ANTHROPOLOGY 482

Preceptorship in Anthropology

Prerequisites: Completion of the four introductory anthropology courses: ANTH 210, 220, 250, and 270; completion of the course for which you will serve as preceptor with an earned grade of A- or better; consent of the faculty member with which you will be serving as preceptor; and approval of your set of expectations by the Anthropology Chairperson.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of this course is to provide upper level and graduate anthropology students with an advanced insight into the “inner workings” of an anthropology class. Students in this course will become junior partners with a faculty member in conducting a course. Students who pass this class will:

1. Gain insight into pedagogical methods used in anthropology;

1. Develop and polish skills for interacting with students from a position of responsibility and authority;

2. Acquire an appreciation for those aspects of teaching a college course that occur behind the scenes, including such things as developing study materials, conducting review sessions, and grading various types of student work;

3. Receive mentoring to help them in their growth as an instructor;

4. Build a professional relationship with a faculty member;

5. Gain a more in-depth perspective of the material in a course via the mechanism of explaining it to other students.

ADMINISTRIVIA

Required Materials

There are no required materials specifically for this course. However, courses for which you might be a preceptor may have required textbooks or other materials. Although the professor you are working with will do their best to help you acquire the required materials at no cost to you, this may not be possible in all cases.

How will this class work?

In this course you will be partnered with one of the anthropology faculty, with whom you will work out a set of expectations satisfactory to both of you. These expectations will be reduced to writing, and will be considered a contract between you, your faculty partner, and the Anthropology Department. The Anthropology Chairperson must approve the written version of your set of expectations.

The set of expectations will include how you will be graded for the course. If you have a disability, your faculty partner will work with you to develop a reasonable accommodation. The set of expectations will include the scheduling of your duties and a discussion of mechanisms for handling time conflicts that may impact your performance of your duties.

Duties you might perform include: grading objective tests, tutoring students who are experiencing difficulties, conducting review sessions, putting exams together, posting materials to Blackboard, developing study materials, and many other tasks.

Graduate students will be expected to take on a more faculty-like role in the course, which may include giving lectures, directing undergraduate research projects, course planning, and developing assessment strategies.

Anthropology policy requires preceptors to put in three hours per week per credit earned in this course. For example, attending the class for which you are serving as preceptor three hours per week is worth 1 credit of your preceptorship, and if you are taking preceptorship for 2 credits you are expected to spend an additional 3 hours per week on other duties related to the class.

Grading

Your grade will be based on a variety of factors relating to how well you meet the expectations you have worked out with your faculty partner. Obvious elements of this include showing up when you say you will, completing duties by the deadlines agreed to, the accuracy of your work, and the quality of your interactions with students in the class for which you are the preceptor.

Confidentiality Issues and Ethics

In their work, preceptors represent the Anthropology Department and The University of Montana, and as such must adhere to the highest standard for ethical behavior. All preceptors will be held to the tenets of the Student Conduct Code, viewable at http://www.umt.edu/SA/VPSA/index.cfm/page/1321. Preceptors are also expected to maintain the confidentiality and privacy of all information related to other students and their work for the class for which they are serving as preceptor. Furthermore, preceptors are expected to treat all students in the class for which they are serving as preceptor fairly and professionally, regardless of any personal or professional circumstances, or any factor related to race, gender, age, sexual orientation, or disability.