stacked on top of one another with back packs, computers, textbooks and coats...Why the coats?? They may have to make a jaunt to the dreaded Simcoe Building for my next class with 10 minutes between classes to make the fifteen minute walk to a separate physical plant there is no time to go to a locker!!!

My early morning and late Friday classes might have half the students if I am lucky because they have had enough of it. And the College surveys their clients for feedback only to get the positive responses of the few who care to answer and then say "HEY LOOK HOW GOOD WE ARE!!" What else can I do...work at GM??? NO! I am here because I care and for the 5 or 6 students a semester that I make a difference for--it is all worth it!! I just wish I was fulltime and supported by the college to help more!!!
 

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Anon
one of the GTA colleges
60
General Arts/Comm/Liberal Arts

 

In the 2005 calendar year, my GROSS pay was $26000! I taught 3-6 classes over the winter-summer-fall semesters. My class hours/week ranged between 9-17 (3 to six classes). I worked at another college and at another p/t job to make ends meet. On top of my classroom hours, I spend 20-30 hours each week on planning, marking, one-on-one with students and so on. During exams, I often spend even more time than that. Of course that time is unpaid.

No sick leave. No job security. No guarantee that I'll be hired next term, nor a guarantee of how many hours I'll get. No staff development time unless I take unpaid time off from my p/t job. Benefits? Nope. Also, this is my third year of doing partial load/sessional (whatever) and even though I have (in each semester) signed my contract well before the first day of school, there have been several last minute changes to my contract (add a class, take away a class, give me an entirely different course, whatever). This has led to problems and/or cost me money as I have had to adjust my other jobs to suit my revised contract.

Also, I do not have a work area on campus (read: no phone, no computer). There is a cubicle (shared).

Class size is an issue. The number of students squeezed into a tiny room is obviously a problem, but more of an issue is the fact that it is impossible to give students the attention they deserve/need. Many of the students are ESL-new Canadians and need additional help or explanations. There are also those who have learning challenges and they too often fall by the wayside.

I do care about my students and wish I could give them the time and attention they deserve, but there are only 24 hours in a day and my other job beckons...
 

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Bruno Fullone
George Brown
100
Math, stats and economics

 

One on one interaction. It is impossible to give the personal attention to my students that is required.
 

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Marian MacDonald
Niagara
35
English, Business Communications

Due to the intense nature of evaluating, on average, 14 items per term per student, I feel as though I am a "marking machine". In the winter term, I teach approximately 160 students per week, divided into six sections, over three courses. Needless to say, feeling buried under the weight of enormous amounts of paper comes with the territory. If this workload increases, as proposed by management, I know that the quality of evaluation re: feedback to each student, will be negatively affected.
 

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Linda Hill
St. Clair College
54
Developmental Psychology, Issues in Early Childhood Education, Introducation to Early Childhood Education, Introduction to Infant and Toddler Care


Not enough time to evaluate qualitatively, no compensation for supporting my courses with an online supplements ie. Blackboard, too many students to use creative participatory strategies, students who barely pass high school basic level English are now admitted into the program (previously a 70 was required)
 

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Patti
Seneca College
35
Business

 

Time is strongly associated quality when it comes to many aspects of college learning. For college teachers, it is difficult to be criticized in the media by administrators who state we are playing games in this strike action because we want and need time to prepare courses, to update curriculum and update ourselves professionally, and to carefully evaluate our students’ learning [evaluate with methods other than quick multiple choice quizzes]. It is difficult for college teachers to hear of administrators who characterize teachers as ‘only working 14 hours for 35 weeks, and that’s not so bad’. Any of us who teach know we work more than 14 hours a week – we work at least 40 to 44 per week. Classes in my business courses ARE larger than 10 years ago, than 5 years ago – no debate; this is fact. We have 3 fewer weeks to teach the same semester/curriculum content than we did 12 years ago and, for two courses I teach, we have one less hour per week [a four hour course is now 3 hours per week]. Each semester we meet a veritable army of part time and partial load faculty, not full time faculty – and to many students, as well as to full time faculty, this ‘to and fro’ door of revolving teachers is very difficult to accept as quality education. Our part time colleagues are capable but often one barely gets to know them and they are gone, only to be replaced by other part timers. Curriculum is organic and growing, as are faculty – student relationships – more continuity is needed for more quality. To talk of quality is but a step; to ‘do’ quality requires time for faculty to prepare courses, to evaluate, to renew ourselves, and more full time faculty.
 

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Jan Yorke BA MSW
Georgian College
45
Canadian Political Structure, Community and Social Services, Sociology, in Police Foundations and LASA. Sociology, first year BSW & Law and Justice students, Laurentian University at Georgian

 

Students in my class are quite young now given the loss of grade 13. I find that they have difficulty understanding some of the abstract concepts in the coursework and conceptualizing. Some of the new research supports that many students do not complete cognitive development until late teens, early twenties so I am not surprised that they struggle with some of this material. They need structured assignments, they need to be engaged more literally, which takes time and they need to relate the information to their life experiences if it is to make sense and be retained. It therefore requires that you spend more time interacting with them around the material. College students are primarily kinestetic learners so hands on, participatory activities are required to get the point across. This is very difficult in large groups. I agree with other professors that you are encouraged to use multiple choice/scantrons with larger classes of students who should have time spent with them learning some of the basics about writing research papers and adequately arguing their points in a paper.

Additional activities loaded on to SWF's provide variety and offer an opportunity to contribute in different ways but teaching consumes my life during the semester, never mind trying to do other things in exchange for one section. I work every weekend and every evening. I also make silly mistakes, do not have the time to go over all of the material adequately, rushing through material that we should be able to discuss more thoroughly. Some courses should run all year, not just a semester. Students sometimes cannot remember what assignment is due in what subject. Blackboard is great but they need time to get their heads around all of the technology. If I do a great job loading information on my Blackboard and answering emails, my preparation and marking suffers. You just can't win! I have students who need to meet with me individually and I find myself brushing them off because I don't have time between classes to see them. My more mature students can manage the material, think abstractly and are more self diciplined. College appears to be utilized, for some students,as preparation for university but I do not think the younger students have the capacity to digest some of the material. The loss of grade 13 is just another way to download the cost of education onto the students and their parents. The college system in Ontario needs to adapt to the shift in demographics and think about the length of courses given this change.
 

