The Adjunct Instructor Problem

A department within a college hired many new adjunct instructors. All instructors were subject matter experts in their own right, but many had never taught before.

​In their first semester teaching, they experienced a steep learning curve, making the semester difficult and stressful. Few adjuncts wanted to return to teach for a second semester. As a result, turnover was high, and student satisfaction rates were low. Instruction also lacked continuity, contributing to student complaints about the quality of their learning experiences.

Informal surveys and reviews of formal exit interviews were conducted. Two themes emerged: (1) Instructors were provided with teaching materials created by their predecessors but without specific education in instruction, they struggled to adapt the materials to their own style. (2) Most have had limited experience in providing group instruction.

While this program did have support from the department's Program Director, there were constraints for its development. These included

• A zero-dollar budget

• No technical support from IT

• No Learner access to the school's LMS prior to the first day of school

The following recommendations were part of this learning experience strategy:

• Recommendations for front-office staff regarding communications

• An adjunct instructor manual

• A self-paced teaching workshop

Since there was no proprietary information in the workshop, it was placed on a website for easy access. This also allowed motivated instructors to learn at their own pace.

Workshop Deployment

A website was launched to introduce the adjunct instructors to the new self-paced workshop. It featured an introductory video (view video) establishing the relevance of the workshop and preparing the instructors for what to expect.

The units covered the topics of

1. Adult education principles

2. Techniques for classroom instruction

3. The application of learning theories: Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, and Connectivism.

The website, the design of the instructional plan, and the initial learning module were evaluated in the early stages of development.

Data from the evaluation was analyzed and presented to key project stakeholders.

Time for revisions was allowed prior to the launching of the instructional unit in late Spring 2019.