Pamela Olubunmi Smith

It has nothing to do with the students but with the whole of the administration. It hasn’t happened to me. For example, before finishing my master, I got a job, and spent seven years there. Luck has been on my side,and I work hard. This is not the only book I have written, I have written 14 academic essays and I continue to publish, and I am well compensated. Compensation is not money alone. Compensation is that total package. What else could I want? The respect is there. I have ‘academic freedom.’ I want to go and check the children, no one questions me and say you must be in school or in classroom, no. I will go to Denver; our IT will set it up. I teach from the living room in Denver. I am seeing my students, they are interacting with me. If I am in Nigeria, I can still teach from my room. They will set it up for me. They don’t do that for all of us. They know that I am hardworking. I can be in my office till 11pm, working. Thank God, the kids are grown up. I am the only one at home. After my gym, I will start to work.

Over there, just show the prove that you are doing it. You have published books, what else do we want? You have proven your mettle. You are not lazy. I am the senior faculty. I am the most senior. I am the most productive and I am well compensated. Have you seen my CV? I shared with junior faculty. I tell them, tighten up. Get published. Always be ready to volunteer if they are asking for who is interested in a particular committee, volunteer, public and voluntary service. Be visible. I am a faculty mentor so when a new faculty is hired, they will hand the faculty to me. I will say let us go for lunch and there, I will show my CV and say that you can do it, don’t be distracted. Today, lecturing is becoming a job for every Tom, Dick and Harry. You are not indispensable, so be careful and now that everything is online.

How do you see online study?

How can you do online? How can you evaluate? You don’t see who you are teaching and he doesn’t see you. I am so glad I am almost done with teaching.

What about distance learning?

Distance learning is a different situation. You will see your lecturers and your lecturers will see you. Then you will make use of the little time you have with your lecturers. Distance learning is okay for good and serious students. But for online, it is usually poor evaluation. True, online is flexibility. I don’t believe in online. I teach English, so I am constantly grading papers. You will see your students. What do you do in a scenario such as this: You are in the class and you see a student suddenly start crying, no lecture again that day. I need to know what has happened. Maybe a relative has died or something. The human element is there. Maybe, he is having difficulty and what is the difficulty? He may be worried that he doesn’t know what he should know, or is ashamed that he does not know grammar. Do you think you can tackle that online?