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Sheridan- Davis
45
Community Dev., Organizational Beh. and Social Service Issues



I am a partial load instructor and as a result I am only paid for in class time. I find it difficult to prepare all new course material AND have the time to mark exams and essays of over 150 students! I don't have the time to see the students as much as they would like, and the use of email is very time consuming, but it is their only avenue to talk to me.
 

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Anonymous
George Brown

 




 It is almost impossible to give students the personal attention that they need. I simply do not have enough time to work with each student one-on-one to help with difficult concepts or assignments.

If I had smaller classes, I could manage the task better. Optimum class size is about 15-16, not 45!

We live in an age where things happen so quickly that people even expect learning to be instantaneous. Learning is a process that can't be rushed and that is unique to each person. Students need time to digest and to think. They also need to talk with their teachers.

When students do come for help, it is often impossible to speak with them privately, or in a meeting space where there is enough room so that we can spread materials out to look at them together comfortably. We should be able to discuss issues of concern without several people being able to overhear matters that the student might wish to keep private, such as grades.

Despite all the improvements recently, teachers still lack access to some needed tools in the classroom and in their offices. We cannot provide quality if we do not have adequate tools. Oh, and if they are just adequate, there is something wrong!

Students have the right to help, to quality instruction and to privacy! I am most concerned that the way the system operates, students end up feeling disrespected and neglected.

It is not just about QUALITY; it is about RESPECT for our students!
 

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William Cudmore
Sheridan College
90
Math, Computer Communications

 


 Rather than answering the question, I shall give the counter-example of my greatest success. Last term I was fortunate enough to get an unusually small class. I had a first year math class of only 20 students. This class consisted of students who had experienced difficulty in math in high school. In particular, there were three young men who had obviously been "passed along" in high school. They all performed miserably on the first evaluation items. However, they were determined that they were going to ace the course. The small class size allowed me to spend at least 5 or 10 minutes of individualized instruction for these and other students. I was able to look at their work with a critical eye, find out exactly what the one fundamental flaw was in their logic and guide them through the thought process to correct it. All three of these men were acheiving grades in the 90s by the end of the term. One even worked an eight hour shift every night. Several of my students in that class begged me to try and take over their section for the next term. Such praise from students is rare, and when it comes, it certainly validates one as a teacher. However, at the same time, I also had a computer communications class of 90 students. I simply could not assist the students that needed a bit of hand holding, and the feeling at the end of the term was one of "Thank God that's over" on the parts of both the students and myself. Of course there were some A students, but there were many Cs that could have been Bs had I been able to provide them the support they needed. It has become clear to me that a small class allows me to deliver quality education, and produce quality graduates. Large classes require me to provide mediocre education which produces mediocre graduates.
 

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Shelley Friebe
Georgian College
47
Early Childhood Education




 Many students come to college with inadequate literacy skills and they need much support to put their knowledge into an observable format. In one class I have 6 students with identified learning needs and accommodations. In the same class, there are many more students who need time and attention to help them learn good studying habits, time management, acceptable classroom behaviour, assignment requirements and much more. In addition to this academic support, many are living away from home for the first time and are having life challenges. Some are struggling with relationships, some with money, some with loneliness, several with mental health issues. Students trust faculty and want our support. We want to provide that support. As a partial load faculty, I am not present every day as full time faculty are. I have to somehow meet these students' needs on my time, often via email from home. When students' basic needs are not being met, it is hard for them to learn. When we have time to help them with some of their basic needs, they become more able to learn and this benefits them and society in the long run. It is hard to provide quality when I feel like I am donating so much of my own time because my class size is too large to deal with many of these issues in a group.
 

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Paul Evans
Fanshawe College
65
Music History-History of Rock and Roll




 The biggest problem is with marking. I don't use multiple choice; I hand mark all my tests and assignments. We are not given adequate time on the SWF for marking. Meanwhile, administration keeps on making the classes larger and pushing multiple choice on us. Teachers should decide what marking mechanisms to use and be given proper time for it on the SWF.
 

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Robert Clement
Cambrian College
48
Electronic Theory, Telecom II




 I'm getting students who have the math abilities of seventh graders of my generation (early 1960s). I'm expected to lecture on digital electronics yet I find myself running around the classroom showing these kids how to operate their pocket calculators. They have no clue of what algebra is about. I'm not only a college teacher , I'm an elementary one as well. I deserve double the pay. The colleges are looking more and more like daycare facilities every day.
 

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Bonar Bell
Centennial College
62
Auto Cad, Auto body damage appraisal, and Motive power technology engines first year



 Lack of equipment for the estimating class, limited amount of time to project an accurate overview of the subject material.
 

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Bonnie Martel
Niagara College
52
Accounting




 The greatest challenge is finding enough time to properly prepare, deliver and evaluate. As a faculty member at Niagara College, I think the public needs to be aware of a few realities. I first started teaching at Niagara in 1986 as a part-time/partial load/sessional employee and began full time only 14 years ago. Just like many others, I care (sometimes too much) about our students’ future and therefore do whatever is necessary to ensure that their learning experience is worthwhile. Doing what is necessary however means doing more work than what we are given credit for and spending most evenings and weekends working to keep up with the number of students and classes that I have. Quality is a BIG ISSUE and students deserve to have better student/teacher ratios and evaluation/feedback that is reflective of their specialty area. We are being forced into unacceptable delivery methods and using inappropriate evaluation tools for the sake of management’s need to process more students with fewer faculty. That is how they look at it. To us, a student is much more than a number and we believe that students have the right to demand Quality Education. They know we care and they also know that we are doing the best we can with the resources available. Our fight is for these students! Let’s take the smallest class, a case study course that used to be delivered to 16-20 students. Case studies are not only challenging and difficult to grade but also very time-consuming to prepare and manage within the classroom. Several case studies are done in groups where a workable situation would include 4 groups of 4. This year I have 30 students so not only had to increase the number of students in each group but also the number of groups. There are 6 groups of 5 students and it is very difficult to spend the time with each group that I used to and that is necessary. At any given time, each group is working on a different case study, which they not only prepare a full analysis and report but also present the findings to the rest of the class. This is like having a NEW prep every time it is taught however would not be considered that in the workload. Time spent just preparing the cases and managing the individual groups has doubled this year but preparation time for such a course does not take that into consideration. Time given for evaluation is based on the number of students (2 min. 40 sec. Per week per student = 40-minutes per term!!!!!!) and no extra time for setting up and managing the classroom activities with greater student numbers. Evaluation is on a per student basis however for a course like this, one test/exam takes about 17 hours to grade 30 students (that is already 34-minutes of the 40 per term per student taken up for just this evaluation alone; at least 3 more evaluations to go!). This evaluation factor may be fair for some courses but it certainly isn’t for this type of courses and it is the highest evaluation allowed in our formula.

