Long-term Goals on Short Term Contracts

Alyson Indrunas, M.A., M.Ed.

eLearning Director

Everett Community College

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Nobody grows up thinking: “I want to be an adjunct when I grow up.”

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ROI

As we move towards a cultural norm in higher education of adjuncts carrying the brunt of teaching labor, there is a need to establish mentorship and support that currently does not exist. If we are going to be honest with ourselves about increasing student engagement and success, then we have to admit that we must change how we support teachers…the return-on-investment for institutional professional development is to advocate for mentoring, networking, and training adjunct faculty.

Associate Faculty Academy

Share strategies from Everett Community College’s online course to promote professional development for new adjunct faculty

Collaborate with faculty members and encourage them to use online resources to improve student engagement and retention.

Associate Faculty Academy Overview

The college received a five-year Title III grant which administrators initiated in fall 2012 to strengthen academic programs by improving course delivery.

The project focused on instituting faculty development initiatives to expand Quality Matters assessments, use eLearning tools, and develop annual cohorts of newly-hired faculty.

Instruction Commission May 2014

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YEAR 1: 2012-2013

Winter:• QM Training • Collaboration

Spring:• Brain Dump!

• 1st cohort of faculty in Angel

Summer:• Instructional

Designer Built Course in Canvas

Fall:• Second Cohort in

Canvas

Year 2: 2013-2014

Winter: Motivation & Follow-up Rethinking & Revisions

Spring: New Lead on project (pssst. She’s here! Look for Peg Balachowski)

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Lesson Learned? Be Creative!

Definitions & Locations #Change

Decades of Change

What is the Associate Faculty Academy?

How Do We Do It?

The Associate Faculty Academy which will begin during their first quarter of employment and end with a self reflection after receiving the IDEA survey results from their first quarter. “New” faculty are defined as “new to EvCC.”

Administrative Assistants will forward the names and course assignments to the Dean of Arts & Learning Resources within one week of hiring new associate faculty.  

Time and $ Investment

On campus activities

Orientation to the Academy (1.5 hours)

Classroom management strategies & problem solving (1.5 hours)

OL Activities

LMS Canvas activities (8 hours) We focus on instructional best practices, share useful pedagogy, and engage with the EvCC academic culture.

Upon successful completion of the activities, the associate faculty member will be compensated for eight hours of work at the special assignment rate ($41.11/hr).

Main Goals for “New” Teachers

By networking and collaborating with other faculty members in this course, we hope that teachers:

1] gain insightful information about the culture of EvCC

2] complete activities that are useful for their teaching

3] participate in cutting edge faculty professional development. 

Course ObjectivesWhat do we want new faculty to know?

Develop and Post course syllabus

Develop and post to Canvas a course syllabus which includes EvCC established course objectives and outcomes 

Submit a BIT (Behavioral Intervention Team)

Submit a BIT report to document student behavioral issues and concerns.

Demonstrate Learning Objectives Alignment

Demonstrate in the syllabus the alignment of student learning objectives with assessment strategies using Quality Matters standards 

Objectives ContinuedEngage Students

Engage students through the use of a welcome message in the Canvas classroom. 

Construct Gradebook

Construct a Canvas Gradebook to provide student feedback.

 Select IDEA Form Objectives

Select objectives on the IDEA survey faculty information form based on established course outcomes

Write Reflection

Complete a written reflection and assessment of the Academy.

  

How do we start?

Associate Faculty Academy

Pre-Assessment

Post-Assessment

Pre-Assessment

Post-Assessment

Supporting New Teachers  How did we put this together? 

Syllabus Ten EssentialsDay Zero for Teachers

1. Course Title, Schedule and Class Location

2. Instructor Information

Include the instructor’s name, office location, hours, campus phone, and faculty email address. 

3. Textbooks and Other Materials

List the textbooks and other materials required or recommended for the course.  This section should also detail special equipment required or recommended. Include ISBN, author(s), edition, and year of publication for students who buy their books off-campus.

Day 1 for Students!

4. Course Description and Learning Objectives

This section includes the course description and objectives taken verbatim from the current course information form. 

 

5. Course Requirements

This section describes what students are expected to do in the course.  The narrative might include description of such things as participation in class activities, group work, readings, discussion, projects, tests, and other forms of assessment. 

Syllabus Ten Essentials

6. Assessment and Grading Policy

We spend a lot time mentoring about grading F2F.

7. Attendance and Participation Policy

8. Course Accessibility and Accommodations

9. Syllabus Caveat “This course is subject to change…”

This is especially important to explain/mentor

10. Course Calendar/Course Outline 

Reality? Our grant will end. What then?

You may be thinking, I don’t have a grant/any money/any staff/any idea how to do this. YIKES! What can I do?

Organize the full-time faculty who consistently participate in professional development, and ask them if new part-timers can observe their courses. Classes that are on your LMS are ideal for this type asynchronous mentoring.

Start with discussions about course design that are particular to your institution’s learning management system (LMS).

How do we institutionalize this?

If there is funding available, compensate part-timers for attending trainings and demonstrations done by other faculty.

I see these sessions as working in two complimentary ways:

1. The full-timers get to showcase the goals they have for their departments.

2. Part-time faculty are made to feel that their time and input are both valuable.

#WinWin

Use your homegrown talent!

If you have professional development grants, then open those up to adjunct faculty who are using innovative teaching methods.

While companies will often send their own product trainers to demonstrate such tools, it is perhaps more effective when teachers learn how to use them from each other, given that this more local interaction can then be followed up at will.

Interdepartmental Mentorships

The teacher ego can be a fragile thing, and cross-disciplinary mentorship can enable teachers to talk about pedagogical practices without belaboring details of content.

Encourage networking between departments beyond Welcome Week!

Pay for innovative faculty to go to local conferences together as groups.

We have to change our thinking!

Teachers who feel supported and valued transfer that satisfaction onto their students.

Instead of seeing this task as daunting, we can facilitate professional development by understanding the symbiotic nature of student and teacher success.

As we look for more ways to ensure student success, we have to think of ways to support teachers who have long-term goals and short-term contracts.

What Are Your Barriers? Q/A