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

You are correct! Instead, many more learners will be enabled to receive instruction, due to more "classrooms!"

Jack Dharma wrote:

...
> I don't think "distance education" is going to put many people
> out of a job.

[%sig%]

[Bradley, student,U of Maryland]

An article in today's issue of the U of Md newspaper, the Diamondback, reports that members of the University Senate and many administrators now see online teaching as a cheaper way to offer instruction.  Instead of having several instructors to teach courses, one instructor can record lectures that are then televised or delivered online throughout the state.

What I want to know is why the Internet would be an excuse for making college teachers redundant?  These days, students can register for classes online, but nobody says "Gee, this means we don't need University administrators anymore!  Let's do away with administrators since the Internet now allows students to obtain administrative services online."

Clearly, online services merely complement or augment what an institution can offer.  Why are faculty seen as replaceable by University administrators?  Perhaps this reveals that administrators have contempt for the people who do the real work of educating the students [in addition to research, publication and service].

[Kanghu Hsu/CSU Dominguez Hills]

The rapid increase in on-line adjuncts is a sign of rising demand for on-line education.  Currently, the proportion of adjuncts teaching on-line courses is growing faster than that of permanent professors.  But I would predict that the share of permanent professors involved in on-line education will catch up in no time.  

Nowadays, getting a computer and getting on-line is inexpensive; and it is getting even more affordable.  A computer system can be purchased for less than $1000 and can usually last two years or longer.  Getting on-line via a high-speed connection, either DSL or cable, costs under fifty dollars per month.  In addition, on-line education provides accessibility that regular classes on campus cannot compete with.  For example, commuting and traffic are irrelevant to students who attend on-line classes.  For those people who can afford the costs, delivering a lecture or attending a class using a laptop computer can be done almost anywhere through wireless on-line connection.  

In Carnevale’s article, an on-line professor said that she does not need to face unexpected interruptions in the office.   I would add that both students and professors suffer relatively less distraction in an on-line class than in a regular on-campus classroom.  This is an important distinction, because in-class distractions are common.  And some conflicts that occur in classrooms can be aggravated in a face-to-face situation.  In contrast, in an on-line class, distractions can be reduced considerably and misunderstandings become more avoidable, because there is less (or even no) face-to-face confrontation.

What's more, on-line classes grant the university more students with less demand for space.  This means extra revenue for the institution.  For those professors and students who still prefer to attend class on campus, nothing needs to change, though it's likely that they will soon realize that they have one more option, one that would allow them to stay off-campus.  The qualifications of on-line adjuncts should not be an issue, nor would the quality of education decline, because the universities can still screen on-line professors’ qualifications and students for eligibility.

Based on the above, I believe that the growth of on-line education is an inevitable trend and that the universities are acting conservatively in the face of this trend.  Typically universities hire permanent professors to teach traditional on-campus classes because such classes, in terms of teaching and enrollment, have established a reliable track record whose future is relatively easy to predict.  In contrast, universities hire adjuncts to meet the demand for on-line classes because this demand has a relatively short history.  Before throwing permanent professors into an unpredictable arena, it is not a bad idea to hire adjuncts to fulfill this new need and then look at what will happen next.

[%sig%]

[Peter]

Brendan McManus, Bemidji State wrote:

> 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.<<

I have found (as an instructor and as a student) that online education forces a couple of things...
(1) You must be involved in the class discussion.  This is the only way to "attend" class.  There is no sitting in the back of the classroom being passive about your learning.

(2) Due to the activity required I found that online students understood the material better than those in the classroom.

There are scams out there online, but there are also scams in the physcial arena as well.

[Molly Mfume, Prof. Emertitus]

What we need is more adjuncts, not less.  Adjuncts free up tenured faculty to pursue their research.

The unions---like the leftist AAUP---is naturally opposed to this.  That's not because they are concerned about the quality of the education.  Its because many adjuncts are not AAUP members.  If adjuncts were dues paying members, the AAUP would care less about this issue...

[S. Krishnaprasad, JSU]

The pros and cons of virtual classrooms have been debated several times in this forum. The impact of adjunct faculty is an added dimension facing the education sector. The choices in the two dimensions here include real vs. virtual classroom and regular vs. adjunct faculty. This should give us four cases:

  1. real classroom, regular faculty
  2. real classroom, adjunct faculty
  3. virtual classroom, regular faculty
  4. virtual classroom, adjunct faculty

Of course, we are all familiar with the first case, the traditional teaching environment. I strongly believe that this format is still the most effective in terms of classroom discussions, interactions, and insights. Concepts and theories of science, math, and engineering, evolved over hundreds or thousands of years, need careful, face-to-face explanations tempered with patience.

