Discussion and Recommendations
Professional Development for Adjunct Faculty Minimal
Don't have computers available for their use
Don't have a-1 accounts
Some have a-1
Using restrooms as meeting places
How do Adjunct get mail?
Some colleges have difficulty due to time constraints and where the mailboxes are placed
Do we have different expectations of part-time and full-time?
Professional Growth Funds
Adjunct Faculty can request funds up to $300 to be used however to attend a conference
Expectations are not the same: Adjunct
- Have an orientation to the college so that Adjunct are aware & familiar with the College
- Have incentives so that growth can continue
- Pay Adjunct to attend conferences and meetings
- Give offices to Adjunct even if they share an office.
- Hoteling concept of offices, have offices set up so that anyone can move in.
- Must have access to computers and copies, etc. The hotel concept would achieve this.
- Pay instructors for four credit hours rather than three hours in order to be paid for office hours. Of course, more pay = more expectations and responsibilities
- Problem: If you pay Adjunct more where does the funding come from? Usually from full-time schedules.
Professional Development for Full-time Faculty
The Ratio of Full-time Faculty to Adjunct is very high.
One Rational: We need Adjunct to support growth due to high salary schedule
2nd Rational: At one college there are 6 full-time English instructors on reassigned time.
- Give extended contracts for the first semester or release time for new instructors OYO and OSO. This allows time to attend professional courses: cooperative learning, assessing text books etc.
- Look at both day and evening ratios of full time to adjunct
- Look at compensating adjunct for more than just the hours that they are in class
- Department to decide where development should be
- Do short mini workshops rather than one long workshop
- Align professional growth to the real needs of the department and include adjunct
- Give a set amount of money and allow faculty to spend however they want for continuing education; example; l $1200 a year. If you don't spend it, you lose it for the next year
Maybe even be able to "bank" your money to attend a specific conference.
What Next
Individually support Faculty Staff Development Coordinator Committee efforts to align Professional Growth policies with needs of full-time and adjunct faculty.
Collectively - MCCCD leadership (administrators, faculty, all policy groups) should consider alternatives to current professional growth policies procedures.
We need to decide what the learning outcomes are for identified professional development act. Needs assessment for adjunct faculty professional development.
Attend faculty social functions to develop better collegiality within the department, furthering better teamwork and mutual support.
Provide leadership for faculty development.
I will assist in Inservice Training for both full-time and adjunct faculty.
MCLI is documenting and will continue to add to the "learning@maricopa.edu" web site. Would people be willing to join an electronic discussion there?
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/learning/
Make faculty professional growth into a "voucher" system. Give every faculty member $X to spend on professional development activities. Eliminate needless bureaucracy. Trust faculty to make good decisions. This is for Meet and Confer teams.
Increase utilization by faculty/MAT of development/growth opportunities by further networking with folks such as faculty staff development coordinators and chunking information into more accessible, digestible, useful units.