In the past it has been possible to have each group present twice during the term. Unfortunately with 30 students we will not be able to get through two presentations for each group. I have received numerous comments from graduates of the program indicating that this course is the most beneficial course they took. They felt it was important to see how everything fits together and relates to real world cases as well as the fact that they were learning how to identify what is relevant in a management decision. Many students asked why they couldn’t have this in more of their courses. Our management would like to force faculty to test and evaluate using multiple choice so they can give us more courses and more students. They have been forcing this lower evaluation on us over the past decade. Soon the courses that are most valuable to our graduates and the employers that hire them will all be gone. It seems that the colleges are trying too hard to become universities while the universities seem to be picking up on the successes of early day colleges and reducing class sizes while integrating more hands-on activity. This strike would not be happening if the issue were only salary but since the public only sees salary as an issue for most bargaining units, here is another truth! I could only dream that I will ever see that $90,000 salary our management keeps referring to in the media. After 18 years of service to the college and a professional designation that allows me to reach the max, I’m only at step 14 so that $90,000 sounds like a lottery to me! Many of us will never see that kind of salary.
 

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J.M.Ruiz
George Brown
60
English




 They are underprepared for college.
 

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John Lein
St. Clair College
50
Landscape Design, History of Landscape Architecture, Visual Communications, AutoCAD / SketchUp / LandCADD



 When I try to teach my class of 50 students it doesn't take long to figure out that my lesson plan doesn't take into account - walking around the room to get to those 50 students...

How can management suggest that an introductory course be filled with two sections of 25? Do they realize that I cannot properly begin to teach a hands-on brand new, out of the box course to 50 students? Have they ever tried to move around the room when 40 hands are up? Or when 10 students cannot log on? How about the other 5 that come in late? Oh don't forget the 7 that forgot their books. Oh, what's this? My boss let a few extra students in that need to pick up the class from last semester! Now I don't even have enough handouts...

50 students - keep piling them in. After a while I don't care, not many are listening anyway...

The 'A' student will always be an 'A' student - they will understand the lesson and will follow through with the lab or assignment and most likely hand it in on time. Heck, they may even type the darn report out!

My challange is to motivate those other students - those 'B' 'C' 'D' and even the 'F' students. That's really our challange - to figure out a way to make the lesson apply to them - to be able to put a spin on it, so they get it, so they want to get it. How can I do that when I don't have any real time to prepare? Oh, you want me to give up another Weekend! You know how many I've given you? Way to many to count. Oh, hell I can hear you now... just stay a bit later in the day, when things slow down... Is anyone listening? I already stay past 5 everyday! Then I come home and work some more. I don't want to see those students fail, I want to see them through to be successful employees.

Is it too much to ask to split the class into managable sizes? What would it hurt to see some of the weaker students become graduates instead of dropping courses because they don't get it!

Perhaps I'll write a book... but, only in my spare time!
 

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Kevin Fox
St. Lawrence College - Kingston
75
Physics and Math (Statistics)




 I do not have the time to mark as many assignments and tests as I would like to give to the students. It also means (with three classes of 75, 65 and 50) that I do not have as much time as I would like for each students. As well, since I am a partial load professor, I have to work another job in order to make ends meet. This means even less time for students and marking. The system as it currently exists does not work. There is no quality in this education.
 

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John Bisset
Durham College
128
Manufacturing Processes and Manufacturing Sciences 1 and 2




 Feedback to students is the biggest problem that I face. I pride myself in a one week turn round for all material handed in to me. Students find me approachable but I have little time to deal with such a large class. Extra help is there but again only for a few that come and ask.  Most don't because I am so busy marking. I try to use a variety of evaluation methods but it is not in the least bit easy with these large classes. The second year class that I teach is totally theory and all essay type questions to aproximately 80 students. I must spend on average about 15-20 hrs per week marking their material. I don't just mark the content, I also mark the spelling and grammer.
 

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Anonymous

 

 

 

I have written and published this because of the need to educate the public about some of the important reasons why faculty are on strike and to refute some of the public statements of Rick Miner and other college management representatives which have misrepresented why faculty voted against the colleges' management's previous offers-of-settlement, voted to strike, and are on strike.

In my many years of teaching in a community college, I have had to endure the continual deterioration in the quality of community college based training and education. When I first started teaching, I believed and felt that I was participating in providing students with what they needed and deserved to enable them to be successful in their chosen vocation/career. Since then, I have become increasingly discouraged and demoralized because of the deterioration in the quality of training and education given by the community college system and my inability to prevent it and to reverse it.

I, and the students, have experienced the reduction of instructional weeks per semester from 16 to 14 weeks and an increase of class sizes from about 25 to 60 resulting in a significant decrease of course content and time per student, reducing time to interact with students individually in and out of the classroom and less time to give their course work the attention it deserves.

Due to faculty understaffing, in their efforts to utilize faculty to the maximum workload (efficiency to realize lowest cost), college management often doesn't staff courses with faculty qualified in the subject matter. Instead, faculty are assigned in accordance with their availability, not their suitability, to courses. For example, at the college where I teach, during the spring semester, one professor is assigned to teach the first 7 weeks of the semester and a different professor is assigned to teach the last seven weeks; this is bad for the students because, as I previously stated, the second professor assigned to teach the course may not be qualified in the subject matter and, even if the faculty is appropriately qualified, the students will have the continuity of the course altered, have to readjust to a different professor's personality and teaching style, etc. The staffing of courses with faculty who don’t have the relevant qualification also occurs during the rest of the academic year, when courses are taught by one professor during the whole semester.

