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[edulocator]

I would highly recommend that a professor not miss out on their class time to attend a conference. I have not done this myself, however I have known of professors who have done this and I do not think it is fair to the students. When a student misses a class because a professor is away and does not reschedule the class, this is a loss of students' money. We all know how expensive education is and how their tuition is helping to finance our lives. Yes, we are giving something back through teaching them, however I really think that when we are supposed to be in class, that takes on a bigger priority than actually being at a conference. Perhaps it is easier for me to stress this point because I work at colleges and it there is not as much pressure for me to go to conferences. I do sympathize with the pressure to "publish or perish" that many professors go through. The way I solve this is to publish in a commercial market, that does suit the college environment more, rather than the university.

[voxprincipalis]

Do you get to claim these posts as publications?

Can't wait for the links to show up! Maybe they'll be in your sig file!

[qrypt]

Well, it depends on the conference.  I mean, if the Oxford Round Table sends a prestigious invitation, it's hard to imagine anyone would put his or her students first.  There's only so much temptation a body can resist. 

[grasshopper]

It's true. They are paying customers, and as a customer service representative, I should always be available.

Besides, who needs to stay current with research, anyway? It'll all be in some textbook or another in 10-15 years. What's the rush to get it all now now now?

[reesespeanutbutter]

Yes, my professor taking off one class a semester to go to a conference does irreparable harm.  I seriously doubt undergrads care, and grad students should probably learn from example and get to conferences to start networking and being exposed to the most recent research in their field.

[systeme_d_]

Dear zinnerson,

You are clearly a very experienced and knowledgable academic.  Of course my colleagues and I cancel our plans to present on our work, interview candidates for tenure track positions, and introduce our current graduate students to the movers and shakers in their subfields when undergraduate classes conflict with our annual scholarly association meeting in November.

As a matter of fact, none of us have been to our annual scholarly meeting in decades.   We glory in being ignorant of new developments in our field, and in having no scholarly contacts outside of our own institution.  It makes us special, we think.

[science_expat]

Besides, who needs to stay current with research, anyway? It'll all be in some textbook or another in 10-15 years. What's the rush to get it all now now now?

Absolutely. You should see my students roll their eyes and sigh in exasperation when I bring back the latest updates on climate change from conference talks, or describe the fascinating presentation on the Bush government and the censorship of science.

[prytania3]

Isn't it nice to have someone like Zinnerson who can tell us exactly how things should run?

I feel so grateful.

[swtrixie]

I would highly recommend that a professor not miss out on their class time to attend a conference. I have not done this myself, however I have known of professors who have done this and I do not think it is fair to the students. When a student misses a class because a professor is away and does not reschedule the class, this is a loss of students' money. We all know how expensive education is and how their tuition is helping to finance our lives. Yes, we are giving something back through teaching them, however I really think that when we are supposed to be in class, that takes on a bigger priority than actually being at a conference. Perhaps it is easier for me to stress this point because I work at colleges and it there is not as much pressure for me to go to conferences. I do sympathize with the pressure to "publish or perish" that many professors go through. The way I solve this is to publish in a commercial market, that does suit the college environment more, rather than the university.

You're kidding, right?

[yellowtractor]

Zinnerson, I am not in a flashmobbing mood, and it seems to me that you are genuinely trying to be helpful.  Your post, however, demonstrates an appalling ignorance of academic job requirements: indeed the purpose, structure, and function of higher education more generally.

First, priorities:  whenever higher education as a whole decides to transition from a teaching-scholarship-service model to a purely teaching model, your suggestion that conference attendance is inherently less important than teaching will hold merit.  For those employed by schools that explicitly adopt a teaching-first or teaching-only protocol where tenure and promotion are concerned, this is already the case.  They, however, are in the minority.  Most of us work at schools where we are expected to balance teaching, scholarship, service, and professional activity (counts variously as "scholarship" or "service").  Sometimes this means missing class.

Second:  if one is going to insist upon a consumer model, then it is important to emphasize that students have not purchased our exclusive services as classroom teachers.  What they have purchased is the privilege to pursue higher education at a particular institution.  If they perform successfully, they will receive a credential (a degree) in return.  In terms of our remuneration as faculty, please review my first point above.  Tuition finances many activities beyond teaching, all of which contribute to both the academic environment and the academic reputation (very important, if one insists on a consumer model) of the institution a given student has chosen to attend.

We are not "giving something back" when we teach.  We are performing, in one of several roles assigned to us as faculty members at the undergraduate or graduate level.  As someone who is fairly committed to the SLAC model, I am all for working diligently, passionately, and enthusiastically with students.  It is, however, important that we understand what they are and are not paying for.

Third, "publishing in a commercial market":  since tenure and promotion are regulated by committees of scholars and scholar-administrators, this tactic, however delightful and satisfying it may have proven for you, is untenable for us.  Tenure and promotion committees analyze the breadth and depth of the scholarship as well as the venue.  This is part of what we mean when we talk about "peer review."  In other words, while I am moved--moved, I tell you--by your "sympathy," I am explaining, as slowly and patiently as I can, that scholarship and publishing are not simply an added burden academics shoulder at the college or university level.  They are in fact integral parts of our mission and job description.  If I could hold onto my job by publishing puff pieces about pedagogical trends, Sicilian cooking, and/or Madonna's wardrobe "in as commercial market," I might do it.  Certainly the process would be more fun and less time-consuming than spending hours in musty archives, keeping up with the literature in my fields, and presenting my scholarship in a cogent, professionally engaged form.  The results would probably be more remunerative, too.  But within a personal and professional context that takes the value of scholarship, of intellectual inquiry, seriously, this will not do.

I do try to minimize the extent to which my research and professional commitments cut into class time.  I reschedule missed classes, and on occasion I even manage to take students along with me to conferences.  But it is, as anyone who has been involved in higher education for more than a term knows, a balancing act.  Neither the problems nor the solutions are as simplistic as your post suggests.  It is both irresponsible and ignorant to claim they are.

[dr_evil]

So if a prof is at a conference and has a colleague cover the class, how are the students hurt?  They still get to learn the material and their prof gets to learn about the most current work in the field - sounds like everyone wins here.

[mirandaf]

Most students I've spoken with are perfectly thrilled to have the prof cancel one class. Rather than listen to me or other professors try in vein to get them excited about a lecture on simply random sampling, or an in-class content analysis practice exercise (oh joy!), instead they get to sleep, have sex, eat ice cream, update their Facebook pages, and whatever else they do in their spare time.

[svenc]

... instead they get to sleep, have sex, eat ice cream, update their Facebook pages, and whatever else they do in their spare time.

Some students do all of these things in class, as evidenced on these very fora.

[science_expat]

... instead they get to sleep, have sex, eat ice cream, update their Facebook pages, and whatever else they do in their spare time.

Some students do all of these things in class, as evidenced on these very fora.

I missed this one!

[conjugate]

I have to agree; when I miss class, I have an equally-skilled colleague substitute for me (and return the favor when said colleague misses a class for a similar reason).  We don't keep track of who owes whom very much.  It's not like we get a substitute who lies to them or teaches them the wrong material.

Besides, there are a certain number of "slack" days in our schedule.  That is, our accrediting body requires that for a three-credit-hour course we provide X number of class contact hours; the school schedule provides for quite a few more, so that we can occasionally miss a class, or have a snow day, or fire drills or whatever other circumstances arise.  It's not like we're cheating them of the tuition dollars.