CHAPARRAL

Better Teaching, Better learning

As a part-timer, I personally feel accepted and welcomed by the college and its institutions. I feel respected as an academic equal, and on governance committees, my opinions are sought after and given weight. However, I do not believe that all adjunct faculty have this experience at Glendale College. After all, how can a person feel accepted and welcomed, when there are frequent mutterings from full-time faculty about  incompetent part-timers who squeak by on evaluation after evaluation? These are the “bad apples” that justify, in the minds of some full-timers, lower pay, benefits and rights for adjunct faculty as a whole. My question to them is, “Well, how come their evaluations don’t preclude them from continuing to teach at the college?”

      Often it is the problem with finding a replacement teacher for the course, and that is a reasonable answer. Division chairs often do not know where or how to find excellent part-time faculty willing to fill a particular time slot for low pay and meager benefits. So they may continue to rehire part-timers who receive “needs to improve” or only a “meets professional standards” semester after semester.

      But I believe there is an alternative and one worthy of the investment in time needed. Many adjuncts who receive mediocre or negative evaluations really do want to improve their teaching. The problem is that they don’t know how. Some of these new teachers have recently graduated from a masters program, and while they are knowledgeable in their field, they still need basic teaching techniques. Other adjunct teachers come from the realm of private industry and lack the “soft skills” necessary to engage community college students. The new adjunct evaluation form is supposed to be prescriptive in nature, but often it simply states the areas that need improvement from the adjunct faculty member, without giving any direction to the resources that can help.

      We are lucky to have a wonderful staff development program at Glendale College, currently under the direction of Lynn McMurrey. I believe that division chairs and/or their designated evaluators need to work with Lynn McMurrey to develop prescriptive workshops that would be offered sometimes in the evenings, sometimes on the weekend, or online, with clear descriptions of the information covered in the course. Some part-timers are unfamiliar with many of the resources available to them, such as On Course, the Great Teachers Seminar, Excel or Frontpage, and may not be aware of how these courses can help improve their teaching or assignments. I suggest that along with outlining areas that need improvement, evaluators give these mediocre teachers the actual name of the courses that they would recommend for improving their teaching. We all believe that our students can improve and succeed. Full-time probationary faculty are given detailed instructions on how they need to improve. Let’s not give up on our new or not yet excellent part-time faculty. They too need feedback and direction to resources on our campus or online to help them become the best teachers they can be, and this will give Glendale College an enviable “farm team” for future full-time hires.  &

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