I have also been made aware of another management practise known as "phantom hours". Apparently, "phantom hours" are instructional hours assigned to students during which there is no professor present on the pretense that those hours are assigned as in-class self-study/independent learning; the students pay tuition fees for those hours, which are essentially homework hours, and the college represents those hours as being staffed by an actual professor for provincial grant purposes - that's understaffing to an extreme, and possibly fraudulent.

For many years, the community college's administrators have been making requests to the various levels of government for increased funding claiming that they are under-funded and need increased funding to hire more faculty and reduce class sizes to improve the quality of training and education in the community college system. Consequently, in 2004, the present Ontario provincial government formed a panel, chaired by Bob Rae, a previous Premier of Ontario, to investigate the problems with quality and funding of Ontario's post-secondary training and education system. In lobbying the provincial government for increased funding, the colleges' management presented statistics which showed that, during the past 15 years, full-time student enrollment has substantially increased while, at the same time, the number of faculty has been significantly reduced, with statements about the dire consequences this has had, and will more greatly have, on the quality of community college education. As well, the community college administrators asked faculty to write letters to the provincial government and Bob Rae, and make presentations directly to Bob Rae, in order to help college management get increased public funding.

Faculty were promised that increased funding would be used for the hiring of more full-time faculty and reduction in class sizes. In good faith, faculty did what college management asked. Bob Rae's report identified problems and solutions, including understaffing and large class sizes and, among his recommended solutions, he advised, in his report "Ontario A Leader In Learning", that the colleges hire more full-time faculty and reduce class sizes (pages 53, 54; "Ontario A Leader In Learning").

Consequently, the colleges got very substantially increased grants and, since the strike began, permission to increase previously frozen tuition fees.

In support of my assertions, I provide the following statements and facts from the ACAATO document "COLLEGES: AN INVESTMENT IN ONTARIO'S FUTURE 2005-06 FUNDING REQUIREMENTS” ( http://www.acaato.on.ca/home/funding/
primaryInternalContentParagraphs/01/document/FundingRequest2005.pdf) which the colleges' management's own association, the ACAATO, used to lobby the government for the increased funding they received:

Page 3:

"The government cannot continue to neglect Ontario colleges and hope each year that somehow everything will work itself out. Our colleges are reeling from years of underfunding. They have fewer full-time faculty and staff, reduced instructional time for students and constrained investments in learning resources, instructional equipement and up-to-date technology."


Page 9:

"Years of chronic under-funding have hurt Ontario's college system and its students. The fallout from inadequate funding has included reduced instructional time for students, increased class sizes, fewer full-time faculty and staff, reduced academic support services, and constrained investments in learning resources and information technology."


Page 10:

"Without adequate funding, the situation in the colleges today can only get worse. There is a backlog of overdue repairs to college buildings and facilities, and colleges face the prospect of further faculty, administrative and staff reductions. One Ontario college, for example, may have to eliminate 80 full-time positions in 2005-06 while 50 full-time positions are threatened in another college. These staff reductions are occurring at a time when colleges should be hiring more faculty and staff."


Page 21:

"5. Investing in Ontario's Future... Hire new faculty and specialized support staff"


Page 21:

"In 2003-04, Ontario colleges served 53 per cent more students than 15 years earlier with 22 per cent fewer full-time faculty and decreases in all other staff areas. Larger class sizes, reductions in overall teaching hours and fewer opportunities to interact with students have made it difficult to support students who are struggling and are at risk of dropping out."


Page 21:

"Investing in more full-time faculty and specialized support staff, such as computer and laboratory technicians, will strengthen the quality of education that colleges deliver. The benefits will include consistent curriculum delivery and consistent assessment of student achievement, greater interaction between faculty and students and greater responsiveness to students' needs."


The following is a letter from the George Brown College president:

"From: SysAdmin Sent: Thu 12/23/2004 1:43 PM
To: Everybody2
Cc:
Subject: Rae Review
Attachments:
To: All Staff

In November we advised you of the Rae Review consultation process and invited all staff to participate.

Many of you did, by providing input to our GBC submission and by participating in consultations – both formal and informal.

I want to extend my appreciation to all those who contributed and participated in the GTA Central consultations two weeks ago. Our informed participation impressed both members of the Rae Committee as well as our education colleagues from other colleges.

We will issue a notice when the Rae Report has been released. It is expected near the end of January.

Anne Sado
President"

Although the colleges' management asserts that the faculty union only tabled its demand for an increase in full-time faculty and reduction of class sizes on the last day of bargaining, the following email sent out on November 22, 2004 by OPSEU Head Office supports the Union's allegation that the colleges' management's statement is untrue:

From: Tom Tomassi Sent: Tue 11/23/2004 3:10 PM
To:
Cc:
Subject: OPSEU PRESS RELEASE BOB RAE
Attachments:

"Hi Everyone,

The issue of full-time staffing and workload has been this Local's number one priority since the 1996 layoffs and in the press release that follows, acknowledges this priority as a major impediment to quality of education.

Please read on.

Regards,

Tom Tomassi

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 22, 2004

 

Use of part-timers undermines the quality of education in Ontario: Casselman
 

TORONTO – Leah Casselman, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union today said that the rampant use of part-timers in Colleges is undermining the quality of education in Ontario. Casselman was addressing the Rae Commission which was set up to review the design and funding of post-secondary education in Ontario.

Accompanying Casselman were representatives from the College of Applied Arts and Technology Support and Academic divisions as well as a University representative.

“Because part-timers cannot organize, the colleges are using them as a pool of cheap labour,” Casselman said. Wages for part-timers are about 30 per cent that of full time staff and part-timers have no pension or benefits. They have no access to professional development and no workload formula, so they can be loaded up with huge student numbers.

To preserve education quality in the colleges the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act has to be changed to allow part-timers to join a union. Part timers can organize in almost every other area of the private and public sector. Cost cutting of this type has an effect on the quality of work performed and on the quality of education students receive.

Casselman said that there is also need for a greater public accountability in the offices of college and university presidents. Resources intended for the classroom should not be siphoned off to cover administrative costs.

