Faculty members spend considerable time reading and writing to prepare lectures and class presentations. They design, organize , and refine courses continuously. They gather materials for use in the classroom and work to incorporate new instructional technologies into their classes. Further, the teaching process itself is sometimes open-ended. Formal lectures and discussions may extend only as long as a class period, but individual tutorial meetings and laboratory sessions with students frequently last much longer.
Teaching includes evaluating student performance and providing feedback.
Faculty members spend time creating appropriate testing material, grading examinations, and writing commentary to students concerning their performance on exams. In addition, faculty monitor the success of academic programs through student outcome assessment activities that establish and monitor overall student performance. Teaching also requires a great deal of time working with students to improve their writing. The quality of all education and the acquisition of critical thinking skills is linked in a direct way to the amount of writing that students do. Teaching that promotes clear and concise writing, therefore, is essential.