AEJMC Teaching Committee
Mission Statement and Job Description
Draft 8-12-04
According to the AEJMC Bylaws, the Teaching Standards Committee shall be concerned with:
Standards of academic and professional preparation for teachers in the field.
Standards of appointment, tenure, promotion, compensation, research and retirement for teachers.
Minimum standards of equipment and facilities for instruction and research.
Standards of faculty-administration relationships.
Role and Scope of the Elected Committee
It is in the interests of the students we are training for the 21st century to be taught by faculty and led by administrators who have given thoughtful consideration to excellence in curricular matters, course content and teaching methods, and teaching performance. The Teaching Standards Committee of AEJMC is charged with encouraging a commitment to teaching among the many divisions and interest groups of the association. The Committee is also charged with encouraging a commitment to teaching across divisions and interest groups. Specifically, the Committee:
A. Provides divisions with a list of general goals to strive for in teaching-related activities. These goals include (but are not limited to) fostering curriculum development, encouraging administrative and structural supports for teaching, enhancing course content and teaching methods, and promoting assessments of students, teachers, course and programs (see below).
B. Requests that each division and interest group develop its own list of goals consistent with the more general goals. These goals, which are approved by the group’s membership and are listed in the group's annual report, will be of value in helping the Committee serve the individual groups.
C. Plans and executes a plenary session for the August meeting once every three years, on a rotating schedule with the other two Standing Committees
D. Works with the Council of Divisions to staff a session at the August meeting for incoming teaching chairs, which spells out opportunities that the position offers for enhancing teaching-related activities. The session includes general suggestions designed to help the new chair step into the role. It contains both ideas for teaching activities and tips for planning activities and writing the year-end report.
E. Develops activities (workshops, mini-plenaries, paper competitions and the like) of interest to the entire membership. These activities are specifically designed to foster excellence in the areas of curriculum, leadership, course content and teaching methods and assessment, and in other areas identified as consistent with the teaching mission of the association.
F. Provides an opportunity for the AEJMC membership at large to ask questions and provide feedback to its representatives to the ACEJMC.
G. Chair serves as a member of the AEJMC Assessment Committee to review and provide feedback on teaching-related activities to the divisions and interest groups on a rotating, five-year schedule.
General Goals for Teaching-Related Activities
1. Curriculum. Relevant issues, developments, and trends include (but are not limited) to:
Values in curriculum choices
Liberal arts vs. professional training
Core curriculum vs. menu-based education
Internationalization of curricula
Diversity across the curriculum
Adapting to changes in communications technology and hiring
Adapting to changes in student needs and interests
Preparing students for change and life-long learning
2. Leadership. Leadership concerns the creation and implementation of goals designed to promote teaching and teaching excellence. Relevant issues, developments, and trends include (but are not limited) to the following:
Envisioning education for the 21st century
Implementing change
Achieving multicultural diversity
Creating faculty/student awareness of international concerns
Promoting innovation in journalism and mass communication education
Fostering teacher enrichment/faculty exchanges, etc.
3. Course Content and Teaching Methods.
Relevant issues, developments and trends include (but are not limited) to:
Bibliographies to enrich course content
Efforts to integrate knowledge from other disciplines
Efforts to integrate the insights/technologies of media practitioners
Ideas for motivating students
Creative approaches to lectures, labs, field experiences, collaborative learning, self-directed learning, etc.
4. Assessment.
Relevant issues, developments and trends include (but are not limited) to:
Planning and assessing course content
Assessing student outcomes
Evaluating good teaching
Rewarding good teaching (as well as research)
Assessing programs
It is desirable that activities in these and related areas be available not only during the annual convention, but also throughout the academic year, in newsletters and other publications, and in midwinter meetings.
Membership, Terms and Expectations of the Elected Committee
Nine members of AEJMC are elected by the AEJMC membership at large to serve a three-year term on the Teaching Standards (TS) Committee. Committee members may serve a second three-year term if re-elected. No one may serve more than six consecutive years on the TS Committee, and normally, three members are elected each year (usually in March). Terms begin on October 1 and run through the following September 30. Members are expected to attend the midwinter meeting in December and the annual meeting in August.
The Chair of the TS Committee is selected by the Committee from among the members, and serves a two-year term. The Chair of the TS Committee also serves as a member of the AEJMC Assessment Committee (consisting of the chairs of the three standing committees and the chair and vice-chair of the Council of Divisions). The role of the Assessment Committee is to review the activities of the divisions and interest groups on a rotating, five-year schedule determined by the AEJMC central office.
Four members are elected from and by the TS Committee to serve as AEJMC representatives on the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) for three-year terms. ACEJMC is the accrediting body for schools, departments and programs of journalism and mass communication. Reports and discussion of ACEJMC business occur at both the August and December meetings of the TS Committee. Service on ACEJMC involves attendance at two required meetings for a two-day period in May and September at various cities in the United States. ACEJMC provides travel support for the two ACEJMC meetings. Service on ACEJMC may involve participation in accrediting site visits at various units seeking first-time accreditation or re-accreditation.
TS Committee members may be asked to serve on AEJMC task forces or other committees, or charged with various additional responsibilities during the AEJMC calendar year.
Specific Job Duties of TS Committee Members
TS Committee members are required to attend at least two meetings during the AEJMC fiscal year, which runs from October 1 through September 30. The first meeting is the AEJMC mid-year planning conference (early December) when programming for the following August is determined. The second meeting occurs during the annual AEJMC Convention in August and is typically held during the late afternoon/ evening of the day prior to the official start of the convention.
Although the first official meeting of service on the TS Committee following the March AEJMC elections occurs with the December meeting, new members are encouraged to attend the upcoming August meeting during the convention. This provides valuable insight into the workings and activities of the Committee prior to full-time involvement and assignment of responsibilities.
During the December meeting, TS Committee members come prepared to discuss special programming requests, plenary planning, teaching paper competitions, and issues raised during the AEJMC Board of Directors meeting as well as at ACEJMC meetings. At the annual meeting in August, TS Committee members come prepared to discuss agenda items as determined by the chair and to respond to various issues that may have arisen at the AEJMC Board of Directors meeting and at the ACEJMC meetings. During one or both meetings, TS Committee members may meet with the other two elected Standing Committees (Research, and Professional Freedom and Responsibility) to discuss common concerns.
The TS Committee chair serves on the AEJMC Assessment Committee. Prior to the August meeting, each member of the Assessment Committee receives five years of annual reports for the five divisions or interest groups under review. Each member of the Assessment Committee is responsible for summarizing materials from one division or interest group and preparing the questions for that group. During the August meeting, the Assessment Committee meets with the chair and vice-chair of each division or interest group under review and discusses the research, teaching and professional freedom and responsibility activities of the division or interest group over the previous five years, and the groups’ plans for the future. Each member of the Assessment Committee then prepares a brief summary of the discussion for the group he/she reviewed and a copy is sent to the division officers and the AEJMC headquarters office.
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