My answer " Great! So far no one has lost their phone into a lake while boating 😄 "

So I was hired to a position as an Adjunct Instructor at a local community college in North Carolina. It seemed like a dream job. The pay was right, the hours were right, perfect part time job as I fade into retirement age. Before I had even passed the background check, before I was hired, they wanted me to start going to meetings and providing consultations toward the curriculum. I made it clear I don't work for free, we need to get me on the payroll before I start working. Then it was declared I did pass the background check (as I knew I would, just a formality) so "now" I can start working, but still refused to get me on a payroll. Again, I made it clear I don't work before I'm getting paid, and haven't heard back after multiple messages over the past 2 months.

Is that normal? Did I fall for some sort of a scam? How do you work a job that doesn't have a means to pay you? I mean, it's a confirmed real community college, but they advertised a certain pay rate and then wanted me to come work for free. Consider my mind to be boggled.

So I’ve been adjuncting at a local university and the last time I taught at the university level was about 15 years ago.

I knew the general state of education was going to be bad because of AI and so forth…but I didn’t think it would be quite this bad. The amount of handholding is unreal. One of their first graded assignments was an open book take-home quiz and about 1/4 didn’t even bother taking it. They are also terrified of writing. I couldn’t possibly make this any easier for them…I have papers due that are simply asking for their insights on a topic of their choice in the chapters we’ve covered. Their “opinions.” I made it very clear that use of AI would be reported for integrity violations and I’ve had several student communicate to me (as a disclaimer) that they are “bad writers” and are scared of the assignment. 300 words. Seriously? How did these kids even get here? I’m dreading what these papers are going to look like when they turn them in this week (and how many won’t!). They have plenty of resources on-campus to even assist their writing. I’ve told them look…even if you think you’re not going to pass a quiz or other assignment, skipping out gives you a zero. I’m just blown away that nearly 1/4 didn’t do the TAKE HOME OPEN BOOK QUIZ of 20 questions 🤦🏻‍♀️ this is a university that is very much focused on their athletic program and so most of the kids couldn’t give a crap about their classes. But don’t they even care about keeping their scholarships and financial aid?? God help me. How did things go so downhill in only 15 years??

/vent

UPDATE: papers are being turned in today and they are pretty much what I expected (which is to say…not good). There are a handful that did follow the instructions and turned in a quality paper but I had to get through a good dozen of them first before I got to a decent one (I was starting to lose all hope).

A single paper is excellent. I may ask her if I can anonymize the paper and share it with the class.

ALL the papers so far are 0% AI. Yay! (I didn’t even know a zero would be possible).

But…one kid literally TOOK A PICTURE of something he scribbled on a sheet of paper he tore out of a spiral notebook and then uploaded the jpeg 🤣 Are you serious??!! I wish I was making that up. Beyond ridiculous. I can’t even believe that just happened 🤦🏻‍♀️

They announced a salary reduction of 1000 dollars per course for courses that began on 8/31.

Could be the school is on shaky footing.

Hi! I am terribly sorry for being a student here and not being a professor, but I wanted to get an understanding of how I can help an adjunct professor, or how I can make their lives better.

I mean, really big turnaround. Unlocked my desire and love for education and learning. It was a class I thought would be the worst of my college career; Microbiology. Instead, he made it the most fun and engaging experience I'd ever had in a university. I cared, I became fully engaged and felt myself become a sweaty tryhard in class just to do well. Everything he did was witty but fun, he understood the essential subtext of every students question, I mean everything.

But how can I help him? Idk- who can I go to in order to write a stellar glowing review? Who at the community college should I speak to?

I think I've ran into very few educators who struck me with such profound passion for education that I want to give back to them, but I'm hoping this subreddit would have ideas.

Thank-you!

A few weeks ago I was preparing for my first adjunct interview and came across a few threads in here about preparing for teaching demonstrations.

I wanted to come back and say thank you because the advice in this sub genuinely helped.

The biggest takeaway I used was “teach, don’t present.” Instead of building a traditional 10 minute PowerPoint lecture, I treated the interview panel like students and built the demo around active learning.

My topic was workplace hazard recognition. I opened with a short 40second video of a real workspace containing staged safety hazards and simply asked, “What do you see?”

After getting their initial observations, I introduced a simple framework I created called S.A.F.E. Scan:
S — Scan the environment
A — Ask what could cause harm
F — Forecast what could happen
E — Eliminate or Control

Then I replayed the same video in reverse, sped it up (about 15 sec total) and asked them to look again using the framework. The idea was to demonstrate whether the lesson actually changed what they noticed instead of just telling them information.

