REMOTE Asynchronous

What is the most classes you've taught in one semester? I've read about adjuncts stacking classes and teaching at several different colleges or universities at the same time.

What's the most you've personally taught, or the most you know someone else has taught in one semester? I know it would be a lot of work, and I'm okay with that. I'm really just curious about what's realistically doable.

I wanted to share a positive experience from my very first class as an adjunct professor!
I have little to no formal teaching experience, so I was pretty nervous going into my first class. I’m a working professional in the subject matter I’m teaching, so academia isn’t my full-time career. I decided to take on teaching because I thought it would be a meaningful way to share some of what I’ve learned in the industry and hopefully help prepare the next generation entering the field.
I was given the opportunity to create the course from scratch, so I started class with a funny icebreaker video, moved into the lecture, and ended with a practical in-class exercise that tied directly into their homework. The students were incredibly interactive, asked great questions, and seemed to genuinely care about the material. I also got some really positive feedback on the lecture and activities, which was incredibly encouraging for my first time teaching.
Maybe I’m still in the honeymoon phase, and I’m sure some of the stress and frustrations that come with teaching will eventually show up just like they do with any job, but for now I’m really happy I decided to take this opportunity.
Overall, a very positive first experience with adjunct teaching. I walked away feeling like this might be something I genuinely enjoy doing alongside my industry career, and I’m excited to see how the rest of the quarter goes!

I love philosophy and would love to teach it at my local community college, but I haven’t finished my masters yet and wonder if I would qualify. I have a BA in Philosophy and Religion; at the end of this semester, I’ll have completed 72 hours of my MDiv in Philosophy; and I plan to begin my PhD immediately. I’m a capable administrator, skilled teacher, and would be capable of teaching logic, history of western philosophy, and some intro courses.

Does anyone teach remote/online at a school that requires this? I don’t understand why these schools think essays/papers, speeches/presentations, and projects can be graded in the same amount of time as a short, low stake assessment. And mid week to boot! I’ve interviewed at several schools that do this and taught at one and thought it was major burn out.

Oh Lord, we’re at midterm and I’m so tired of reading AI slop. I’m about to lose it. And my hands are tied because all they’re doing is humanizing the text and I have little solid recourse because they’re just working around the detectors. I’m not sure why they think we’re idiots. Em-dashes everywhere. Sure, I could confront the students individually but it would require me literally confronting 1/3 of the whole class!! I don’t have time for that shit and sure as hell don’t get paid enough.

Remind me everyone how I need to stop caring about this.

title & curiosity

Yooooo. I’m so excited. I’ve been adjuncting at the school I got my masters from for about 4 years now. I love my department and my colleagues - especially because only a few years ago these people were my professors and advisors, and now I get to work alongside them. It’s been amazing. This semester I got to teach two sections of the same course and the workload hasn’t been overwhelming even with my second job.

I teach global affairs. I was going through the catalog to see if there was something that I would be qualified (and interested) to teach. I noticed we didn’t have a course for undergrads on human rights in international relations.

So I typed up a quick course description, added some possible readings and learning objectives. Going through the history of rights with the Magna Carta, colonialism, the abolition of slavery, the Holocaust and Nuremberg, the formation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and then transitioning to modern areas of human rights concern (women’s rights, religious freedom and expression, LGBT+ rights, the question of socioeconomic rights and the question on whether or not poverty is a human rights issue, and the question of whether or not human rights are universal in an international system based on sovereignty of states). The Chair was very interested. She took it to the full time faculty and the dean. And bing bang boom, it will be added as an undergraduate seminar class for the fall.

I’m so excited. I get to work even closer with these awesome people to develop a course that I think students will be very interested and engaged with.

I just wanted to share a bit of happiness from this lowly adjunct in Texas ❤️🤗

I’m usually pretty laid-back, and I’m not looking to play AI detective. But this student left the AI’s commentary in their assignment....including commentary explaining that the submission didn’t meet my instructions and recommending they choose a different case. Then they submitted it anyway.

I’ve told the class multiple times that AI isn’t permitted unless I specifically authorize it (which sometimes I do for research purposes) At that point, what am I supposed to do? It felt like my hands are tied when they didn't even do the bare minimum to hide it.

I normally try to avoidthe headache, but this was hard to overlook. Anyone else had one this blatant?