The main advantage of case two is fulfilling course offerings in the midst of faculty shortages and emergencies.  It should always play a supplementary role as most of the adjuncts are full-time employees in the industry. They will have limited time to interact with the students, faculty, and the administrators. This is one of the reasons for accreditation agencies requiring a limit on the use of adjucts in a program.

Case three deals with regular faculty opting for on-line delivery. Virtual classrooms, a natural byproduct of the information technology, in my opinion, has a useful but supplemental role in teaching. It cannot replace case one, for reasons briefly stated earlier. Some regular faculty are integrating technology into course delivery and some faculty are reluctant to do so. It is a matter of time before a proper balance is found.

Use of adjuncts in virtual classroom setting inherits the advantages and disadvantages of both issues. Again, since both these issues should play supplemetary roles, case four should be used only to a limited extent.

[Bemused]

"What we need is more adjuncts, not less. Adjuncts free up tenured faculty to pursue their research."


HA! This posits that tenured faculty are capable of research and publication, and that adjuncts are not.  Adjuncts, thus, are properly relegated to the classroom so the presumed "scholars" can carry out their very important intellectual labor instead of teaching.


Like hell. In the last three universities at which I taught, tenured people hadn't produced any research or scholarship since the date of tenure. In fact, they had not produced anything prior to that date either, since they were hired based on God knows what reasoning (some nepotism, some racism, some sexism, etc.).


Adjuncts, on the other hand, were putting out books and articles regularly, largely to try and break into the tenure-track.


If permitting scholars to do their important intellectual work is the goal, get the pointless tenured people into expos class and free up the adjuncts so they can meet their publication deadlines with facility.

[John, adjunct in waiting]

So where do you find these online teaching jobs? The Chronicle doesn't list or sort by them in their jobs bank? Online schools WWW sites often don't list job openings? Is it local newspapers? If there's such a demand, where're the ads for the positions?

[Daniel Pigg, Professor]

The article raises some very interesting questions that I think we are just beginning to grapple with at state universities, and not grappe with the issue well. There is no doubt about it that regular facutly at a university are not as likely to venture into newer technology unless there are either releases from regular teaching or financial compensation to reward the behavior. Personally as long as the person teaching such courses meets the requirements expected by accrediting bodies and meets the expecations of the department and university through which the course is offered, I see no problem. The problem comes with the heavy freelance work that higher education is becoming. In some way, distance education offers a new possibilty for outsourcing--the trend that began developing in the 1990s and shows no signs of changing. Personally I can't make up my mind with how I feel about all of this as I have myself been approached by other universities to teach online distance education. As with the deregulation of the airlines industry, higher education is going to have a similar experience brought on in large measure by the impact of distance education.

[%sig%]

[Olivia Diamond]

I've taken one on-line course. As an adult employed full-time, not living near a higher institution, iit was the perfect solution to earn college credits. My online instruction was better than some classroom courses I took for credit.

I want to join John, Adjunct in Waiting, and also ask how do I find and apply to teach online courses.  Are the jobs posted anywhere on the internet? It seems nowadays most colleges are offering some online instruction. Let me know how I can apply. I'd love to do this from home. I live in a remote area.

[Laura Gibbs, Univ. of Oklahoma]

I really had to laugh at this line in the article about how instructors "ought to be connected with a campus, interacting with other professors and holding office hours."

I spent two years in a tenure-track job in a traditional department, a job I quit out of boredom and despair, and have since spent two years teaching fully online courses as an adjunct instructor at the same institution, a job that I find absolutely delightful.

Interacting with professors: I have much more interesting and stimulating contact with my fellow online educators than I did in my department (where the professors rarely, if ever, talked about teaching).

Interacting with students: online I am able to have much more extensive contact with students than was ever possible with traditional office hours, where the arbitrary limitations of time/place determined whether students even had a chance of being able to find the professor "in."

Like classroom-based courses, online courses can be taught exceptionally well, or exceptionally badly, or somewhere in-between. But for those of us seeking a highly flexible, student-centered teaching environment, the online world has much to offer! I would not go back into the classroom again, because there is no classroom that would allow me to achieve what I am able to achieve working with my students online.

