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Our Common Interest: Defending Higher Education and Changing the World (A Reply)
by Joseph G. Ramsey, Ph.D.
Having now re-read AdjunctNation's response to my essay "The Invisible Faculty," and having had a chance to digest a range of responses to both the AdjunctNation piece and mine, I'm prepared to offer some…
Why FT Faculty Will Never Speak Out for PT Faculty
The plea du jour to tenured and tenure-line college faculty is to "stand up" for adjunct and part-time teaching faculty. The argument is that in doing so those full-time faculty will benefit. This is yet another wild pitch in the dirt from…
Why The Poor Working Conditions For Part-timers Should Matter to Full-timers
But while the working conditions of these sessional instructors is a central problem to be tackled at universities, many full-time professors are also awakening to the rising difficulties associated with their job. In fact, the ‘sessional…
Science May Have Found a Cure for the “Adjunct Syndrome”
The challenges, struggles, poor pay and non-existent institutional support continue to crush the life out of hundreds of thousands of non-tenured faculty. Will the general public ever care? I don't think so. While mainstream media continue…
There Is No Such Thing As An Adjunct Professor
The reason I’m sharing this is not because I want sympathy – far from it. I’m sharing this because I know that there are at least 1.3 million professors across the United States working on contingent contracts, many who may well be…
Venting About Students on Twitter May Be Re-Wiring Your Brain (and Not in a Good Way)
There are two types of complaints: chronic complaints and venting. According to psychological research, "in one series of studies, researchers tracked people’s moods before and after hearing a complaint. As predicted, listening to gripes…
Why Being a Hard-Ass Prof is Bad for You and Your Students
To be sure, every syllabus includes rules, such as outlining when assignments are due and the consequences of plagiarism. That being said, why do so many faculty members view teaching college as an opportunity to impose and enforce "the…
Tips for Increasing Student Engagement in Online Courses
Feedback to students about their performance is extremely important in the effort to keep students engaged in the learning journey. Quick responses to discussion posts and email questions can help keep students on track for the next…
Seven Simple Suggestions to be a Better Teacher Sooner: Experiences of a Nearly New Lecturer
I would also suggest that the voice of the new lecturer is not represented well in the teaching literature, perhaps because most new lecturers may not feel confident in publicly voicing their opinions and admitting their mistakes.…
Five Strategies to Become Visible in a Virtual Classroom
Are you visible and present to your virtual or online students? Do your students perceive you are present and responsive to their developmental needs?