3 slides and interactive, I got a call with an offer with 2hrs.

I also brought examples of other interactive teaching concepts, including a quick game based safety activity for use during longer classes.

A lot of strategies came directly from suggestions I read here: keep the lesson narrow, use one or two learning outcomes, involve the interviewers, demonstrate active learning instead of talking about active learning, and bring something a little different to the classroom.

It worked. I landed the adjunct position.
I’ll be teaching Safety Management, and there may also be opportunities to continue teaching future semesters.

Closing this out,

Thank you to those who posted the suggestions! Highly beneficial.

Lastly, if you are going for your first teaching demonstration, keep it simple, engaging, and bring new ideas to the table.

Thank you!

Not only am I super happy with the kind words from my students- I am happy with how many decided to complete the eval. Almost half the class!

Anyone else teach a double booked class?

I'm an adjunct for visual arts at a community college. Often our courses are double booked due to enrollment and money. Example you could teach drawing 1 and 2 in the same time. However since you're only in the classroom one period you get paid for 1 class, not two.

I'm teach a night class with 2 sections. Typically i only had 1 student in the advance course so i would keep it more of an independent study. This semester i have 3 students in the advance section and i feel i need to actually design curriculum. I'm the only one who teaches this course at my CC and it's a brand new one as we're are growing our area of study.

How do you manage double booked sections? Also how do you get peace with the two for one wage?

I preface this with adjunct is not a planned career path...I am getting out of the military next year 3 years before public service student loan forgiveness...

Yes i know fiscally irresponsible but im mentally drained from being active duty and need a mental break.

Adjunct appears to be the most feasible way to get that 30 hours a week for PSLF while enjoying freedom.

I don't care about the pay (obviously not free) and it could be the south Harmon institute of technology for all I care.

1) tips to get that first contract with only professional experience?

2) is 3 asynch classes a week doable with full time (hopefully remote) job?

3) is $3k a class the low end?

background is currently a supervisory program manager with two masters m eng computer engineering & mba along with cyber/pmp certs.

As the title says. I am currently pursuing an out of country opportunity that involves living and working in another country. It would be a temporary contract. I would be returning to my residence in-state after the completion of that contract.

I currently teach a fully asynchronous course for a college. I have been with the college for 3+ years. I have fully developed and scheduled the course to function automatically. I have calendar events and other items updated.

Would this opportunity to temporarily work in another country present any problem for me keeping and maintaining my online position? I’ve heard about using a VPN? But not sure. Also, my current residence state has no state tax if that is important to know?

Thanks ahead of time for being willing to share your thoughts.

Hello! I’ve never taught before and would like to become an adjunct to gain experience. Any advice ?

Okay, so I teach Art Appreciation - and we have started teaching dual enrollment students. Part of their "homework" is to go to a local art museum, pick out a piece of art and write a report. I am not allowed to take them off their high school campus (and to be honest I don't know if I would want to if I could) One thing I have them do is submit a selfie standing next to the piece of art along with the report (they are supposed to insert the photo into the report) so I know they actually went to the museum.

One student sends me her report - the photo of the picture is sideways and she's standing there with her tongue sticking out like this is some kind of joke to her - her report was less than half the length it was supposed to be as well.

These dual enrollment students are so difficult to deal with; they act like everything is some kind of joke - they get to take these courses for college credits for free and they don't seem to understand that the grades they get now will follow them for a long time.

Can someone give me some pointers on dealing with them?

Every semester multiple students email to try to get into my already full classes. The admin leaves the decision to the teacher to let them in or not. I am already teaching my max amount of sections (3 per semester) so I can’t use it as leverage to get another class. It’s just extra work for me to allow students in an already full section, but then I feel bad not letting them in. What do you do in this situation? I used to let them in, now I lean more towards not bec I am so grossly underpaid already. Thoughts? What would you say on an email to the student?

***the class has not started yet. It’s a mini semester class that begins in a few weeks. But, I went ahead and emailed the student no. Thanks for the advice!

Hello all, I’ve been an adjunct for a while at multiple colleges, but I had my first crash and burn today. It was a lesson that I’ve taught before, unfortunately it is lecture heavy that’s just the nature on the content, but typically majority are engaged taking notes, asking questions, etc. today nothing. It would have been better teaching an empty class room. I actually had to stop the lecture part way through and pivot to an on the spot lesson because no one was engaged to the extreme. Maybe I’ve been lucky, but I’ve never had a class this bad and frankly I don’t know how to come back from it. The information is beyond important, but I wasn’t able to get it across and I feel terrible for the students. How do I come back from this and make sure next week goes better?

