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[adjunctatlas]

At the moment I teach at only one college, and would like to propose a course to teach at this same college next semester.  I don't think it would be right to submit the course to several institutions at the same time, but if my current chairman takes too much time to decide, his late rejection will kill my chances of getting it considered elsewhere.   What's a reasonable time to wait?  Is it reasonable to tell the truth--that I'd prefer to teach it here, but that I'd appreciate word in time enough to send it elsewhere?  I mean, is it advisable for adjuncts to let their department heads know they work as adjuncts at other institutions?

[systeme_d_]

I don't think it would be right to submit the course to several institutions at the same time...

Sure it would.

You're an adjunct.  Why in the world would anyone care if you taught the same class at eleven different institutions?  It would sure make it easier for you, since you wouldn't have eleven different preps.

And in my opinion, there's no need to tell your current chair how many other places you'd be teaching, either.  Just let the chair know when you're available, and when you're not, for purposes of class scheduling.

In other words, you're a free agent.  Look out for yourself,  because no one else will.

[ahsonek]

Is this a course, for credit, to be taken for graduation requirements, including electives?

If so, it may not be your chair's decision to make - there are faculty governance rules that allow input from faculty on the courses and a vote to approve the course offering.  They can ask that the course you are proposing be modified to meet criteria -including accreditation and institutional.

That takes time, a long time.  The fastest I ever saw a curriculum change was eight months with a college president breathing down our backs. 

So, you can propose.  But don't plan on teaching it except as a non-credit continuing ed course any time in the near future......

[lizzy]

At my place, and at the places I've been, people who are not tenured or TT faculty cannot propose new courses.   

Beyond that, at my place new course proposals must fit a clear need to help fulfill requirements for majors and/or gen ed. Also, most places (I think) have established processes for new course proposals that you'd need to follow. However, someone from the outside would have no way to enter the process. 

Do you mean that you'd like to contact colleges and describe a course or courses you could teach? Or that you'd like to offer your services to teach already existing courses? I'd be surprised if many places would be interested in going through the curricular process to approve a new course to be taught by an unknown instructor.

[systeme_d_]

Eeep, of course Lizzy and Ahsonek are correct.

New courses take time to approve, and they need to be integrated into the curriculum.  We let our VAPs create new courses, since we have special course numbers that allow for the quick deployment of innovative stuff.  But we would not let an adjunct do that.

However, my "look out for yourself" advice stands.

[adjunctatlas]

Boy, this is more complicated than I thought.

The course would certainly help majors, but general education?  Never thought about it.

I read in another thread that at some places adjuncts can propose courses; how do I find out if my school allows it?  How do I find out the protocols?  And yes, I mean to create an entirely new course.  And certainly I can see now that it might not be reasonable to expect schools where I'm unknown to accept my proposal. 

So should I give up the idea of making an initial proposal to the chairman, and asking whether he would submit the idea to the appropriate committee? 

[msparticularity]

Boy, this is more complicated than I thought.

The course would certainly help majors, but general education?  Never thought about it.

I read in another thread that at some places adjuncts can propose courses; how do I find out if my school allows it?  How do I find out the protocols?  And yes, I mean to create an entirely new course.  And certainly I can see now that it might not be reasonable to expect schools where I'm unknown to accept my proposal. 

So should I give up the idea of making an initial proposal to the chairman, and asking whether he would submit the idea to the appropriate committee? 

Adjunctatlas, you raised this question some time ago (last year"), and several of us all explained to you clearly and in detail why this simply is not going to happen. Among other things, we pointed out to you that even tenured and TT faculty members have difficulty getting new courses approved, and no department is going to give a term employee preference over its own voting members. And aside from everything else, a new course (or even a course under an existing "special topics" number) has to be approved quite far in advance to get into the schedule--long before the department has any idea of whether they are going to need to hire adjuncts, and if so how many. No department is going to tie itself to hiring a specific adjunct to teach a new and special course when they don't even know whether they will want or need to hire him/her in the first place. You seem to think that if they like your course that it will somehow ensure a job for you, but this really is the opposite of the way things work--with the exception of public service courses at CCs.

I don't mean to be rude here, or to be disrespectful of people working on term contracts. I work with many highly-respected colleagues who teach for us regularly. But you are not doing yourself any good or increasing your professional stature with this department or any other when you make it quite clear that you don't have any idea at all of how courses are created and departments are run.

[ahsonek]

Or to put it in perspective.....

I have a course that is taught mostly by adjuncts - a couple of sections.  Now, we know that the course will have to be changed - new description, new competencies, etc, etc.....

Only my full time faculty members can vote on the changes -the final submission.  I am soliciting and getting feedback from the adjuncts and most of their suggestions will make it into the final drafts that I am writing.  But, once it gets into the hands of the full faculty - it is out of my control..... and this process will take at least 6-8 months of faculty discussion

The OP can go to the chair and pitch the course - but don't be surprised if he or she asks for a write up that gets filed until the next time there is an overhaul of the curriculum.

[adjunctatlas]

Adjunctatlas, you raised this question some time ago (last year"), and several of us all explained to you clearly and in detail why this simply is not going to happen.