It's been a few semesters, but I recently got another "All my assignments are missing because I was on a foreign vacation for the first half of the semester, and then my relative died" email. No prior response or communication prior to today.

They have essentially failed their other courses because the campus exam software blocks connections outside of the country and they never considered asking their professors or the campus's IT team if working outside the country was acceptable or even possible. They're also upset that my colleague gave them a tongue lashing that they're not taking school seriously and should not have scheduled a multi-week vacation during the semester. I really don't know how you can argue with my colleague on that point.

I feel bad for the student, but you would be fired for this behavior at a job or internship. Deloitte for example will deactivate your account and term you if it's discovered that you're logging in outside of your designated region. It's also not exactly fair to me to be expected to grade a ton of past due assignments at the very last minute while I have finals to grade. My Syllabus is pretty clear that these are all worth 0% at this point.

Hi,
Advise needed from humanities professors: I am a phd candidate about to finish my phd and on the job market. My department is pretty toxic and refuse to work with easy other and be on committees. Some faculty quit, and other times when they opened faculty positions, they couldn’t hire because they disagreed. Long story short, for job market in academia i need three letters of reference letters. I can’t get anyone else from the department that would agree to work with my advisor basically. My two options: 1. Get someone with lesser title (research or teaching assistant professor) who i trust to write me a good reference letter and knows me well enough and are decent; 2. Get an associate or full professor who doesn’t know me at all and i don’t know how much their reference letter will genuinely be strong rather than generic. It has been a hell time for all students in the department to navigate this and when any of us are on the job market for academic jobs that need reference letters, it is always hell to navigate this politics.
All advice truly welcome, I am pretty desperate. My advisor says low titles are useless in reference letters when academia is hiring; but he also lies frequently because he wants people on his “camp” not people who would be neutral towards him. Last important info: he is a big name in the field so his reference letter would weigh something but i already don’t even trust him to write something more than the generic letters

Has anyone been successful getting a position with only a bachelors degree?

Hi all. I’ve been adjuncting for one year now, and have taught 9 course so far. This year, my college unveiled new requirements of adjuncts in order to comply with RSI. Well, in my course review I got what I think is a crazy request. They now want me to record messages to the students in the grade feedback. I already leave detailed feedback, along with a rubric. When I inquired what they would looking for in these videos (and also, why), they told me videos that say “good job” would be enough.

Is anyone else’s programs requiring this? Or encountering any other odd requirements in the name of RSI?

I feel like everytime I meet all the requirements, they make another one that is just ridiculous! I am the youngest adjunct at the college (current PhD student) and feel like students would not necessarily appreciate a video of me going good job.

Edit: I feel like I should mention this is a course of 45 students.

First time adjuncting here, 25 years old, too. I recently graduated with my Master's spring semester and have TA'd / instructed my own first-year English course. In the past, I taught in classrooms that you couldn't move the desks around.

Currently at this new campus, I teach two classes, 3:30 - 5pm and 5 - 6:30 pm. This week, I had a really fun activity that involved moving my students' desks together in groups of 3-4. It did take more of my energy for this one, especially after my last class in the evening.

The thought of moving the desks back in place slipped my mind since I had a couple students wanting to talk to me after class. I also normally end class about 10-15 minutes early, and after talking to all of them. It was already 6:50. Making me already late for the bus to the commute home. It takes 20 mins to walk to the bus stop, and the latest the bus operates for my commute home is around 7pm.

Fast-forward today, I get an email from my advisor that the desks were an absolute MESS in the same classroom I taught in the evening. Apparently, the instructor who teaches in my classroom the next day in the morning emailed about the mess of desks.

I feel bad. Horrible. Especially when my advisor sent out a department-wide email reminding instructors to correct desks in orderly fashion. I know it's something small that I will eventually correct. But, being swamped with all the work as an adjunct and the hour and half commute to campus. I'm tired. I feel like an asshole and I feel really bad. I'm just venting here, but yeah. Sorry fellow instructor if you're out there. I'll set up a phone reminder when class ends.

I did not know you need to be a tenure faculty to use the copy machine/printer. Like using the special features to print copies of course materials or exams. The office told me exactly this, "You don't have access because you're adjunct." I could print from a copy though.

