AHE 602 examined the professoriate and the academic career in higher education, and although it is not one of my required technology courses, it proved directly relevant to my ambition to become a faculty member. The course moved me from an abstract wish to “be a professor” toward a concrete, informed understanding of what faculty life actually involves, from the balance of teaching, research, and service to the realities of the tenure track. Boyer’s (1990) reframing of scholarship as discovery, integration, application, and teaching was particularly clarifying, expanding my sense of what counts as scholarly work and helping me see how my instructional-design practice fits within a broader academic identity.
The assignments made this preparation tangible. In the faculty interview project I designed an interview protocol and interviewed two faculty members, then synthesized their responses into a report; hearing candid accounts of workload, mentorship, and institutional expectations demystified the profession for me. In the faculty job-opportunity analysis I studied real assistant-professor postings in learning design and educational technology, tailored a cover letter and CV, and produced a position-analysis report, an exercise that taught me how to read a job description strategically and present my own record against it. The candid-advice discussion drew on Gasman’s (2021) practical guidance for new faculty on planning research, teaching, and advising, and the book-review assignment, in which I reviewed and presented an ASHE-ERIC scholarly report, developed my ability to evaluate and communicate academic work critically.
Taken together, AHE 602 strengthened my professional readiness in ways my technology courses do not directly address. It gave me a realistic map of the academic career I am pursuing, practical artifacts I can reuse on the job market, and a richer understanding of scholarship that will inform how I position my research and teaching as I move toward a faculty role.
References
Boyer, E. L. (1990). Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Gasman, M. (2021). Candid advice for new faculty members: A guide to getting tenure and building an academic career. Johns Hopkins University Press.