You must be thinking of someone else--I came up with the idea of this course only a few months ago. 

And aside from everything else, a new course (or even a course under an existing "special topics" number) has to be approved quite far in advance to get into the schedule--long before the department has any idea of whether they are going to need to hire adjuncts, and if so how many.

Glad you brought this up--it occurred to me that I shouldn't propose a new course, but simply propose that mine be offered under special topics.  So much for that.

I don't mean to be rude here, or to be disrespectful of people working on term contracts. I work with many highly-respected colleagues who teach for us regularly. But you are not doing yourself any good or increasing your professional stature with this department or any other when you make it quite clear that you don't have any idea at all of how courses are created and departments are run.

I don't think you're being rude.  And I'm certainly glad I haven't actually made the proposal.  The problem with being ignorant is not even knowing what it is you don't know, what there is to learn, so I'm glad I decided to ask my question before committing myself. 

So I will give up the idea.  I really must thank you all for being forthright, and keeping me from making a fool of myself.  I really mean that.

[csguy]

We had a "Special topics" course -- no special approval required, we just had to put it on the schedule. We would generally use it to introduce new technologies (Buzzword 3.0 or whatever). I might have considered approving such a course even from an adjunct if it was something they had particular expertise in.

[infopri]

Don't give up so quickly, adjunctatlas.  At my school, an adjunct can propose a new course under the special-topics number.  It happens with some frequency, in fact.  I myself asked our associate dean last year whether he'd be interested in my offering a new course that I've wanted to teach for a long time.  He made no promises, but encouraged me to submit a course proposal.  (I haven't had time yet to do that, as it's not a priority for me, just something that would be fun.)  If I submit the proposal in the fall and it gets approved, I'd be able to teach it the following summer.  (We have a very active summer session here.)

I'd suggest that, if you want to propose this course, you start by talking informally with your associate dean or whatever administrator it was who hired you.  That person might direct you to someone else, such as the chair of the curriculum committee.  The worst that can happen is that you'll be told, "No, thank you."  But they'll never say, "Hey, that would be great!" unless you talk to them.

I do agree, though, that you'd undoubtedly have to teach the course under a special-topics number.  To propose a "regular" course (that is, with a "real" number rather than a special-topics number) is indeed a long, time-consuming, and sometimes contentious process that even tenured faculty can find daunting.

[der_gadfly]

At the CC where I VAPd a year ago, the special topics was used, and if the course was taught 3 semesters with good results, it was added to the curriculum/catalog, usually as an elective, provided it met the general criteria set forth my the state DoE.

From my conversations here and elsewhere about governance, and my experience in the same, the process is too darn slow....

[msparticularity]

Adjunctatlas, you raised this question some time ago (last year"), and several of us all explained to you clearly and in detail why this simply is not going to happen.

You must be thinking of someone else--I came up with the idea of this course only a few months ago. 

And aside from everything else, a new course (or even a course under an existing "special topics" number) has to be approved quite far in advance to get into the schedule--long before the department has any idea of whether they are going to need to hire adjuncts, and if so how many.

Glad you brought this up--it occurred to me that I shouldn't propose a new course, but simply propose that mine be offered under special topics.  So much for that.

I don't mean to be rude here, or to be disrespectful of people working on term contracts. I work with many highly-respected colleagues who teach for us regularly. But you are not doing yourself any good or increasing your professional stature with this department or any other when you make it quite clear that you don't have any idea at all of how courses are created and departments are run.

I don't think you're being rude.  And I'm certainly glad I haven't actually made the proposal.  The problem with being ignorant is not even knowing what it is you don't know, what there is to learn, so I'm glad I decided to ask my question before committing myself. 

So I will give up the idea.  I really must thank you all for being forthright, and keeping me from making a fool of myself.  I really mean that.

I apologize for my impatience--I did truly think the conversation had occurred with you, but clearly I was wrong. My last comment, especially, came from the belief that I was talking to the person who had already gotten a series of noncommittal responses from a department chair, because I didn't intend to argue that it's never a good idea for a non-TT person to suggest areas and courses that they would be competent to offer. As Infopri indicates, adjuncts who develop a long-term relationship with a department can end up functioning with them in a way that allows for all kinds of possibilities. (Although the existing course number really is the only realistic way to go--not only for nonTT folks, but often for TT and tenured as well!)

[adjunctatlas]

Msparticularity--Apology accepted. 

So it seems now that the thing to do is to have a talk with my chairman about doing this as a special topics course.  Thanks for the encouragement!

[msparticularity]

I do have another question for you, though--are you committed to staying with this adjunct gig indefinitely?

I ask because we get people here all the time who have committed to an adjunct job but then get hired for something much better elsewhere. They often suffer from tremendous guilt at backing out, despite assurances that the department will have no difficulty in replacing them, and the fact that full-time jobs clearly trump adjuncting so people will definitely understand. But what if the course(s) you're contracted to adjunct for are of your own design, and you're the only one qualified to team it/them?

So, are you on the market? If so, I'm not so sure you want to tie yourself down like this.