[%sig%]

[Julio A. Lopez, MSIT]

I do not believe that there that the quality of online education is being compromised by the hiring of adjunct instructors. In my opinion as a doctoral student, facilitator and course designer in the field of online learning, the real threat lies in three major areas:

1. What I consider to be the un-ethical practice of placing more that 20 students in an online class.

2. Using tools to evaluate students for online learning which are not meant for that purpose or not evaluating them at all.

3. The pressure on facilitators from some online learning institutions to pass students even if they have not met the course requirements.

In addition, I also believe that many of the regional accreditation bodies need to ramp up on regulations governing online learning. From my review these rules are at best vague, inviting abuse and misrepresentation from those who are only in it for the money.

[%sig%]

[Alan Hansen, U of St Francis]

Seems like this topic is more of interest to those who favor online education and a few who find it repulsive.  

I find it interesting that the same arguments are being used today as were used against continuing education a hundred years ago.  
--quality won't be as good
--has no place in 'true' higher education
--it will be abused and needs to be managed
--paraphrasing (it reduces the elitism of the elite)

Both live classes and online classes have their place in our society.  Both full-time and part-time instructors are needed.  We need to pursue an agenda to help it work rather than drag our heels to punch holes it why it won't.  One nice thing we have today that was absent a hundred years ago:

Now states take a much stronger role in oversight
The Federal government is heavily involved because of student loan programs
Accreditation agencies exist and CHEA has made a strong effort to set forth strong standards

In 1999 when I was asked to begin developing online courses I was skeptical.  In 2004 I am convinced, having taught both ways that many students (perhaps 60%) can learn better via an online program.  The locus of control shifts to the student, they are in control.  They learn as much or as little as they want.

There are teachers and faculty who will do a poor job teaching online whether they are full-time, tenured, or adjunct.  We will note their sub-standard performance because we are looking for it in online instruction.  Some schools will abuse the system and we will highlight these errors even though similar errors occur in traditional programs.

Frankly I think the age of the adjunct online instructors is the best thing that has happened to adult education since Rev Vincent began promoting the Chautauqua in 1873.

[Terry Dugas, Adjunct, FGCU]

Institutions rarely advertise adjunct positions of any type, so you have to look outside traditional academic job listings for DL postings.

One way is to join one of the many mailing lists dedicated to Distance Learning.  One is DEOS, the Distance Education On-line Symposium, operated by Penn State (http://lists.psu.edu/archives/deos-l.html).  

Others are Distance Educator.com (http://www.distance-educator.com/dnews) and Virtual University Gazette (http://www.geteducated.com/vugaz.htm).

However, these positions are usually true adjunct positions, paying from $1500 to $3500 per course, depending on degree and institution.  The specter of the itinerant DL professor, hiring themselves out to college after college is, I believe, a myth.  I have a “real” job to pay the bills and feed the family.  I teach as a DL adjunct because I love teaching, not to make a living.

Terry Dugas
Manager, Learning Services (real job)
Nebraska ETV

Adjunct, Florida Gulf Coast University (fun job)

[%sig%]

[Julie, long-term adjunct]

I really dislike people who make stuff up (or lie, if you prefer) to put themselves in a better light.

Adjuncts do NOT do research.  Adjuncts do NOT publish.  And just because "bemused" makes stuff up doesn't change reality.

Adjuncts fall into two categories:

1.  people employed in full-time industry who teach part time
2.  people who teach part-time but do so at 2 or more colleges to make enough money.

Let's take each in turn.

The people who work in industry are already working a 40 hour week (or more) at their regular job.  They have little time left to do any serious research or publication.  Futhermore, people in industry often cannot publish their work because of non-disclosure agreements.  

The individual who is commuting between two or more colleges often spends considerable time in that commute.  This leaves little time to do any serious publication or research.

Finally, the notion that tenured faculty don't do research or publication is a complete fabrication.  Indeed, it denigrates many, many serious researchers.  Yes, there are faculty who don't do research or publish, but they are in the minority.  

I defy "bemused" to provide some real data to support his claims.  I will randomly pick three faculty from my department (chemistry at Univ. of Tennessee) and he can pick any three adjuncts at his university.  Let's compare the total number of publications.  Let's compare the total amount of research expenditures.  Let's compare the number of proposal written.
Let's see if "bemused" claims can pass the smell test.  As the saying goes, "bemused" needs to either put up or shut up.

I---and everyone else in this colloquy---await your response "bemused"...