Working with Advisors
Here comes the institutional red tape. As far as bureaucratic paperwork goes, Olin SLCs necessitate very little. The starting requirements are to secure pedagogical and content advisors. These people will be helpful to you not only in terms of advice on your course, but also to basically absorb most of the blame if anything goes awry.
To make this section a little more bearable, we’re going to introduce two new characters - “Content Casey” and “Pedagogical Parker”. The former is, obviously, the content advisor while the latter is the pedagogical advisor.
Casey will help you in terms of the actual course content (though, as a professor, they will probably be able to offer advice assist on pedagogy as well). They are also the one that will be officially able to give students credit for the course. Thus, Casey’s purpose is dual: to both assist you in your scaffolding of the course material and to correspond with students accordingly - when students have issues, they should be able to go to this person as a resource. It’s up to you (and your schedules) to determine how frequently you want to meet (both prior to running the SLC and during the running of the SLC). In our experience, weekly or once every two weeks is a good pace. What to discuss also depends, in our experience, we have gone over course material, revised assignments, brought up recurring issues, and talked about “what’s coming up” in the course. It’s vital that Casey stays in the loop about class events, as they can prove to be a more valuable resource to students in the class and to you.
How do you choose your Casey? Well, you should first look at people who have a good idea of the topic you want to teach. (If you plan on doing a content IS the semester beforehand, it also might be helpful to keep the advisor the same throughout.) Next, availability. If you anticipate needing a lot of support for the class, it might be best to avoid already-overworked professors (hint: stay away from any QEA professor).
Onto Parker. Parker will assist you with teaching methodologies. If you elect to get AHS credit for teaching, they will be the reason you are able to get that credit in the first place, even if you are teaching a heavily technical course and doing mostly coding . . . anyways, I was saying that if you want AHS credit you must make sure to select a Parker who is credentialed to offer AHS credits. Much like with Casey, it would be a good idea to meet with Parker weekly or once every two weeks. The nature of these discussions also depends on what you and they want. We have usually brought up classroom concerns and areas to improve (from a teaching standpoint). Parker might augment your time together by making you read papers on pedagogy and reflect (we have never done that, though). Most likely they will not have a great grasp on your course content, but this can prove even more valuable - advice can come from a strictly pedagogical standpoint and from a different background.
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One of the most important roles of Parker is that they serve as your liability. This is both from an informal standpoint (i.e. responding to student feedback - more about that in the aptly named Student Feedback) and an actual legal standpoint. As students, you are not licensed to know students’ accommodation information. But obviously, you need to make sure to take the necessary precautions. Any students needing accommodations should contact your pedagogical advisor. Your advisor will then relay the necessary information to you so you can then act on it appropriately.
How do you find your Parker? Well, there is a limited number of to faculty that can actually give you AHS credit, so you could start there. Additionally, fewer faculty that are confident enough to be a pedagogical advisor, especially for a SLC in a topic in which they might not be completely familiar. However, SLCs have always seemed to find a pedagogical advisor after contacting a few professors, so fret not!