Online Teaching Blog

As I write this, I ponder the up coming weekend whereas we will spend time with family and friends celebrating Memorial Day 2016 (I hope you have wonderful weather as well). This is a time where we spend time at picnics and enjoying the times. We take the time to remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our nation as well as those who have served.

It's a monumental investment of time and money when you seek to hire quality faculty. There is no magic bullet or system of guarantees when you want to add the best of the best to your team. As a 20 year educational administrator, I understand the tremendous responsibility it is to secure high performing faculty. It is the shared desire of all building leaders because we understand the link that faculty has with improving morale, professionalism, and ultimately our student learning. I remember in my early leadership years, I spent many painful hours selecting candidates that were not "good fits". This was discouraging and my ego was bruised. I needed to improve my strategy, so I swallowed my pride and realized I didn’t have all the answers. I began to seek out colleagues that I respected and asked questions on how they were finding such great matches to bring on board. This was one of the single and smartest decisions I ever made. Over time, I began to utilize very specific methods that helped to secure my choices in matching people to positions. I began to have such success with building my teams with longevity that I was often sought out for advice on the topic. Although there are many opinions regarding best practices, I have compiled my KNOWLEDGE of 9 essential tips that focus on HIRING PRACTICES THAT WORK!

However, at the same time online enrollment is increasing, institutions struggle with “course dropout and failure rates among online learners” (Britto & Rush, 2010, p. 29). Yet, some institutions do not even have a first to second year retention goal (ACT, 2010). So what are institutions implementing to combat this challenge?

The Curriculum Vitae (CV) is the document that showcases an instructor’s professional and academic achievement. It is a transformation of the standard one page resume into pages of information reflecting the uniqueness of a teaching candidate. For my CV to be successful, it needed to reflect my experience, passion for teaching, and showcase qualities that made me stand out from other candidates. To transform my resume into a CV, I began with a Statement of Teaching Philosophy.

Well, just as I spoke about balance with job, life, and family before, in the middle of my application frenzy, family life took front and center stage for me. It was mid-April and yes, we were packing-up and taking a good old-fashioned, nine-hour road trip. This was a trip that was absolutely necessary; however, we were also determined to make it fun too. Still, this was going to be a five-day long trip. How in the world was I going to be gone for five days! Okay, stay calm. I can make this work. We are living in the age of technology and I was determined to continue to be productive on this trip, while at the same time, getting in some enjoyment. So, I carefully packed the laptop and all other necessary essentials into the car. I just couldn’t leave all of this work at home, five days without work - no way! So off we went with laptop in tow.

We all have a reason to be an Adjunct Professor, some do it for money, and others do it for the love of teaching. Let’s face it, in a society where students are coming out of college having racked up so much debt that the average student is overwhelmed with paying back their student loans. Even educators are finding it harder and harder to get hired within our career fields. This is not only a cost to attain a Master’s Degree, but it is an investment into the person and his/her goals in life. I am not one that will go and invest all the money I make into Wall Street and maybe make it rich, but I will invest in someone that I know has a vested interest in success; those individuals are my wife and me. We both believe that investing in higher education is an area in a person’s life that can never go wrong, however, if a person is to succeed, they have to not only seek out the education, but also identify how you want to use your education.

I imagine that for part timers this time of year is also predictable. On your end you are filling out the applications I will eventually separate into “yes”, “no” and “maybe” piles. You are carefully crafting cover letters that I will later survey to find actual examples that you are as forward-thinking as you claim to be. Perhaps you are having friends and colleagues review your CV, looking for the spelling and consistency errors that might catch my eye.

I confess. It’s all true. I do all of those things above. But there’s more….

My last article emphasized the importance of planting seeds to build the professional and personal life you want. To complement planting seeds, you should have a plan so as the seedlings start unfolding; you are prepared to take action. You can potentially lose opportunities or place yourself in a quandary should you wait for these seedlings to mature and then figure out plans. Planning helps maximize your success.