Too many online adjuncts?

Surely you can provide evidence to document this causal link to one of the most vital issues of our time.
Maybe a plot of economic indicators vs. degreeinfo postings by month.

The Nobel Prize in Economics awaits

 

No but another recently completed project has directly correlated global warming to a most unexpected source...

 

Well, it couldn't hurt. Especially since my recent efforts to think globally by acting locally have failed to offset the warming trends...

 

My current school has been giving two courses per term, which is alright. Personally, I would rather just have course so I can give participants more attention. Furthermore, since I already have a busy schedule two classes per term is pushing it. But everyone is different.

 

Well played.

 

Argg, you blokes have taken my thread down a strange rabbit trail.

 

Also, I think I trust the guy on the left more than the guy on the right! (sorry, couldn't resist)

 

LOL Love that picture.

 

Actually, prison guards and toxic waste handlers make way more money...

 

I agree that people competing for adjunct positions are mainly Masters and PhDs from low tier schools. However, as salaries for adjuncts keep going down (in real terms as they don't adjust with inflation), I don't see people going for the Capella, NCU, Walden, TUI PhDs in the long term. It wouldn't make sense to spend 50K for an education that might pay you only 5K extra a year. The reality is that the ones benefiting from this are the online schools, they get to charge small fortunes for their degrees but then get to pay peanuts for their labour as the same graduates that they produce come back wanting to work for peanuts.

Yes, there are some Capella graduates that made it for these positions. But these are just the carrots that drive the other hundreds of students that probably will never make it. The problem with Capella, NCU, TUI, etc is that they are in the business of producing PhDs and they do it in the order of hundreds a year while traditional schools only produce a handful. The market for PhDs is not that strong so I really don't see these schools keeping up with these numbers.
The motivation of their students is the reports from AACSB and media in general telling them that the demand for business professors is huge. However, it is going to be the PhDs from T1 that get the tenure positions and not the Capellas for the vast majority.

 

Oops, yes it is 48 hours. Online teaching is actually not difficult for the most part. Most online schools use canned online classes so there is no preparation time or research involved. The time consuming part is the grading and discussion. As the courses are prepackaged, there is no need to be a PhD or even masters to teach these courses, schools require a high level of education just to meet the accreditation requirements but the job doesn't require this level of skill.

The automation of education is a bit scary, the reality is that with the current model, it wouldn't take long before they can figure out a system to grade assignments automatically and provide instant feedback and the just hire an instructor to baby sit multiple classes at the same time.

 

I think professors have already figured that out in B&M schools with the TA model.

 

I believe that's why the old California-approved version of Cal Coast used multiple-choice exams so often, even for graduate classes. They can be scored by machines or by clerical personnel equipped with an answer key. Reduces expenses.

 

I have to agree with you. I am an adjunct at a non profit private university also and they are now going towards the prepackaging of course shells in order to reduce prep time and to cut the stipends they once paid to instructors to do course prep. Of course with pre-packing the creativity of learning is squeezed out. The only thing I get to customize at this particular university, is which two discussion board questions I will post from their instructor's course guide.

 

That would cut your preparation time to nearly zero, but it would take away any real creative contribution you could make. Do you have the opportunity to interact with your students much? It seems like the current trend makes you more of a facilitator than a teacher.

 

I get to interact with students on the discussion board. This particular university is considering purchasing a license with either WebEx or Adobe Connect so that we can hold live lectures and meetings.