Integrating Adjunct Faculty Into Our Student Success Initiative
An educational community is best served where there is constant and consistent participation among its many stakeholders. At Lansing Community College, this is a challenge because while adjunct faculty comprise nearly 80% of our instructional workforce (and teach nearly 72% of our sections), they are often far removed from the everyday dialogue and decision-making that shape the policies and practices of the college. One of our strategic challenges is to find a way to better incorporate adjunct faculty into the everyday life of LCC, so that they can participate in the shaping and completion of teaching and learning initiatives and in turn feel supported, involved and valued.
Adjunct faculty choose to teach for a variety of reasons. Some may be working full-time and teach a course or two in order to give back to their profession or supplement their income. As such, they may find it difficult to find the time to be involved and committed to a college in which they appear only periodically. Other adjunct faculty piece together a full-time teaching career through employment at different institutions. These “nomad” adjuncts work at several colleges teaching a variety of courses in order to make ends meet. Without the commitment of a ‘home’ college to provide them with a guaranteed consistent workload or health benefits, it’s unrealistic to expect a lasting commitment on their part to any specific institution. However, such a commitment is precisely what is needed, as it serves as the bedrock for improving teaching and learning in our programs.
Lansing Community College relies heavily on adjunct faculty to teach the majority of the courses we offer. In 2009, adjunct faculty taught 68% of all sections. That percentage rose to 72% in 2011. This means that in the last three years over 69% of our students have been taught by adjuncts. This reliance has had some positive results for the institution in terms of our ability to keep our instructional costs relatively low. It also allows us the flexibility to respond to short term enrollment fluctuations. However, there are consequences to this situation as well. These include difficulty in communicating college policy changes and in effecting program improvement efforts which can often include course and curricula revisions and implementing practices to improve student success.
Budgetary constraints have had a significant impact on the level of support we provide to adjunct faculty, and as a result the college has a significant challenge in providing adjunct faculty who teach in the evening or on weekends a sense of belonging and inclusion. Our data show that adjunct faculty teach on average 86% of the evening and weekend sections during Fall and Spring semesters. During summer semester evening sections taught by adjuncts rises to 93%. Unfortunately, nearly all college offices close at 5PM during the week. Almost none are open on the weekends. Adjunct faculty who teach in the evening or weekends rarely see their chair or support staff and are left to fend for themselves. What has emerged is a sub-culture of adjunct faculty who may have little knowledge of program or college-wide issues and initiatives. They often have little interaction with full-time faculty and feel isolated from pedagogical and professional discussions that are critical to teaching and learning. Budgetary constraints have also had a direct impact on the amount of professional development offered to adjuncts. While our Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) is a tremendous resource for adjunct faculty, it closes at 6PM Monday through Thursday, 5PM on Friday and is closed on weekends. These are times when adjuncts who work during the day are most available to attend workshops or use the CTE’s resources. Consequently, many adjuncts are never exposed to the wealth of information and assistance that is available at the CTE.
Communication is another significant and related challenge to integrating adjuncts into their programs. In the past adjuncts were not required to use LCC email. Program/department/college-wide emails often remained unopened. Although the college is now requiring all faculty to communicate via LCC email, several adjuncts have chosen to not use this system, causing them to be left out of timely communications which can affect a our ability to disseminate information and gather feedback.
As significant as the challenges stated earlier are, it’s the challenge of improving student success that seems the most daunting. There are many factors that go into improving the success of our students. These include college-wide efforts to improve student orientation and advising, basic skills assessment, and scheduling courses that are convenient to our students through several delivery formats offered at several times and locations. There are a host of other student support services available. However, without involvement and buy-in from faculty in the classroom, in particular our adjunct faculty, these college-wide efforts will have minimal impact; for it’s in the classroom where learning takes place and success is ultimately measured.
We rely almost entirely on our program curriculum committees to monitor course offerings, maintain course and program quality, and develop new courses and curricula. It is critical that this work is not done without the input and/or knowledge of our adjunct faculty. Some programs are able to include adjuncts into these discussions, but the many aren’t as fortunate. Whenever decisions are made to implement course changes, communication is spotty (as previously stated) and difficult to enact in all sections. We must strive to fully engage ALL faculty in a unified effort to improve teaching and learning and until we do so, our goal to provide our students with the best educational experience possible, will come up short.
Briefing paper authored by Jack Bergeron, AVP Academic Affairs
Category: Briefing Papers, Challenges