She told the commission that there needs to be a more transparent and open process in the universities.

They should be included in the freedom of information legislation so that their administration is held more accountable for funds. There should also be a more seamless transition between the college and university systems.

“We need to ensure that post secondary education, both at colleges and universities remain a priority and to raise the quality of education in Ontario back to its past ranking as the leader in education in Canada.”

OPSEU represents about 15,000 academic and support staff working for Ontario's Community Colleges of

Applied Arts and Technology (CAAT).

 

-30-

 

For more information, please contact:

David Cox, OPSEU Communications (416) 788-9197"

Excerpts from Bob Rae's report, "Ontario A Leader In Learning", to the Ontario provincial government:

"Implementing Change 53

 

7. Academic Renewal

Direct new investments towards teaching excellence and educational innovation so that students have increased opportunities for meaningful contact with faculty, and better facilities and equipment. A single Ontario digital library should be developed.

 

How It Will Work

Teaching Excellence

The hiring of additional faculty will be one of the measurable quality improvements sought as additional revenues are provided to institutions beginning in 2005-06. Additional resources will allow a focus on learning and the hiring of faculty and the development of teaching excellence in Ontario’s institutions of higher education.

...

Government can play a strong supporting role by sponsoring the sharing of best practices, promoting appropriate approaches to the measurement of student engagement and success, and providing funding that is targeted for hiring faculty and developing their skills. An additional investment of $700 million by 2007-08 is recommended in this area.

 

54 Ontario: A Leader in Learning

These requirements are dealt with in a later section of the report.


Results

• Improved levels and types of contact for students with faculty and other teaching staff.

• Greater student satisfaction with the quality of teaching at their institution.

• Greater access to learning and research resources.

Rationale

Teaching and learning are at the core of college and university missions. The degree of meaningful contact with faculty, the quality of teaching, mentoring and academic counselling, and the attention to unique learning needs, are all key factors that contribute to student satisfaction and success. Recent results from student engagement and satisfaction surveys, such as the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), have heightened system-wide awareness of the importance of teaching excellence and of quality faculty-student interaction."

Since receiving the increased funding they pleaded for, the colleges' management has reneged on their promise to hire more full-time faculty and decrease class sizes and, by its unwillingness to require the colleges' management to bargain in good faith and hire more full-time faculty and reduce class sizes for current program courses, the provincial government seems to be supporting management. Why? I wish I knew why and so do my faculty colleagues. So do the students, and the parents, who pay the tuition fees and the taxes which fund the colleges.

Consequently, faculty are on strike and sacrificing their pay (causing hardship to themselves and their families), a reduction in pension benefits (no contributions to the pension plan is made during a strike), and other penalties, for the hiring of more full-time faculty and the consequent reduction in class sizes to improve the training and teaching of community college students as was promised and funded. Students are also suffering the negative consequences of the Colleges' management's unwillingness to honour the statements they made about hiring more full-time faculty and reduce class sizes which they used to receive increased funding and tuition fees. Conversely, during this strike, the community colleges' administrators do not suffer any negative financial consequences, they continue to be paid as they were when there was no strike and, as far as I know, the colleges continue to receive their grants, which are not incentives to cause them to return to the bargaining table.

The colleges' management should be honourable and do the right thing; return to the bargaining table, make a good-faith offer-of-settlement which includes a written commitment to hire more full-time faculty and reduce class sizes, and work out a settlement with faculty. Otherwise, the Ontario government should require that the Ontario community college grant increases be returned and college tuition fees remain frozen until they do.

I sympathize with the students who are now suffering the effects of the Ontario community college faculty strike but I am on strike for improvements which will benefit students and society for the long term. I ask the students to understand why faculty are on strike and to join in faculty's' efforts to effect real improvements to training and education in the community college system for now and for the future.

Name:
College:
Students:
Subject:

 

Challenge:

Brian Dormer
Georgian (Barrie)
49
Massage Therapy




 The inability to divide myself to meet the varying challenges of every student.
 

Name:
College:
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Challenge:

 

Trevor Davies
Georgian
47
Online: Communications, General Education




 Time. It takes an enormous amount of time to grade 47 electronically submitted essays.

Software and hardware to support online teaching have been a problem, as well.

Name:
College:
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Challenge:

 

Prof Mikal Radford
Sheridan College (Davis)
48
Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Modes of Reasoning, Global Issues

 


 On a regular basis I have been given a room with 40 or less seats for a course in which there were 40 or more students enrolled. For me, the worst situation occured during the final exam period when these 'extra students' have had to write their exam sitting on the floor. Now some have asked, "Why don't you bring in some extra chairs?" Obviously a good question. The answer, there is no physical space in which to put any extra chairs. So while I'm walking the line at 7:30 in the morning, and the rain is coming at me sideways, I think about those students writing that final exam on the floor, and I remind myself why I'm holding my umbrella in a thunderstorm -- "I'm here for them."
 

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Challenge:

 

Adele
Humber College
42
Business

 

My biggest challenge is that I haven't been able to secure a job that I can count on to pay my basic household expenses. My student evaluations were in the top 5% to 10% of the Busienss School at Humber in 2004-2005. Yet I am not allowed to teach more than 3 classes per term. During the summer, I am only able to teach one class through the summer. Next year, I am leaving Humber to pursue a teaching career in the high schools.
 

Name:
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Challenge:

 

Prefer not to say
Durham
36
various in Justice Studies

 


 I am part time or sometimes sessional.

I have to teach con-ed courses at night to make a full salary and make up for the lack of benefits. The movement to a Walmart approach of parttimers means no paid time for face to face contact with students outside regular classroom hours or for the (frequent) program and staff meetings. This college has even failed to replace fulltime faculty positions that 2 professors left vacant when they died in the past two years!!! Talk about creative staffing adjustments!!

There is a revolving door of part time Profs who either can't teach and are not rehired or get tired of waiting for that light at the end of the tunnel --the coveted full time professorship!!!