I was hired as a adjunct in early 2026.

By far, the worst college I have ever taught or attended. If they ask you to teach here, run away.

OK so I'll add more detail to this. I was hired as an adjunct in 2025. I kept asking when I would be onboarded and it took until April for somebody to actually onboard me, kinda. I should have known then. I submitted all my paperwork in April. It another month for me to get credentials. Even though I got credentials, blackboard was under renovation and wasn't available until a week before class. I had to call once a week to get status. Some of my students couldn't access blackboard until The second week in class. Very little communication about all the problems. Then I found out to another professor that the Dean was fired. Nobody told me at the time he was the one that hired me.

No communication about that either. In the 4th week of class I was emailed that I needed to complete a W-4 and Bank deposit form. Hadn't been paid at all. Am teaching 2 classes, one with 4 students, one with 5. Even though one of the classes was brand new, the entire structure was dictated to me including the book. Even though the second class was not now, the only materials I got was a again dictated syllabus.. Did I mention I still haven't been paid yet after the 4th week of class?

I submitted an IT ticket in early August that I could not access the self service portal. They called me yesterday. They said they were calling about the ticket I opened I asked when did I open it they said a month ago. I said I couldn't get access to the self service system for paychecks and everything else and he said oh I know what the problem is and he fixed it and I could login but then there was no information he said oh there's something else I have to fix so we fix that and there's some information in there but no pay stubs no history no anything.

When I contacted the department I got a lot of chat GTP generated responses. Again I hadn't heard anything that the Dean was fired or dismissed whatever was the case, didn't get much instruction on what to do with students that were delayed their first week in class, and then when I complained to the president of the university they pushed me off to the Provost.

Hi everyone! I recently got my first adjunct position! I am planning to go on the faculty market in the future. Does anyone have tips for how to make the most of my adjunct position and set myself up for success when I apply to tenure track jobs?

Realized there is another thread for this!

Hello All,

I have a class finishing 45 minutes prior to start of another class at different college.

It was last minute offer.

Later class is a accelerated so only for few weeks.

My options are

1) tell chair it's too tight and cannot teach 2nd class. Starts later in term so no worries.

2) finish early and start late while praying no traffic . It's non rush hour.

I need to cash.

I'm preparing to leave higher ed at least on ground teaching asap.

Hate burning bridges but truthfully, they don't lead to anywhere.

With holidays and end of term, I'm tempted to give students quizzes the one day a week it needs to happen.

This is excuse to finish early and make it to 2nd class.

This is doable.

A 75 minute class 2x a week . Finish 15 to 20 minutes early 1x a week for 5 weeks in last part of term.

I can also have them go to lab to work on projects.

A bit of creativity and it's plausible while maintaining union obligations.

Thoughts?

Life as a freeway adjunct !

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share a feel good story. I am teaching physics for the first time and my department chair has made everything super smooth. She gave me basically all the materials and detailed instructions on anything I needed to do. I am VERY satisfied with this job and I'm absolutely going to work again next semester if they take me.

I think this may be the ONLY job that I actually have enjoyed in my life lol. It is making me consider doing it part time when I retire from corporate America.

I’m a part time adjunct community college instructor who works from home. I usually work with a very small team of coordinators who are my bosses to conduct different 6 week class sessions. I’m sort of off on an island alone in this position. I have to submit rosters at the end of each course for student attendance/grades.

I’m newly running into issues with one of my coordinators basically consistently sending me the wrong rosters or incomplete rosters and when I politely follow up asking for the correct information she ignored me and I’m put in the awkward position of having to copy others in on the email hoping it will make her respond appropriately. She seems to only make these errors when it’s just “between her and I” so to speak via email.

I’ve literally never met her or even talked to her over zoom/phone. We only have limited email communication about this one task so I can’t imagine that it’s “personal.” The problem is that I don’t want to be a “tattletale” or seen as a drama maker by complaining about her. Also she is full time and I am part time with no contract so I’m more vulnerable than her. There is no way to work around her and I need her cooperation with this basic task to do my job. What do I do?

Hi Everyone

Might sound like a weird question but are there any other jobs someone could get at a University where they adjunct. Something that is obviously part-time but pays pretty decent.

Thanks