What do the Sr. Fellows do?

Question: What am I - -a LANGURE Sr. Fellow not at NC State -- supposed to do?

I have had a niggling concern since the start of this project regarding how substantive the input of the Sr. Fellows is expected to be: are they truly developers of the course and modules, or are they simply reviewers and teachers of the course? Will we be contributing to the discussion about the philosophy and approach, or will we be simply filling in detail into modules that have already been outlined? I have a deep commitment to students learning how to apply critical thinking to ethical issues, and I see Langure as a valuable approach, so I have ignored those niggling concerns until now. After looking at the Langure web site and seeing the extent to which the modules have already been developed, however, I can no longer ignore those doubts. Being told that we have no responsibilities this year is hardly reassuring in this respect.

I would like to see this project succeed. My question to you is, are we partners or assistants in this project?

Gary responds:

Excellent question. Brenda, Christine and I have resisted a once-size-fits all answer to this question for several reasons.

A) When we wrote the NSF proposal, the Sr. Fellows at the participating institutions expressed different levels of time and commitment to the initiative. Wanting the project to be as flexible as possible, we didn't want to force people into assenting to duties that might turn out to be unnecessary.

B) Wanting to get as comprehensive coverage on the teams as possible while avoiding duplication, we had to ask some Sr. Fellows to join teams they may not have selected as their first choice. If you examine the departmental affiliations and the team assignments of the Sr. Fellows on the Roster you'll quickly see what I mean. ("The Roster" is an Excel spreadsheet that should pop up if you click on "Members" on the website.)

C) We wanted to leave open the possibility that additional Sr. Fellows might want to join LANGURE. And, gulp, that some might have to bail.

When we submitted the grant, then, there were many unknowns. Still are. The three most pressing issues at this point are:

(1) Is each Sr. Fellow happy with their team assignment?

(2) Is the Fellow expecting (as you so helpfully put it) to be a participant with, or an assistant to, the team leader?

(3) Can we find a sufficient number of qualified graduate students at NC State to serve as Jr. Fellows to help with the writing of the first drafts of the modules?

Let me address the questions in reverse order.

Concerning (3). We are finding to our delight that there is quite a bit of interest among graduate students here. We're fairly confident now that we can find an NC State Jr. Fellow for each team. The original, if sketchy, idea was for the graduate student to work with the team leader here to develop the first draft of the module by fall 06. This is still our default position. But see next paragraphs.

Regarding (2). Our team leaders, I believe, are open to the idea that each Sr. Fellow may determine for themselves their desired level of involvement. I also believe that our team leaders--and their graduate student Jr. Fellows--would welcome early and active involvement of any Sr. Fellow.

Regarding (1). Time to ask each Sr. Fellow this question. So we're asking: Are you happy with your assignment? Please review your module description on the web bearing in mind that these descriptions were written in great haste and are subject to revision--perhaps very dramatic revision. If you are happy with your assignment, please inform your institutional leader (Clark Wolf at Iowa State; Rob Streiffer at Wisconsin; Dian Dooley at Hawaii; Alan Beck at Purdue; Chi Archibong at NC A&T; David Preston at Fayetteville State; Audrey Rudd at NC Central).

If, on the other hand, you would like to change teams, please let the institutional leader know. They will do their best to juggle assignments and insure that you are working on a topic you want while also trying to fill any empty spaces that appear.

Once the Sr Fellow and the institutional leader are on the same page with assignments, the Sr Fellow should feel free to contact their NC State team leader directly. I believe all team leaders will honor the commitment level decided by each member.

In sum, I think I speak for all of us at NC State in saying: The water's warm; feel free to jump in as quickly--and as deep--as you want.

Indeed, the number of module teams is not sacred. If you would like to develop your own module, please let us know. Assuming that the module will complement the other modules and enhance the project, we will do all we can to assist you.

Comments and questions of course as always very welcome.

Gary