question for adjuncts

Hi everyone,

I've been interested lately in the prospect of teaching either online or at a community college. Can one make a decent living as an adjunct? I looked on the local community colleges websites and the only qualifications needed are a Master's degree in the discipline or a related field. It also mentioned something about an adjunct pool. Is it reasonable to assume if you are chosen to be an adjunct for a semester and received a good review, that you would be chosen to be an adjunct in subsequent semesters?

For those with no teaching experience, what prepared you the most to become an instructor besides graduate coursework? Where you nervous or unsure of your abilities teaching your first class? How did you learn more about teaching methods? Do you feel teaching is worth your time?

I've also shifted interests lately and strayed somewhat from my previous interests. My current interests are either getting an Master's in education and teaching ESL or reading at a community college, going to an ALA accredited school online to become a college or business librarian, or possibly getting an M.S. in Management and working in Labor/ Employee Relations.

Any insight would be appreciated!

Rhonda

 

Hi Rhonda;
I've taught adjunct for about the last 10 years (onground), and am just getting into online teaching. I still work fulltime too.

Pay varies widely, as do the semester lengths from 5-15 weeks. In general, expect about $1,500 - $2,000 per course. Some are better, some are worse, that is just an average.

That being said, teaching multiple online courses with one universities can gain economies of scale very quickly.

Generally, there are no benefits.

I do know of people who have quit their day jobs and teach 5-7 courses at a time. Again, not alot of $$, but it allows them to stay home and set their own hours.

Being a good teacher doesn't necessarily guarantee you more classes. Some universities overhire and you never know where you stand. Some unversities treat you like real faculty and the dean will call and discuss what they have open and what you are interested in teaching this semester.

Even being a CPA, I was nervous wreck the first 2 semesters teaching Accounting 101, I think it's natural. Most universities will provide training in advance.

A good resource full of discussions is the Yahoo! Group called "Online Adjuncts".

I know this is rather rambling, but glad to answer any followups.

 

Can one make a decent living as an adjunct?
What do you consider decent? If I teach a full load with one school it would be:
4 classes per semester X 4 semesters per year = 16 classes X $1,400 per class = $22,400 per year. This is not something you can count on as steady income. I got a class added one week into the semester so I went from 3 to 4. I just got an offer from a second school so I could make about 40K per year teaching a full load. I will probably expect about 25-30K per year.

For those with no teaching experience, what prepared you the most to become an instructor besides graduate coursework?
I am teaching my third semester now. I wanted to teach so I got a sub position at a local tech school. I would teach computer cert classes once in a while (about 15 nights per year) but it was enough to list teaching experience on my resume. I also got a promotion at my fulltime job to field trainer. I wrote training material for corporate classes and taught them. I really highlighted that experience on my resume.

Where you nervous or unsure of your abilities teaching your first class?
The first live class I was a nervous wreck. After that is was smooth sailing. The first online class I was not nervous at all. I was concerned that I would not look someplace a question was posted or something like that but I was not concerned with my ability.

How did you learn more about teaching methods?
Read this - http://www.fctel.uncc.edu/pedagogy/basicscoursedevelop/BestPractices.html

Do you feel teaching is worth your time?YES

Hope this helps.

 

Gee everything that Randell said. My first time I taught (Oh my....May of 1999) I was so nervous. After the first meeting, it all fell into line. As you teach more, it becomes old hat. I still get nervous everytime I start a new semester, but that is just me.

Can you make a living? Humm. Yes, but you have to work your rear end off. I am teaching two courses in the fall at my local community college. In history, full time positions are few and far between. I am perfectly willing to wait. You can look at the four year colleges in your town as well to help with employment. I earn 1500 dollars a course.

I learned about teaching from my colleagues. They are the best sources on how to get the most information out to the students in the shortest amount of time.

Teaching to me is like a drug. I can not stay away from it.

 

Can one make a decent living as an adjunct?
The community college I've been teaching for pays $2,700 per class per quarter. I wasn't trying to make a living at it, but if I was it would be almost impossible to match the wages paid in the field I was teaching in.