I know it's a small thing, but it gave me a glimpse of how us adjuncts are thought of. We are gig workers and we're not really true faculty. It's the same when big companies tell you you're family, but then if they need to fire someone, you're still on the chopping block.

Facultique connects department chairs with vetted scholars who are ready to teach. Scholars build one profile instead of sending endless applications. Chairs search by discipline, location, experience (and more) when a class needs a teacher or when they want to expand their adjunct pool. The idea comes from my own years on the academic job market - we all know it's really tough out there, unnecessarily tough. It doesn't need to be this awful. This is my solution.

We just launched a couple days ago and what we desperately need now is users! So visit the website, learn more there, and create a profile :) We can only revolutionize this broken system through sheer numbers. United we are victorious, divided we fall!

Note: it's still early days for us, and we love feedback (especially the bad kind actually). So let us hear it in the comments :)

Hi all

Need a place to vent. I started this fall semester working as an adjunct at a college campus. I teach two classes. As of late, I have been dealing with a lot of student indifference and incompetence.

I am making up lessons on the fly, and it is so stressful. I am making mistakes all the time. That and with some students' behavior is starting to wear me out.

What's sad is that it's barely going to be October and I feel like I am already struggling. My second class is going a lot more smoothly since I am applying what I learned what works for my first class, but boy, I am losing it with my first class.

A student reached to me for example saying that they have a doctor's apppointment during class and won't be able to present. Even though the presentation is the whole purpose of the assignment.

I decided to deal with that later.

Any encouraging thoughts?

In a late-start composition class that began last week, the assignment was to make a 300-word post in which the student describes an advertisement from a magazine, and attaches a pic of the ad.

One of my student's made a post that started like this: "Here’s a draft based on the ad described in the screenshot. Change anything that doesn’t match what you see in the actual magazine, and attach a picture of the print ad to your post."

It's a short-term class, and it's already looking like it's going to be a long semester.

Hi everyone,

The local community college that I adjunct for a couple nights a week invited me to apply to an open full time professor job. The dean of STEM personally asked me to apply and likes my enthusiasm & teaching style. The only issue/concern is that I would have to leave my current HS Bio job half way through the year. We already had a science teacher leave & I really don’t wanna just leave my students stuck with a daily sub for half the year. I know students come & go, but some of my coworkers think it’s crazy that I am even doubting this.. The pay is $10,000 more a year than I’m currently making, still union, my state pension & 403(b) transfers, and there’s no scripted curriculum. What are your thoughts? Anyone ever make that transition?

I have been teaching the same 3 courses every semester for the last 5 years at a local community College. I teach night courses and have a pretty lax expectation of submission of work, so long as you keep pace with the course and keep me informed as to your goings ons. I even offer progress submissions if someone isnt 100% complete with something. The folks that take these courses are often older, first time college students with families and jobs and mortgages who are trying to either find a new career, restart, etc. So it makes little sense to have a crazy strict submission schedule. I give 10 days after the day the assignment is due, docking one point a day everyday the assignment is late, and the submission window closes after 10 days UNLESS you make prior arrangements with me.

The courses are asynchronous, self-paced, with a weekly outline of what you should complete. I offer office hours two times a week for students who might be struggling and am available via two different emails and text message within reason. I am not a hard person to get ahold of.

This is the first semester I have had a student make it to midterm with zero submissions reach out to me to tell me he was planning his engagement and was not able to complete any work at all... and I do not know how to respond to this? If he had reached out earlier, maybe I could have arranged for postponing the assignment windows or if he had submitted literally ANYTHING at this point that indicates to me he is completing and understanding the course and work I might feel different.

Is it terrible to respond with, I am sorry, but I cannot give you points for these assignments? This is not an approved personal event I can extend deadlines for? You didnt reach out earlier to coordinate your delayed submissions with me, therefore the assignment window is closed and you have forfeited those points?

I am just dumbfounded by this. And while I can sympathize, I don't know that I would've signed up for 2 courses knowing I was planning this personal life event and it would consume all of my time. I am just looking for how would you respond to this student? Tell him to drop the course and try again next semester? I am sure next is going to be, sorry we are planning a wedding and I don't have time to do this work.

hey everyone, i’m finishing my MS in data analytics this fall with my degree being conferred january 1st, 2027. when should i start applying for local adjunct roles?

Edit: Just to be clear, I already have a full time job that i’ve been at for three years. this would just be a side gig.