New Year, New Goals: Professional Development

​Here at The Novice Professor (and everywhere else) academics are heading into a new school year. As "this" year comes to a close we are reflecting on the past year and setting goals for the upcoming year. To inspire you, and help hold ourselves accountable, we are sharing our goals with you in this week's posts, spanning several topics of academic life. 
​
Since the Novice Professor is all about bettering ourselves as academics, it's no surprise that three of us have big goals centered on Professional Development.

---

Ciara

​This school year I am starting a peer-teaching group with members of my hiring cohort. My idea is that we will meet monthly to discuss our teaching whether it’s a problem we are trying to solve in our courses, or a teaching technique or assignment we think has applicability to others. This group is cross-disciplinary and includes individuals who have different backgrounds in teaching. Our goal will be to capitalize on our combined knowledge to develop as teachers together. 

---

Jen

​As I’m entering the job market, another goal of mine this year is to submit at least 60 job applications. Hopefully this number is actually closer to 80. Every year as students graduate from my program, I ask how many applications they filled out before landing their job. Two have told me numbers close to 80, and they are both still happy and employed at their original positions. 

---

Karly

​Similar to Jen, my professional development goals are focused on the job market. I am planning to apply to positions across the country, focusing on PUI and SLAC job postings. Apart from that, I also hope to spend some time learning about online textbooks and open education resources. I would like to incorporate both into my classes in the future, to help students cut back on costs and make my courses more accessible. Expect to see some of my SoTL posts this semester 

---