What Can K–12 Education Teach College Professors?

Pretend that you have been a frequent patient at a hospital over 10 years, and during those many hours you watched carefully as the doctors perform their job.Then, one day after a short ceremony you are told that tomorrow you will be expected to be the doctor.I can imagine that this would cause significant stress and discomfort, but this is essentially what happens to many science PhDs on the academic track.One day after watching instructors teach for decades, you are suddenly cast into the role of professor and are expected to flourish without receiving instruction specific to this part of the job.This is a common issue in our higher education system.We do a great job preparing scientists to be creative academic or professional thinkers, but we spend little if any time teaching them how to convey their knowledge and skills to others (Bok 2013).This has changed quite a bit since I was in graduate school and many universities are strategically leaning into preparing academic instructors for higher education, which I applaud heartily.But the reality remains that many people finishing a scientific doctorate receive little formal training on how to teach effectively, or what educational research tells us about how students learn.In other words, Academia seems to assume that new professors already know how to create a lesson plan, deliver content and teach effectively, simply from the observational experience of being taught themselves, although academic search committees often look for evidence of teaching when hiring tenure track teaching positions.Fortunately, there is a wealth of educational knowledge on these subjects, but unfortunately it is locked away in teacher training courses designed exclusively for those who pursuing a career as a K-12 teacher.