Discover 17 opportunities in Teaching

What kind of teacher do you want to be? Early on as an economics TA, whether inadvertently or by design you will establish what kind of teacher you are. Will your teaching style resemble that of a coach, an instructor or a taskmaster? And will you aim for an informal, friendly relationship with students or will you establish yourself an authority figure with a degree of professional distance? All this hinges on the choices you make and the actions you take during your first few weeks. 

To preserve the precious time that is left, the pressure to find additional efficiency in other areas, especially class planning, is essential – and for that purpose INOMICS is on hand. There are now a whole host of online tools that can assist class management, and which make the organisation of classes easier, allow students to access materials electronically, and, by saving time, permit lecturers and professors to do things other than preparing quarterly reports. The following are a few of the best.

With vaccine rollouts now gathering pace, returning to classrooms and lecture halls will soon be a reality – indeed, in some places it already is. And with the return, will come the old challenges, most notably, when giving a lecture or holding a seminar, how best to keep students engaged? It will no longer be possible to achieve ‘class control’ through muting somebody’s Zoom account; more traditional means will, again, be needed. With that in mind, here are INOMICS’ top 10 tips to keep students present and attentive when you're teaching.

1. Moodle If your university has a CMS like Moodle, (this writer had the luxury of having access, thank you Humboldt Universität) you can upload lecture notes, links, and much more to a central website from which students can download all the information they need. You can even use it to host online class discussions (when has this ever been more relevant?) or to notify students that you're running late or a class is cancelled.

The Benefits of Being a College Professor One of the biggest pros is the freedom that it offers you in terms of research. Once you are senior enough, you can choose which projects to work on and which methodologies you employ. Few other jobs can match this level of intellectual freedom, and it is undoubtedly one of the perks of being a professor. Alongside freedom, is the joy of teaching, which, with the right group, can be endlessly interesting.

Although we’ve been told time and again that the pandemic doesn’t care about who you are, in reality it hasn’t affected everyone equally. Senior Editor William Pearse has already written about how COVID-19 has been harder on those from ethnic minorities and on poorer communities in the UK.

1. Ask for Advice It’s important to remember that everyone was new at some point. Whether before, during or after your first semester, don’t hesitate to reach out to colleagues for advice and assistance. As almost everyone previously in this position will attest, other faculty members can give you specific advice about your institution and help you understand the nuances of what it’s like to work there – use them!