And when the fortunate do finally get a position, they are exhausted, burn out and have to start running on the treadmill with oversize classes and inadequate time to address students needs right away!! It seems most of the newly allocated moneys to this college go to building and hiring for the adjacent University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
 

Name:
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Challenge:

 

James Cullingham
Seneca - School of Communication Arts, Journalism-Broadcast
27
documentary - radio & televisiion; scriptwriting;government in Canada

 


 Documentary classes require a significant amount of one-on-one or small group teaching. Increasingly, availability of right classroom is an issue. It is ideal to teach these courses with a maximum of 20 students.
 

Name:
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Challenge:

 

Carol Merson
Canadore College
Previously: 200; Now: 45
Now: Courses in the Mental Health and Addictions Program.
Previously: Psychology, Group Dynamics, Interpersonal Relations in Social Sciences

 


 In the large classes, it is impossible to connect with every student, especially the quiet ones who often need my attention the most. The classes of 200 ended, due to program complaints, but I still taught Psychology to classes of 70 or more. Frequently there were not enough seats for all students. I was once told this would be O.K. because some students would drop out or not attend classes. I have had classrooms where desks were placed behind a pillar-like structure and the students had to peer around it or feel disconnected. Now, with our numbers in the MHA program increasing, I foresee future problems again. It is hard enough to connect with 45 students. We are crammed into a small classroom where the heat is so stifling, I tell the students to wear layers so they can remove clothing. In order to maximize our SWFs, the 45 students in second year were put together in this small room for two hours a week. Then, once the first years went on placement, they were divided into two groups for three hours a week. This was confusing for them and we weren't able to carry out any meaningfuly group or role play activities until the groups were divided. Moreover, we realized it was not possible to teach all we needed to teach with that hour reduction until mid February.
 

Name:
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Challenge:

 

Anonymous
Fanshawe
75
Human Services Division

 

In the last 2 years number of students has jumped by 20. Challenges come from evaluation. There is an essay, a professional portfolio and class presentations. Pressure is felt to adjust assignments, I have been told to get creative and I feel I am by successfully engaging the 75 students in a 2 hour class.
 

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Challenge:

 

Dale Northey
Fleming
46
Various in the Accounting and Operations Management area.

 

In fact, after winning Fleming's Teaching Exellence Award, I have been seconded to the Academic Team Leader position (like a Dean but not Management - I'm on the line).

In the 13 years prior to taking on this new role, I saw my class sizes increase from 30 to 48. These are the seminar groups not the 200+ student lectures. Those class sizes are the sizes we build to, occasionally going over that target early in the semester knowing that some students will drop out.

Because of chronic underfunding and the need for fiscal efficiencies, the number of classrooms have been reduced as we convert smaller rooms to larger capacities. It is not unusual for seminars to have in excess of 40 students in the School of Business. It is true that there are some smaller classes (15-25) in upper semesters and even the occasional (rare) class of less than 10. Those situations do not go on for very long as the small classes are eliminated from the schedule or consolidated with other courses to make them larger.

Interestingly, nothing is being done to make the large classes smaller.
 

Name:
College:
Students:
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Challenge:

 

Name witheld
Seneca College
35
English

 

In my practice, nurturing is an important component of how I teach; it is very difficult to develop a relationship with my students when there are so many. Most often, timid students get left behind because there isn't enough time to engage them all. How awful for a class full of students to have several left behind and no one notice. I lose sleep at night wondering how I can properly accommodate all my students. How can I meet their expectations for a quality education? I want them to leave with a positive learning experience...this is becoming impossible with the growing workload and class sizes. When I began teaching five years ago, my class sizes were around 28, now they are 35 and growing. Enough is enough--teachers need more time with students in order to meet each student at his/her need.
 

Name:
College:
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Challenge:

 

Judy Sumner
Cambrian
60
mostly chemistry, also physics ands sometimes math

 

The 60 students are taking chem for health sciences, and are generally weak students with no self confidence. There were not enough seats for all in the classroom and 15 disappeared by mid term. It took me several weeks to learn their names! I really feel that I am not much use to a student unless I know his/her name
 

Name:
College:
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Challenge:

 

Kim Donaldson
Cambrian College of Applied Arts & Technology
66
Advertising



 Advertising is a very subjective topic, and therefore, there are no black and white answers to the questions of effectiveness in message. My students require a lot of one-on-one time and consultation to bring them from the "me" frame of mind to a place where they can become students of human nature. Removing themselves from their own world and enabling them to consider other points of view is a difficult task, and one that cannot be accomplished quickly or uniformly. This ability is a vital job skill required to survive in this ever-evolving field of communication. The basic mechanics of the field can be taught from a text book, but the nuances of the industry are such that they need to be discussed, evaluated and discussed again before they are applied. It is the nuances that I teach that will not only make them employable, but successful in their chosen field.
 

Name:
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Challenge:

 

Monique Bacher
George Brown College
63
Body Works! Medical Terminology, Nursing



With such large classes it is difficult to be innovative and dynamic in teaching styles and to maintain the interest of the entire class. Some students are able to grasp concepts quickly and become quickly bored if new information is not provided while others can become lost in the information. Facilities are also not able to accomodate such large lecture sizes, and classes are over crowded, cheating is difficult to prevent in such incidents.
 

Name:
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Challenge:

 

Paul Willie
Niagara
55+
Accounting, Finance, Revenue Management, Hotel and Restaurant Management



 We do not have the appropriate lab facilities, software, and hardware, to provide a quality educational experience for our Hotel and Restaurant Management students.

I have been asking management for a Front Office simulation lab for over three years now. This imperative need was also identified as a top priority item in the Program Review that was undertaken last year.

Just prior to our strike I was told by administration that without "Corporate Sponsorship" it will not happen.

Apparently, the school does not have any money available to improve the educational quality for our students in this regard.

This position by management is very disappointing and simply NOT acceptable!
 

Name:
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Challenge:

 

Kathy Ellis
Centennial
56
Nursing



 Reorientation and ongoing assistance of up to 10 new part time nursing faculty every fall (and sometimes winter). Not enough time to assist students with their learning. In a collaborative nursing program more time spent travelling and meeting with partners (a necessary endeavor), means less time with students.
 

Name:
College:
Students:
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Challenge:

 

Pat Norris
Humber
42
Criminal Law, Title Searching, Legal Docketing



 As a partial load professor, my students have no choice but to meet with me only during the days I am at the college and this is usually not an option for many students. Another example of a challenge is inadequate equipment for either the Professor/Student.
 

