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[Colloquy Moderator]

Online adjunct professors are in high demand as colleges increasingly turn to part-time faculty members to help expand their distance-education programs while dealing with tight budgets. Besides, full-time faculty members are often reluctant to make the leap from the familiar setting of the lecture hall to the unknown arena of the virtual classroom. Some observers are concerned, however, that the quality of distance-education programs might be threatened by so many part-timers. And faculty unions argue that increases in part-time faculty jobs, even if online, further limit the prospects of both full-timers and adjuncts who want permanent teaching positions. Is the reliance on adjuncts hurting the quality of online education? Is distance learning the best way for adjuncts to disseminate their expertise? Read more ...

[David S. Bail, EdD, Capella Un]

It seems the statements you make in support of your argument may have at best a situational impact on quality, in my opinion.

You write, "...faculty unions argue that increases in part-time faculty jobs, even if online, further limit the prospects of both full-timers and adjuncts who want permanent teaching positions. Is the reliance on adjuncts hurting the quality of online education? Is distance learning the best way for adjuncts to disseminate their expertise?"

First, you assume that increases in numbers of full-time and adjuncts into the permanent ranks automatically increase quality. Seemingly this would depend on individual quality rather than group membership.

Second, you assume that reliance on adjuncts hurts online education. For programs addressing the education of working adults, the work experience that adjuncts bring to their classes is welcomed by the learners, giving a dimension of validation to their sharing of knowledge that they have applied themselves.

Third, for adjuncts who have careers outside academe and teach because they want to share their knowledge and experience, the opportunity to teach online allows them to work when and where they have the available time without the overhead of having to be at a fixed place at a fixed time.

So I would have to question your premises. If you are speaking about adults, online education with adjunct instructors may be just what the doctor ordered!

David S. Bail, Ed.D., MBA
Adjunct Instructor
Graduate Educational Finance
Capella University

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[Susan, Adjunct, Various]

As an adjunct who will be teaching my first online course in the Fall, I am excited to have the opportunity to add to my CV -- Especially as everyone recognizes that online teaching will be a larger part of every institution's mission as the next few years go by.

As long as the requirements for virtual teaching are the same as those for analog teaching, I can't see how quality is being compromised (I have a Ph.d).  Particularly when you consider that only the most computer literate/fluent/comfortable folks are the ones signing up to teach.

[%sig%]

[Terry Dugas, Adjunct, FGCU]

A recent article by Ayers and Grisham at the University of Virginia explores one element of faculty resistance to adjunct teaching of distance learning:

"The traditional classroom paradigm is...being challenged by digital technology, driven not so much by the faculty, who have by and large optimized their teaching effort and their time commitments to a lecture format, but by students."
  (http://www.itc.virginia.edu/virginia.edu/spring04/hope.htm)
Adjuncts who have "optimized their teaching effort" to Distance Learning may threaten tenured colleagues who continue to focus on face to face teaching.  

I've been hearing the "adjuncts aren't as good as full time faculty" mantra since I started teaching in the mid-70's.  I've yet to see any empirical studies supporting this.  But as long as adjuncts are perceived as a threat to full time faculty, the mantra will continue to be chanted.
   
What is often lost in this time honored struggle is the "good of the student."  Which method of instruction best meets the educational needs of the student?  Which type of instructor best meets those needs?

Terry Dugas
Manager, Learning Services
Nebraska ETV

Adjunct, College of Arts and Sciences
Florida Gulf Coast University

[%sig%]

[Jason Baker, M.Ed.]

My fear in the growing reliance on adjunct instructors is the quality of the core program.  I do not think that the argument comes down to quality of distance education.  To me, distance education and effective development of core program offerings are two completely different topics.  I think that a distance education program can be offered quite well--with supplemental knowledge and real-life experience--from adjuncts.  However, I think that full-time faculty are needed to maintain academic rigor and integrity in the program.  This is not to say that adjunct faculty cannot maintain academic rigor, but the transient nature of the position makes it difficult to develop long-term, proven, programs.  Accreditation boards look at the number of full-time faculty available when  accrediting a program.  I agree that this would be a good starting look for a measure of academic integrity.  The argument becomes more complicated when the idea of distance education enters the equation.  I loook forward to the future, at which time, I have confidence that distance education will become more accessible, more suitable to faculty/student needs, and more accepted in the workforce--but , I do not see the current trend of poorly paid and overworked adjuncts doing the necessary legwork to organize the program.

[Patrick, Admin, Elite U]

Susan, Adjunct, Various wrote:

> -- Especially as everyone recognizes that online teaching will
> be a larger part of every institution's mission as the next
> few years go by.

EVERYONE recognizes that online teaching will be a LARGE part of EVERY institution's mission as the next few years go by???

NO ONE at my institution (Research I)  thinks that online teaching will become ANY part of this institution's (nor  of many of our sister instutions') mission EVER.  Web-based course management components are, and will continue to be supplemental to classroom instruction, but replacing or even reducing classroom contact hours with online teaching is not even on the table here.