For those with no teaching experience, what prepared you the most to become an instructor besides graduate coursework?
Real world experience. It's one thing to teach out of the book, but another thing altogether to be able to explain *in context* how the work we are doing in class and assignments relates to what the students may (and likely will) encounter in the field.

Where you nervous or unsure of your abilities teaching your first class?
Terrified until about 20 minutes into introductions and such of the first class. Then it just went away. I was teaching a B&M class and laid some ground rules that I got the students to agree to. Once that was over it was smooth sailing, and has continued to be.

How did you learn more about teaching methods?
Mostly from my wife, who has been teaching computer science for about thirty years. She taught me about Kolb learning styles and a lot about the pedagogy of teaching technical content to young people.

Do you feel teaching is worth your time? No. I've decided not to continue. Perhaps if I were teaching adults I would enjoy it. I did enjoy the adults in my courses a great deal, but I did not enjoy the young people. I got very good ratings each quarter, and that surprised me because the more I worked with young people (16-20), the more I realized that I don't enjoy working with them.

 

What was it about them, or about the interaction, and in what ways do you think it might be different if you were teaching an older group?

 

Hi Rhonda

Can one make a decent living as an adjunct? -- Like the other posters said, it depends. If memory serves, I think you have young kids and a family. I know several adjuncts (men and women) who have young families and work as adjuncts because of the flexibility and because they enjoy it and it suits their lifestyle. I'm not sure you could support a family with it (unless you live in a low cost-of-living area and work up to teaching 4-5 classes a term). It might work for you.

For those with no teaching experience, what prepared you the most to become an instructor besides graduate coursework?-- I had no teaching experience but I've always wanted to do it and my online grad instructors encouraged me, said I had a talent for online teambuilding and explanations.

In my day job, I've done a lot of training and have presented seminars on finanacial basics for clients and as a guest lecturer, so that helped. I also did a lot of reading beforehand-- library books, CHE, etc.

Where you nervous or unsure of your abilities teaching your first class?
I've only taught online although I may teach a hybrid course this next session, where you have class for 2 hours one night and the rest is online. I really prefer teaching online as I don't have to leave home and because I'm so busy with kid schedules, work, travel for work etc. When my kids are grown that may change. I'm sure I'll be nervous but I've done the Toastmaster certification program and I'm used to people asking me questions that I can't answer.

How did you learn more about teaching methods?
See above.

Do you feel teaching is worth your time? Yes, I really like it and am actively searching for a second school. It will help put my kids through college. I may even work for a university in administration after I get my PhD and want to change careers.

Good luck to you. When you are taking your classes talk to your instructors, as they can be good references for you later.

 

My sense is that the older people have a sense of need (not the best word). They need to learn the material, they need to succeed in their studies. They know what they are in class for and why they have undertaken a course of study in Computer Information Systems (and particularly object oriented programming, which is what I teach). They turn in assignments on time and do better work. They ask questions and participate in class without needing to be prodded. They are respectful and generally agreeable, and overall have a sense of morals that are not offensive (and I am not the morals police by any means). I generally have a harmoniuos relationship with them.

The younger people seem to have some sense of entitlement. They seem to think that because they are smart (and some are very smart) and they can understand the material easily, that they deserve good grades without turning in assignments. With the younger ones I have to be vigilant against them cruising the Internet (not allowed by school policy on machines that host web servers) or doing stupid Windows networking tricks on each other or other IP addresses within the school (pop-up messages and such). They show up when they please and don't think that the agreement to attend class is important. They turn in assignments late and #iss and moan when I deduct points per my syllabus. And the young ones constantly come to class stoned and try to engage me in drug or sex talk (I won't tolerate it mostly because it can land me in hot water, and also because the older students shouldn't need to put up with that nonsense in a tax suppoerted public institution).

Some of the young people are home schooled and some are part of an early entry program called Running Start. Each of these situations allow for 16-through-whatever year olds to come to community college. I'm sure that not all of the students that come in though these programs are the way I am experiencing my particular bunch, and maybe I am just very sensitive to them because they remind me of my youngest ne'er-do-well son. Dunno.

