Online Adjunct - what am I in for?

Discussion in 'Online & DL Teaching' started by MackTheKnife, Dec 3, 2012.

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  1. MackTheKnife

    MackTheKnife New Member

    I'm a professional with a full-time job in my industry, and I have a Master's degree in Mathematics. I'm considering teaching part-time as an online adjunct while keeping my full-time job.

    I'm wondering, what exactly am I in for here? Let's say I teach one online/DL six-week math course through DeVry or University of Phoenix, or some local community college...
    • How many hours a week would I put in, on average?
    • Would I need to have AV equipment to record video lessons?
    • Would I be printing out students' work to grade?

    As you can see from my questions, I have only a vague idea of what the work involved would be. Can someone give me some idea of what I'd be in for?

    Thanks!
     
  2. icebergisonfire

    icebergisonfire New Member

    From what I've seen, curriculum is already pre-established. It is for me where I teach. You just have to follow the lesson plans. Of course, bringing your own experience into the fold as well.
     
  3. graymatter

    graymatter Member

    I teach psychology (read: not math). UOP is one of my positions.

    1. I would say that I work 7 hours per week (for 2 courses) - in part because I've facilitated the same 2 courses for 5 years.
    2. I do have webcam videos that I use to explain a course overview, the two biggest assignments for each course, and a final wrap-up (I should note that nearly every student says that I'm the only instructor that they've had post videos of this nature).
    3. I never print anything out. I did purchase the texts (used on amazon) because I dislike e-textbooks - but I never print out student papers, etc.

    Hope that helps.
    One more note: my first full or doing online adjuncting (for UOP), I was in full-time clinical practice. I worked an extra 10 hours a week (in my boxers on my laptop in the basement) and made an extra $15k.
     
  4. graymatter

    graymatter Member

    Forgot to mention: at 6 of the 7 places I've facilitated courses, the curriculum has been pre-established.
     
  5. mbaonline

    mbaonline New Member

    Mack, I teach econ (undergrad at a CC) and finance (grad level at UoPx).

    I too have been teaching a long time (since 2006 for CC, 2008 for UoPx) so I have a lot of short-cuts, spreadsheets (a ton!), helpful hints, DQs, essays all created. That is a significant time sink in the beginning. I think about 20 hours a week for one class the first 2-3 times you teach it. There are significant economies of scale or repetition.

    Now I spend about 2-3 hours a week grading plus 5-8 hours total time on the site commenting etc., and I do check in almost daily to check for problems.

    I have never done videos. I find good ones on Khan or ones that other co-workers have done and given me permission to use and post links. A video intro would be a good idea.

    I do print out student papers most of the time (but not always) because my eyesight is bad. I also bought a used copy of the text from amazon for my UoP class. For CCs, the textbook reps give free copies of any text you might want to consider - they practically throw them at you so don't pay for them. At my CC, I try to use the same text that other profs use so that there is a supply at the bookstore and so there is some continuity.

    Hope this answers some questions.
     
  6. ahardinjr

    ahardinjr New Member

    I cannot speak to online only classes, but I can give you insight into adjuncting at a local university while holding down a full-time career in industry. Last year I adjuncted for CSU San Bernardino teaching a couple of undergraduate Information Networks & Security classes.

    I was given high-level guidance for the course plan but was given much freedom to make it my own. The class was a combination of lecture and lab and I had several lab TAs. Since it was my first time teaching the course, I had to develop my own syllabus, choose my textbooks, develop my lesson plan (lecture and lab), create assignments, write and/or research HBR case studies, develop class projects, develop grading rubrics, and prepare quizzes/exams, etc. I highly relied on Blackboard to upload videocasts, hold online quizzes, submit assignments, and post lecture and lab material.

    I can easily say that I spent between 20-40 hours a week preparing for class and lab, lecturing, holding office hours, staying late after class to work with students, and grading in addition to working full-time. However, this number is quite high simply because of the lab portion of my class, which took a lot of time and effort. Moreover, I set very high standards for myself with the goal of having all of my students suceed in all aspects of the course and being available for them whenever they needed help. I know I spent a lot more time than other professors, but I also really enjoyed doing it.

    With that said, if you teach at a local community college, you may encounter having to develop your own syllabus and lesson plan or have it all provided for you. Depending upon your particular class, your experience teaching, how available you want to make yourself, if you are required to hold office hours or not, and how much time and effort you are willing to put into your teaching, I am estimating you can spend anywhere from 10 hours a week to upwards of 20 hours a week teaching a CC math course for the first time.

    I agree with the other replies that once you have everything in place and you have taught the course for the first time, things get streamlined and the amount of time you have to put into developing and refining the class decreases drastically. However, as a first time teacher, expect to spend much more time than someone who has been teaching the course for years.
     
  7. mbaonline

    mbaonline New Member

    Mack, I forgot to mention that many community colleges do not have "canned" or pre-established coursework. Some have standard textbooks that each instructor needs to use but that is not true everywhere. At my school, I have total freedom regarding text, syllabus, grading point scale etc. The broad outlines of the course are established, but nothing is dictated.. Policies like late assignments, extra credit, types of exams etc., are all the purview of the instructor.

    UoP is the opposite - text preselected, assignments created, point scale set, final exam totally "canned". However, instructors can and do substitute assignments but it's not too common. I have substituted the problem sets because the answers to the original questions are on the internet - not just from UoP but from other classes/schools. I've created my own problem sets and I change them more often than I'd wish to to cut down on cheating.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 7, 2012

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