[Patrick]

Terry Dugas, Adjunct, FGCU wrote:

> I've been hearing the "adjuncts aren't as good as full
>  time  faculty" mantra since I started teaching in the
> mid-70's.  I've yet to see any empirical studies supporting
> this.  

Some of the best teachers I have ever seen were adjuncts; some of the worst, tenured full-timers. I wonder which group profits by perpetuating this mantra?

[Steve Berkshire, Regis Univ]

The quality of adjunct faculty is dependent on the person's knowledge and skills, both professionaly and in the classroom - or in this case online. This is really no different than what we expect of full time faculty who teach both in the classroom and online. The one difference might be in whether adjunct faculty conduct research and submit articles. Many do, but what we are looking for is their ability to teach or facilitate learning. Schools chose to use the services of adjunct faculty because of their professional expertise and because their skills can effectively supplement and complement what the full time faculty are capable of. We at Regis University have relied on adjunct faculty (we use the term affiliate) for well over twenty years to meet the needs of our 13,000 plus working adult student body in the School for Professional Studies. Our students find most of them to be quite competent. But unlike some other schools, our full time faculty also facilitate online courses along with the affiliates. One of the ways we encourage quality is to require all affiliates to go through a thorough assessment and orientation prior to teaching either online or in the classroom. Affiliates also participate in faculty development, get involved with full time faculty in writing curriculum, and assessing the quality of the academic program. As a Jesuit institution we look for affiliates who are committed to the Regis mission and the 450 years of Jesuit educational tradition. They become an integral part of the school. We also look for affiliates who are not using this as an opportunity to make a living, where the person may be teaching online or in the classroom at several schools. We look for professionals in their field who have current competency in that field. So perhaps one of the secrets to maintaining quality education, whether online or in the classroom, when using the services of adjuncts, is to ensure that they do meet the school's criteria for quality.

Steven Berkshire, EdD
Associate Academic Dean Graduate Programs
Regis University, Denver, CO

[Brendan McManus, Bemidji State]

Online will have a role, but its darkside will soon be revealed! It is largely, though not entirely, a scam driven by industry, politicians, and opportunists.

[Peter]

Patrick wrote:

> Terry Dugas, Adjunct, FGCU wrote:
>
> > I've been hearing the "adjuncts aren't as good as full
> >  time  faculty" mantra since I started teaching in the
> > mid-70's.  I've yet to see any empirical studies supporting
>
> > this.  
>
> Some of the best teachers I have ever seen were adjuncts;
> some of the worst, tenured full-timers. I wonder which group
> profits by perpetuating this mantra?

I will have to agree with Patrick on this.  And here is why...
Most adjuncts are not guaranteed positions from semester to semester.  They have to earn the respect of the students and the administration.  When I was an adjunct on campus and online I worked hard to make sure that my classes were of a high quality.  I rarely missed a classed, and if I did it was usually for a professional development purpose.  I employed different teaching methods to reach each of the students in the class.

However on the flip side I recall many full-time and tenured faculty who taught from the same yellowed lecture notes, who thought cooperative learning was the newest craze, and who did the minimum amount possible.  It seemed as if once tenure was achieved they set on coast until retirement.  I even recall one English professor allow students to pick their own grades for the course.

Many of the other adjunct instructors I taught with were innovative in their approach.  Even online I was innovative with having the students develop presentations for delivery online.  It was a great deal of extra work to get them on the web, but the students enjoyed it.  I considered it the online version of giving a speech in class.

[William Mullen, U of T El Paso]

Brendan McManus writes:

"Online will have a role, but its darkside will soon be revealed! It is largely, though not entirely, a scam driven by industry, politicians, and opportunists."

Say more, Mr. McManus.  What is this 'darkside' soon to be revealed?  What is the nature of the 'scam' and who, specifically, are the scammers?

[%sig%]

[Anonymous]

An aquaintance took a course online with a reputation state school. His experience:

-online questions were answered by a student who had taken the class the previous semester.

-the professor's lectures were preserved; the professor was altogether absent from the classroom.



Quality education, indeed.

[%sig%]

[Anonymous]

"the work experience that adjuncts bring to their classes is welcomed by the learners, giving a dimension of validation to their sharing of knowledge that they have applied themselves."

Translation: well, some extra streaming video IS available.

[Jack Dharma]

Wasn't it Edison who thought we could get rid of teachers, because subjects could be taught on film? And, decades later,  wasn't television supposed to replace teachers in the classroom? It seems to me that online teaching is just an extension of this reasoning and, although I don't see some great conspiracy (just manufacturers wanting to sell computers and some "education providers" wanting to teach on the cheap), I don't think "distance education" is going to put many people out of a job.

[David S. Bail, Ed.D., MBA]

The same is true for Capella.edu

You write:

"But unlike some other schools, our full time faculty also facilitate online courses along with the affiliates. One of the ways we encourage quality is to require all affiliates to go through a thorough assessment and orientation prior to teaching either online or in the classroom. Affiliates also participate in faculty development, get involved with full time faculty in writing curriculum, and assessing the quality of the academic program."