 

Just based on what I have read in this and other forums, I would rather be a librarian than a full-time adjunct. As a librarian, you get a stable source of income throughout the year plus retirement and healthcare benefits. As an adjunct, it seems you have to entertain as well as teach nowadays and go beyond simple edutainment:

 

And babysit and be McGruff the crime dog...

I forgot to mention that a few weeks ago a personal friend of ours who runs the tutoring center at the college we teach at, and a man who's integrity is absolutely beyond reproach, was accused of sexual harassment by a female student. It turned out that he did nothing wrong, that the female student was pissed off that she didn't get her way and said he was sexually harassing her. He was cleared, but it almost cost him his job (well, I guess it did because is is actively looking for a job outside of academia now). I used to wonder out the corner of my little brain if something like that could happen to me, and then to see it happen to our friend just blew me away. If I taught again it would be online, not in an area where there could be close physical proximity and closed doors with a student. I cannot imagine having to go through something like that.

 

Yes, I know at least one professor making 100K as an adjunct. Many schools have unions that protect adjuncts (not really classified as adjuncts but as part time faculty). If you find a school that can give you some kind of protection (Seniority point system, pay scale based on seniority) then I would say that you can make a decent living as some of these schools even provide benefits to part time faculty with certain seniority.

If you work for a for-profit school like UoP, AIU, Jones International or alike, then only way I can see you can make a living is if you move to a country where life is very cheap. I know a JIU faculty member that moved to Argentina and is able to live with her salary from JIU (probably few thousand a month).

 

Re: Re: question for adjuncts

I look at adjunct pay as a supplement not as a main source of income.

 

A community college dean totally agrees:

 

Not an easy way to make a living for most. A guy who recently took a FT instructor position at my CC taught 22 classes as an adjunct for three or four different schools all over the Eastern part of my state the year before he was finally hired by us. I doubt he was making much over $30K, and a few grand of that was probably eaten up in gas alone. He now teaches a dozen classes a year, doesn't have to travel at all, and probably makes $40K or over, as he has a PhD.

I'd much rather get a FT job at a CC than try to adjunct for everybody under the sun and cobble together a meager existence, though come to think of it, that "cobbled" existence is quickly becoming my life!

 

Re: Re: question for adjuncts

If memory serves..this is a gent in Canada...where the taxpayer is footing the bill...there have been NO substantiated reports like this in the US.

 

Re: Re: Re: question for adjuncts

yes, some canadian schools pay up to 10K per course if you have high seniority. I think that the base of a decent part time faculty salary wage is a union.

Some US schools pay decent salaries too, Devry University pays around 3500 per course and other state schools around 4K to 6K.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: question for adjuncts

When did Devry University begin paying $3500 a course? This is not the case as of last Spring.

 

The original question refers to the economics of adjuncting, but I would like to add another dimension.

I have been working as an adjunct for several years. My full-time job in the field (business) pays for my living expenses, benefits, etc., and my teaching is supplemental income. I call adjuncting my "fun job" and my two jobs combined together make be a better employee at both.

Even if you are an expert in your field, you will still have to study and prepare for teaching your classes. As a faculty mentor, I have met new adjuncts who did not realize how much time teaching actually takes with grading papers, prep time, etc. If you are considering working as an instructor, make sure that you have the heart and time to be a success. The calculated pay-per-hour-invested is often pitifully low.

There will be challenges related to students, curriculum, time management, administration and personal life. Teaching is definitely not for everyone! The pay is certainly part of any decision to teach, but the reward for me is watching the learning and knowing that I made a positive difference in someone's life.

I suggest that you look closely at your skill set and determine if you are truly an educator at heart before embarking on the adjunct road. Economics is certainly a consideration, but there are other non-monetary benefits as well.

Rhonda, you are correct to ask questions so that you can make informed decisions. I wish you great success in your future educational endeavors!

Cindy

 

Whatever happened to a dartboard with a teeny, tiny "A: center and a great big "F" on the edge?

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: question for adjuncts

May be they made a mistake last time I got my check from them? I might be only a small sample but this what I got for the last course that I taught with them.