Name:
College:
Students:
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Challenge:

 

Tom Stephenson
George Brown College
150
Business Management, Building Industry Practices, Planning and Scheduling, Blueprint reading


 Class size, lack of personal contact, a sea of faces that you can't get to know. In one semester I typically have between 350 and 450 different students. I don't know where these class averages of 25-28 are coming from they must be including retired teachers in the calculations.
 

Name:
College:
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Challenge:

 

Penny Parker
Fanshawe, London campus
55
Accounting



 Two challenges:

1. Number of hours for our first semester accounting course have decreased from 5 to 3 over the past 15 years. Content has been cut and there is not enough time to help students who "don't get it" 2. Number of students in class has risen from 30-35 to 50+. Those that need help don't get it as there are too many of them and only one of me!
 

Name:
College:
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Challenge:

 

Ruthanne Krant
Georgian College, Barrie Campus
43
Human Resources Management, Human Resources Planning, Training and Development, Recruitment and Selection


 I primarily teach post-graduate students who are coming to college after finishing an undergraduate university or college education. They pay a deregulated tuition fee and they have very high expectations in terms of the program's ability to make them "job-ready". They want to be connected to the industry and they want college faculty to prepare them to work in a variety of HR jobs upon completion of 12 post-graduate courses. I understand these expectations completely, however, it is sometimes very demanding responding to these high expectations particularly in a very competitive marketplace where HR jobs are in demand, but the supply of qualified HR professionals is high. When Georgian first launched it's HRM post-graduate program five years ago, there were 5 similiar programs in the province. Now there are 13. We are all trying to develop and deliver a high standard of college education to recruit, retain and place our graduates in viable jobs. This competition is healthy and it provides choices for our applicants, however, the pressure of our students' expectations is certainly manifested in our classrooms, counselling offices, libraries, career centres etc.
 

Name:
College:
Students:
Subject:

 

Challenge:

 

Rob Goode
George Brown College
50
Business



 1. Not enough personal contact with students
2. Over crowded classrooms.
3. More group assignments rather than individual.
 

Name:
College:
Students:
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Challenge:

 

Lynne Gardiner
St. Lawrence College
65
Behavioural Program Writing, Intro Psych, Abnormal Psych, Interviewing and Counselling, Behavioural Interveiwing and Mediator Training, Pre-placement seminar


 Not enough time in the day....In my Interviewing 'seminar' I have over 30 students in each class (2 sections). I can't meaningfully evaluate all of the students (actually evaluating the skill of counselling) in a 40 hour work week. The only way is to cut corners on evaluation....Not good pedagogically. I also coordinate 2 programs, and am relegated to signing forms and approving bursaries. Where is the academic direction?
 

Name:
College:
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Subject:

 

Challenge:

 

Anonymous Partial Load Professor
Two GTA colleges simultaneously to make ends meet
40
Communications and Writing



 Teaching 40 students to write would be a challenge in ideal circumstances, but when half of those students have severe literacy problems it is daunting to say the least. When one comments on the ridiculous class sizes to management, the response is to change teaching methods to adapt to the circumstances. In other words, spend less time with individual students and teach like a worker in a General Motors assemblyline. Cars can be built that way quite effectively, but cars don't require encouragement and feedback, and cars don't have questions and concerns.

Students, like all of us, tend to have very complicated lives these days, and if they happen to miss more than a couple of classes, it becomes almost impossible for them to pass because there is no mechanism in place for me to be able to help them. I have to spend my week ferrying back and forth across the city to teach at two different colleges (a few hours here and a few hours there) because that's the only way I can get enough hours to make ends meet, so unfortunately I can't be available to meet with students in off-hours.

We "part-timers" generally have to teach more hours than the "full-timers" because we are paid less, get no benefits, and have to fight to join the pension plan, and if I didn't love what I do, and genuinely hope that things would get better, I would have to find a new career.
 

Name:
College:
Students:
Subject:

 

Challenge:

 

Betty Dean
Cambrian College, Sudbury
35
LAW, EHICS, SECURITY, REPORT WRITING, COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS, YOUTH JUSTICE, CORRECTIONS IN CANADA


 This is my fourth year teaching after a 30 year career in corrections. In previous years my class sizes were 43-51. This is the first time to have 31-35 students.

Many students arrive in my program with inadequate literacy skills and struggle with reading and comprehending the course material. I now meet with my students one on one when returning test/assignment results to explain their results to them and help them improve their results for the next test or assignment.

More and more students are identified as "special needs" and have individual plans that require additional work to ensure the students' learning needs are met.

Not identifed or acknowledged is the workload associated with students who are not "special needs" but require a lot of support to continue and succeed. (These students may have financial, emotional, family, court or health issues that interfere with their academic success.)

Finally, now that I have taught long enough to see several graduating classes, I continue to assist those students with resumes, cover letters, and preparation for job interviews. I do this because I care what happens to this generation of students. It certainly isn't reflected in any workload formula.
 

Name:
College:
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Challenge:

Wendi Jollymore
Sheridan, Oakville Campus
38
computer programming, web services, programming logic, linux/unix, web technolgies, and whatever else they happen to feel like throwing at me during the term, whether I know the subject or not!

I am getting demotivated. At first, I didn't mind that I worked an extra 20 to 25 hours per week above what I was getting paid. But so far, I haven't been recognized for this effort, nor have I received any kind of compensation, appreciation, or anything from anyone. Once in a while, one student might say "Thanks" but that's it. It's as if everyone expects it of me! I'm getting fed up, but even more, I'm getting tired, and that's affecting my ability to teach. I'm too tired to think clearly, to prepare the materials without mistakes, or to mark tests accurately. I'm making stupid mistakes that I'm ashamed of, and I'm feeling like I don't belong in this job anymore. I make jokes to my students about how I'm easy to contact because I have no life, and everyone finds it funny, but inside it hurts me a little.

 

Name:
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Challenge:

Lynn Olsen
 Algonquin College
 52
 Tourism & Travel Program
Airline Systems I & II, Technology
 

Not able to give one on one attention to students in an overly large class dealing with intricate hands-on subject matter.
Not enough time to 'connect' properly with needy students who may otherwise fall through the cracks.
Striving to engage students in class when overall numbers may intimidate weaker students from classroom interaction - smaller numbers make it easier as atmosphere is more 'intimate'
I could list many other examples here.
 

