Faculty Reception - A Debriefing

Last Thursday we held a reception in thanks of our adjunct faculty. After addresses by Dr. Joanne Cote-Bonnano and Dr. Deirdre Letson, my opening statement to the group was this: “We at faculty services want to do this more: get together, thank you for your hard work, tell you what’s new, and hear what is on your mind.” Not particularly profound, I know, but absolutely true.

Adjunct instructing does have some inherent drive-by qualities, but it should not be an anonymous or disjointed experience. Adjuncts are a crucial part of the College. For that reason, it was particularly nice to have adjuncts and faculty development staff in a room together, leisurely talking and sharing ideas.

We truly appreciated the questions that were raised and the input that was provided. I think two crucial channels of communication were opened further at the event: (1) adjunct-to-faculty services and (2) adjunct-to-adjunct. The more of that, the better.

I thought it might be helpful to recap, here, some of the updates that were provided:

First off, five goals have been established for faculty development:

1. Promote a learning-centered approach to instruction in both the online and face-to-face formats

2. Enhance adjunct understanding of College policy, procedure, and teaching resources.

3. Support the use of classroom technology in creating and delivering varied content.

4. Professionally develop adjunct faculty through the collection, analysis, and communication of assessment and evaluation data.

5. Foster a sense of community and support for adjunct faculty through an advising and mentoring program.

A variety of initiatives are in place or in the planning stage which align with these objectives. Below are some that were mentioned:

The APP Faculty Lounge: Shelly Nice is building a wonderfully informational, virtual place for adjunct resources. Currently, you can find there the syllabi for all of the eight-week, four credit courses plus the accompanying instructor manual and threaded discussion questions. This location also will house a calendar of events, teaching and learning resources, contact information, and policy and procedure. If there is specific information that you would like to see in the lounge, please let us know.

Adjunct Faculty Guide: Dr. Letson has compiled a “guidebook” for adjunct faculty members. The streamlined guidebook covers essential policies and procedures impacting adjunct performance. The guide currently is under review and will be made available soon. Stay tuned! In the meantime you might check out this Instructor Cheat Sheet.

Feedback: The End-of-Course survey program has returned. At the end of each course, the cohort Program Advisor will provide you with a packet of surveys to distribute to your class. The data is aggregated by an outside company and then reviewed by our evaluation expert, Dan Lane. Dan will summarize the results in narrative form and provide you with a hard copy.

In addition, Shelley Kurland continues to expertly run the Observation program, where each instructor is observed in the classroom at least once per year. After each observation you will have an opportunity to speak with the observer and receive written notes.

To best use that feedback, I welcome the opportunity to sit down with you, review the observation and/or survey notes, and think about how you can incorporate that information into your professional development plan.

Workshops: New instructors are required to take two workshops (1) Instructional Techniques I – a face-to-face, three hour workshop facilitated by Shelley Kurland (this workshop always receives positive feedback), and (2) Online Introduction – an online, three-week workshop covering topics such as adult learning theory, student-centered learning, team management, facilitation, and feedback. If you are interested in participating in either workshop (it is not limited to new instructors), please let me know.

Blog: You already know about the blog…because you are reading it right now. I envision this as a place to discuss important teaching and learning ideas, keep you abreast of College happenings, and highlight the good work that adjuncts are doing. Please feel free to comment on entries that strike your interest (just click “comment” at the end of the post and type away) and enroll as a “follower” of the blog.

Mentoring: We are designing a program that would pair adjuncts with a mentor who teaches in the same subject area. This program likely will start with accounting and math, and hopefully grow from there. More details to follow in the near future.

Thanks again to all who attended the reception. As always, please let us know if you have any ideas or comments as to where we can head, together, as a community of adjunct instructors.