Advocating for Faculty Professional Development: Why Adjunct faculty support is just as important.
One of the greatest challenges in the endeavor to provide quality teaching and learning lies in the hiring of qualified part-time faculty members, offering timely faculty development workshops, and providing incentives for faculty to attend. I was once a part-time faculty member in two other institutions, and I discovered first-hand what it was like to be a marginalized member of the faculty population. I was on the fringe of the college community not because I chose not to be involved, but because there was little opportunity for me to be involved. I was not invited to attend faculty development workshops, faculty meetings, or any other campus activities. I had no training other than being provided a syllabus from a previous instructor and I quickly taught myself how to obtain desk copies for possible texts to be used for the courses I was teaching. I was dedicated to providing a quality education for my students, but I was quite unequipped for the task. My goal was to be able to provide an education like that of a full-time faculty member. But I lacked direction and support. Full-time faculty had the resources and guidance and even the internal motivation. Therefore, establishing a faculty education program specifically for part-time faculty development is integral to their success as educators.
However, before a structure of professional development can be implemented, a clear process needs to be established through which appropriate interviewing and hiring practices can occur. It’s not enough to assume that once a part-time faculty member is hired, faculty development programs will do the rest. Part-time faculty bring with them current real-world experience in their areas of practice. In Adjunct faculty in community colleges: An academic administrator’s guide to recruiting, supporting, and retaining great teachers, Gadberry and Burnstad refer to the characteristics of faculty who are best suited for the classroom. They should “posses a teaching style that engages students in the learning process, are committed to providing the students with a quality education, exhibit an enthusiasm for their discipline, demonstrate a contagious attitude toward learning, and encourage students to be successful” (Wallin, 2005, pp. 76-77). The key is to locate these individuals who possess a rich history of real-world experience who can also be guided through the process of learning how to teach what they know. The delivery of exceptional education relies on effective recruitment of qualified part-time faculty, and the ongoing support of these faculty members is crucial to the continued improvement and implementation of varied instructional design strategies. The outcome is to ultimately develop a learning environment conducive to facilitating learner-centered teaching. “College should be the time when and the place where students develop prowess as learners” (Weimer, 2002, p. 5). This cannot occur if faculty have not developed their own skill set to facilitate this outcome.
When I began my role as Coordinator of Part-time Faculty, there were no initial structures established which managed the facilitation of said programming. Informal development opportunities existed through the supervision of the evening program coordinator. Since the part-time faculty ranks had grown to such a large number, it seemed logical to assess the current hiring and training process and determine if and where improvement was needed. Conducting classroom visits was my first approach to assessing potential faculty development topic areas. It is important to determine what tools part-time faculty need for success in their role as an instructor in higher education. As such, I conducted classroom visits to assess teaching and learning and provided formative feedback to each part-time instructor while providing feedback for myself regarding areas of need. I discovered that while the faculty may have been extremely knowledgeable in their respective content areas, they seemed somewhat undersupplied with teaching strategies to help them communicate effectively in their classrooms. My position as Coordinator of part-time faculty not only involved a mentoring element, but I also had to learn strategies for creating timely and pertinent development opportunities for part-time faculty. Additionally, I had to research the role of part-time faculty and learn about that culture to fully understand what their needs were. While I could informally interview many of the part-time faculty at my campus, I could also rely on literature which provided a plethora of research, data and resources to support me. In this literature search, I focused on these central questions:
• How can I better understand the culture of part-time faculty?
• How are the most effective recruiting processes established?
• What is the best way to design professional development opportunities to increase attendance and improve retention?
After a thorough review of the literature, several key themes emerged:
1- Part-time faculty culture: Having a thorough understanding of each adjunct faculty's experience can provide a starting point for designing faculty development opportunities and for creating meaningful connections among part-time and full-time faculty.
2- Public perception: as noted in the attached article below, and from other scholarly evidence, there are mixed reviews on the character, motivation, and skill set of adjunct faculty.
3- Minimal expenditure: Hiring adjunct faculty comes at a tremendous savings for institutions of higher education. Adjuncts are paid less, receive no benefits, and can be rehired or not, depending on enrollment.
4- Recruiting and hiring: Frequently, an adjunct is a last-minute hire, meaning the institution might be onboarding a very inexperienced educator to the classroom.
5- The full-time adjunct: Because traditional fulltime, non-tenure track opportunities are becoming less available, educators must cobble together assorted adjunct opportunities in order to create a livable income. This still comes without health insurance and/or other benefits.
6- Professional development: Part-time faculty are oftentimes left out of professional development opportunities established for tenure and professional track faculty.
What should institutions of higher education be doing? They must re-examine their commitment to teaching and learning by reviewing the hiring and training practice established for adjunct faculty. I suggest the following:
1. Identify ways to facilitate the hiring and orientation process
2. Design meaningful and ongoing professional development opportunities
3. Structure mentoring opportunities which best meet the needs of part-time faculty
Institutions of Higher education are missing the mark by denying adjunct faculty the support to which they are entitled. AND, equally important, these institutions are doing a grave disservice to the students in terms of quality of teaching and learning. I am not suggesting that adjuncts are any less qualified than full-time faculty. I am however, pointing out the vital importance of providing adequate, timely, consistent hiring and development opportunities for ALL faculty members.
Faculty professional development, whether for full-time or part-time faculty is essential as we move forward in providing quality education to incoming students. With the increased presence of AI, lack of financial resources to support colleges and universities, and an increased disconnect from the whole person as learner, the only way we can move forward in higher education is to return to basics by properly hiring and training faculty, assessing faculty performance in the classroom, and assuring that all members of the faculty which includes adjuncts, professional track, and tenure track, are receiving ongoing and consistent support in their scholarship of teaching and learning.
Comments