Freeway Flyer

• How to Tell if You are Doing a Good Job as an Adjunct Instructor

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  25 Mar 2010 /  employment, students
  Piss Poor Prof, also known as Burnt-Out Adjunct, describes the adjunct as being “the academic equivalent of a fry cook.” http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2009/06/15/adjunct  Then there is Dr. Burton Fletcher, who calls adjuncts “the burros of academia.” http://www.cpfa.org/burro.html. In a world where adjunct instructors have become the Rodney Dangerfield of higher education, how can you know if you’re appreciated or doing a good job? The freeway flyer needs to pay attention, because positive reinforcement can come from many sources, and often it is from your students.

  • You overhear someone. I heard a student describe a conversation with another student who took the same class with a different instructor. He evidently had commented on some of the assignments being done in this class. “He said they didn’t have to do a lot of these assignments. I told him that’s why they say this instructor’s so good.” This came at the end of a very long day which made it even nicer to hear.
  • Your student evaluations are good. For example, if my numbers are consistently as good or better than the course mean, i.e., my numbers compared to everyone else’s who teach the same class, I know I am doing well.
  • You get good “word of mouth.” Students advise their friends to sign up for your sections. I figured this out one year when it seemed I was getting a disproportionately large number of hockey players in my classes.
  • You get repeat customers. Students who begin with your remedial class sign up for sections of your subsequent classes. They say, “I was dreading this class, but I knew you would get me through it.”
  • They remember you after the fact. You might get an email one or more semesters later, asking you how you are doing or thanking you for the class.
  • Your work becomes part of the course. Some assignments you developed are put onto a drive accessible to other instructors who will teach the course. By the way, remember to add these to your personal portfolio.
  • You witness success stories. I’m thinking of a student who dreaded taking the required composition class so much, he waited to take it until the last semester before he was to graduate. That semester he was surprised to discover he liked the weekly journal writing and the essay writing; in fact, an essay of his received an honorable mention in the college’s annual essay contest.

  These small instances of success may not translate to increased income or even accolades (at least not immediately), but they can increase personal satisfaction. You are good at what you do and what you do matters. Realizing this is the beginning of receiving the respect you are due and will help you to continue to teach with the confidence you should have.

  Leave a comment and tell me of some of your “small successes.” I would welcome hearing about them.

  Tags: Burnt-Out Adjunct, Carol Weatherford, Dr. Burton Fletcher

• Email: The Love-Hate Relationship

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  19 Mar 2010 /  technology, time management
  I love email. I have been using it for over ten years and it has gone from an amusing novelty to one of the most important communication methods I use. While there are some people working in higher education who might say they are not technically inclined, almost everyone is comfortable using email. It has occurred to me that I spend a lot more time reading and sending email lately.

  This semester I have a personal home account, Group Wise accounts from three different colleges, and a separate email account from a fourth college. I check these email accounts daily during the week and at least once over the weekend to read and write emails for students, administrators and others. I easily spend over an hour a day in email land. As a good faculty member, I must respond quickly to emails from department chairs or deans. As a good instructor, I need to answer emails from students in as timely a manner as possible. At the beginning of the semester, I tell students I will try to get back to them with an answer the same day; If I receive their emails later in the day, they can expect an answer the next day.

  Evidently, we have trained students to expect answers within 12 hours, because that’s when I receive emails from students checking on earlier messages. That’s another reason I try to respond quickly — to keep the in-box from becoming cluttered. Students are not concerned that Freeway Flyers have multiple school accounts to keep track of; their questions are as important to them (if not more so) as anyone else’s.

  With all of this important communication going on, it is worthwhile to find ways to streamline and expedite the process. Here are some ways to make your life easier and keep everyone happy.

  • Have all of the individual accounts forwarded automatically to one home or other main account. You will be able to read them all at once and still be able to answer them from the individual accounts. You can set this up yourself, or your network manager at school can assist you as well.
  • Use Microsoft Outlook to configure multiple accounts. There are many other programs available as well, including Pegasus or Mozilla’s Thunderbird. Most are free.
  • Send mass emails to students. Often, you can download a student email list from the roster section of the school web site.
  •  Use Blackboard or Moodle to post messages and answer questions. It will save you time from weeding through emails looking for ones that are related to a particular class.
  • Get high speed internet at home if you have already not done so. Where cable internet is unavailable, check into satellite. It will be worth it to you.
  • Make sure your SPAM filters are set correctly for all of your accounts. A lot of emails are a waste of time and do not even need to reach you. It will save you the trouble of moving them to the delete folder.

  The joys of technology are only joys if they improve your effectiveness and make your life easier. The time it takes to put these changes into effect can definintely be worth your while in the long run.

  Tags: Carol Weatherford, email, technology, time management, tips

• Frequent Flyers and a Different Slant on Job Security

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  06 Mar 2010 /  job security
  According to Allbusiness.com, the definition of  job security is “Freedom from the fear of dismissal or job loss.” In academe, the traditional definition of job security has been the tenure awarded position. In recent years, with fewer tenure track teaching positions being offered, it would seem that job security for the adjunct or contingent faculty member might be negatively affected as well. On the contrary, this is when it can be helpful to be a Freeway Flyer who teaches for two, three, or more colleges and college campuses.

  Dependence on one college for income as a part-timer can be a tough way to make a living. Obviously, higher education has been facing,  and will continue facing, challenges in terms of funding and enrollment—at least in the near future. This affects everyone, of course. For example, a part-time instructor always has to worry about a class filling, because if it does not, there may not be another class offered to him or her. Also, part-time instructors will be the first ones to be “bumped” if a full-time instructor with a contract needs another course.

  Here’s where the Freeway Flyer needn’t worry: if a class does not work out for an instructor at College A, there may be a class at College B or C that might work out. Keep in contact with department chairs or administrative deans and let them know you are interested in hearing about other classes or sections that might become available. In some cases, this might result in being assigned a class at the last minute, but the flexibility this requires is one of your strong suits. Also, being able to take over a class with very little notice demonstrates that you are the go-to adjunct, the one on whom they can depend.

  Having a friendly working relationship with a department chair or dean can be helpful in other ways. For instance, if I am bumped from a class at one of my colleges, my department chair at this school always gives me first pick of classes for the next semester, or will even offer me an extra class.

  Of course, this means that your schedule might change drastically from semester-to-semester, as might the particular classes you will be teaching. One semester, you might think you are working second shift because you have so many night classes. Another semester, you might only have to teach two days a week, but both of those days start at nine in the morning and finish at nine in the evening. But, this is also part of the fun of being an adjunct at multiple colleges: every semester is different and it never gets old. That is okay with you, though. If you wanted a 40 hour a week job with the same schedule every week, you would not have gone into teaching in higher education.

  Tags: Carol Weatherford, job security

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