Name:
College:
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Challenge:

Anonymous

George Brown
60
The ones with the most students, many more than the average that college management alleges.

 

With so many students per class, I can't give many students the personal attention they need. I feel like I am working in a factory which is shipping out inferior and faulty products. Management asked faculty to petition and make presentations to Bob Rae and the provincial government about the need for greater funding to improve the quality of education such as hiring more faculty, more time with students (fewer students per class and more individual attention), etc. The colleges got the increased funding - grant and tuition fee inceases - so why are is college management now saying that the status quo is acceptable? If they don't hire more full-time faculty, decrease class sizes, etc., the colleges should have to give back the increased grants and not raise tuition fees; doing otherwise is fraud. The presidents of George Brown College and Seneca are not helping, their statements are simplistic and offensive. If they think that, after the strike, they are going to get cooperation next time they beg for our help then, G-d help them!!!!!
 

Name:
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Challenge:

Peter Stasiuk
Durham College
53
Marketing, Economics

 

 

My workload is manageable. However, it is made manageable only by choosing methods of evaluation that are not the most ideal (and with not as many submissions of work as would be ideal for the best learning). I can't give students the kind of feedback or as much feedback as I really would like to give as often as I'd like to give it. I could do it but only by working far more hours - probably 50-60 per week. Just being honest, but I suspect I have many colleagues in a similar situation who adjust their approaches to accomodate class sizes. It's really in evaluation and feedback that larger class sizes have their greatest drawback. Teaching activities in class can still be well designed for large groups, so it's a problem for feedback more than for in-class instruction. A good example is the need to make major projects group projects with larger groups than would be ideal. There are other examples, but this is one that comes to mind. 
 

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Jane Dennis
Algonquin College
41
Travel and Tourism - Geography Level II
Travel and Tourism - Computer Reservations Level IV

 

I can't give individual attention to the students who need it most. We used to have a teacher's aid in the lab, but that has been taken away. So now I resort to asking the students who understand the material to help their classmates while I attend to those who are really struggling. It's completely unacceptable.

I've even had more students than computers in a lab. Tests are a nightmare when you have to make a student wait until a computer frees up before they can take the test. That delays the next portion of the lesson and I get behind and have to move too quickly through some of the material.
 

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David Berry
Niagara
94
Hospitality & Tourism (Degree & Diploma)

 

 

One course I give is a two hour "lecture" in a hospitality technology course to 90+ students. The course should be "Hands-on" computer driven but we don’t have the labs or software to do so. The combined class gets the material during my lecture and then in groups of 24 are given seminar sessions with a Part-time instructor. (I had to cover some of the material that was to be done in the seminars because the part-time instructor did not know it, and was too busy at work to learn it.)

This class is a course for the final term students in the diploma program. The large class room size has meant that Professors always give "scantron" multiple choice tests. I made a mistake and broke this practice with a short answer essay format midterm. Unfortunately I found that 55% of the class failed the mid-term because they could not explain themselves. I could not read their writing. They are incapable of reading the question and answering what was asked.

Large classes mean that I have neither the time nor ability to get the students to do more than repeat facts. How can anyone expect us to graduate students that are critical thinkers that can analyze or synthesize, let alone communicate?
 

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Tom Kokkinias
Centennial
35
Introductory Psychology, Consumer Psychology, Principles of Sociology.

 

 

I have taught at Centennial for over 6 years as an 'adjunct' faculty, i.e., part-time, partial-load, and sessional. This semester I am teaching on a part-time contract.

I fully deserve a full-time position. I am a passionate and dedicated teacher and the fact that I am treated as an 'accessory', to be called on if and when needed, does not help me in providing what I believe to be a most important service: the work of the teacher.

I have not been struggling through life for the last 6 years because I think that teaching a course here and there is a splendid 'hobby' to be pursued in my 'spare' time, on a whim. On the contrary, I have dedicated my life to this profession and I am broken-hearted as I go through, year after year, not knowing what the next day, week, and semester will bring.

I have completed a rather comprehensive graduate-level paper on the corporatization of community colleges in Ontario. This paper is a part of my current efforts to complete my MA in Education at OISE, at the University of Toronto.

I have done the research and am aware, both on a personal as well as academic level, of the deep damage to education that can occur as a result of relegating teaching to the status of a part-time, 'on-demand' position that exists primarily in order to blacken the bottom line, without any concern for the security, benefits, and dignity that should form an integral part of the life of the teacher.

I want to commit the rest of my life to this profession, to my college, and to providing a caring, compassionate and high-quality education to my students. I want to be an integral part of a teaching community of equals where everyone, including myself, is capable and passionate about contributing to making our community college a great school and an example of those values, commitments and responsibilities that are exemplary of a vibrant, equitable and healthy democracy.

I hope that it is evident from the above that indeed, I face significant and difficult challenges on a daily basis in my position as a 'contract' teacher. In my restricted and insecure role as an 'on-again', 'off-again' faculty, I am unable to provide my students with the kind of high-quality education that I aspire and have committed my life to.

Instead, I have to spend a considerable part of my life doing other kinds of work, time and energy that I know is needed to be spent in my development as a teacher, academic, and colleague.

Simply put, it is high-time that management, the union and the government take a listen. As individuals and as a society we cannot afford to degrade education to the status of the 'sardine-can' model that is presently what is occurring at most of the post-secondary institutions in this province and throughout the country. We cannot afford to degrade the teaching profession to the status of the kind of service oriented jobs we held in our adolescent years.

I am convinced that we can do better than what we have at present for our education system. To this end, I am hoping against hope that this time, something will be done to address the inequity that plagues our education system.
 

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Lynda Davey-Longstreet
George Brown College
45
Communication (College writing skills) ESL

 

 

In my College Writing skills classes, over 1/2 of my students are ESL (English second language), and about 1/3 are remedial. Classrooms are not suitable for language courses. My ESL class is 26 (pre-college) in a technical lab with poor acoustics.

I have to share an office and I have no telephone.
 


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