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Adjunct Orientation: The Key to a Successful Academic Year

Adjunct Orientation: The Key to a Successful Academic Year. Nancy Berger, MSN, RN, BC, CNE Middlesex County College Nursing Program. Late 1960’s: 27% of community college faculty were part time (Schuster & Finkelstein, 2006) . In 2009:

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Adjunct Orientation: The Key to a Successful Academic Year

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  1. Adjunct Orientation: The Key to a Successful Academic Year Nancy Berger, MSN, RN, BC, CNE Middlesex County College Nursing Program

  2. Late 1960’s:27% of community college faculty were part time (Schuster & Finkelstein, 2006) In 2009: 47% of those teaching undergraduate courses in US colleges/universities were not full-time Either adjunct or part-time In community colleges was 70% (Hart Research Associates, 2010)

  3. Democratic Leadership Council (June 2009) Community Colleges: • Essential to economy’s growth • Key generators of workforce and economic development Adjuncts: • Teach majority of community college students but have been the most neglected in conversations about institutional change (Lorenzo, 2011)

  4. Additional Research Studies (Umbach, 2007) - Faculty Survey of Student Engagement • Part-time used less active and collaborative techniques , challenged students less and spent less time preparing for class than full-time • Had lower expectations for students than tenured (Jaeger, 2008) • Student/faculty interactions important • As exposure to part-time faculty increased, odds of being retained decreased • Part-time faculty spent more time teaching but were less accessible to students, less integrated into campus culture, brought less scholarship to students

  5. Additional Research Studies (Jaeger & Eagan, 2009) • An increase of 10% in 1st year proportion of credits earned in courses taught by part-time faculty members resulted in students becoming 1% less likely to earn an associate’s degree (Eagan & Jaeger, 2009) • Students are significantly less likely to transfer to 4yr college as their exposure to part-time faculty increases

  6. Faculty Engagement Can Help: • Shed light on critical obstacles to student success • Generate creative and practical solutions to close achievement gaps • Discover what works to inform, drive, and sustain change • Foster sense of ownership and responsibility for change efforts • Minimize faculty resistance to and improve implementation of new practices

  7. Should: • Work closely with new faculty • Listen to comments • Have others listen to their comments • Anticipate their needs • Have an appropriate orientation with learning objectives for new faculty • Establish culture of continuous improvement • Expect everyone on faculty and staff to help • Have continuity during orientation

  8. Orientation Challenges: • Finances • Time • Personnel • Equipment • Space Adjunct Needs: • Professional Development • Effective Communication • Fostering Balance • Forming Relationships

  9. Professional Development • Introduction to college • Mission, vision, core values of college and department • Philosophy and framework • Teaching/learning model • Program goals • Course management – course and unit objectives • Grading and evaluation • Policies/procedures • Faculty standards • Resources – textbooks, journal articles • Shadow someone else

  10. Effective Communication • Peer mentoring helps cultivate teaching practices and helps support each partner’s personal and professional development • Support processes

  11. Fostering Balance • Staying organized • Taking care of oneself • Managing students (which helps increase student satisfaction, their educational experience, retention rates ) • Find out adjuncts’ needs and assist them

  12. Forming Relationships • Teamwork, collegiality, forming networks, relationships between other faculty and adjunct, should not feel detached from full-time faculty • Include in social networking – helps them feel like they belong (Rogers, McIntyre, & Jazzar, 2010)

  13. Qualities to Foster Community in a Faculty Learning Environment: • Safety and trust • Openness • Respect • Responsiveness • Collaboration • Relevance • Challenge • Enjoyment • Sense of pride • Empowerment (Cox, 2004)

  14. Mentoring Should be a Significant Part of Orientation • Introduce to key personnel and resources • Review of courses to be taught • Overview of governance structures • Introduction to culture and political environment of the institution • Mentor should have similar schedule • Makes for a smoother transition into the educator role, increases effectiveness, helps retain educator (Billings & Kowalski, 2008; Board, 2006)

  15. Roles of Mentor: • Promote opportunities for mentee • Coach • Protector • Role modeling • Helping new person feel a sense of belonging • Counseling • Friendship (Offstein, Morwick, Shah, 2007) Mentoring characteristics • Generosity • Competence • Self-confidence • Commitment to mentor relationship • Approachability • Good interpersonal skills • Adopting positive teaching role • Supervisory support • Professional development abilities • Nonjudgmental • Intuitive • Professional • Empathetic (Blauvelt & Spath, 2008; Smith & Zsohar, 2007)

  16. Leadership should inspire willingness among adjunct and full-time faculty to become active partners • Include full-time and adjunct by asking them questions, considering them as expert resources • Respect their knowledge, expertise and commitment • Recognize everyone’s accomplishments in public venues Culture of college should treat full-time and adjunct faculty as valuable partners • Show them how things are done; include in analysis

  17. Provide resources, incentives, recognition for everyone to actively engage • Include in professional development opportunities Should be institutional expectations and opportunities to continuously engage in implementing, evaluating and improving strategies for everyone toward change • Pair full-time and adjuncts as instructional collaborators • Use adjuncts’ past experiences to help College culture should be inquiry-based, collaborative, transparent • Should not be “us versus them” (fulltime versus adjunct) • Tap on their real world experience (Cutting Edge)

  18. Educators Must Be Skilled In: • teaching strategies • evaluation of learning outcomes • curriculum development • ability to guide students toward reaching their full potential

  19. New Nursing Clinical Faculty Stressors: • Not knowing the system • Not knowing academia • Not understanding students’ level of education • Not understanding learning theory • Unfamiliar with clinical site policy and procedure • Unfamiliar with their role • Unfamiliar with student evaluation To Include in their Orientation: • Evaluation • Student performance issues • Math • Pre-and post-conferences • How to make assignments

  20. Professional Development/Mentoring • Mandatory orientation to the hospital (we are not employees of the college) • Nursing orientation • Meet with director and program coordinator - Welcome, review faculty organization, overview of philosophy and curriculum, their role and job description, assignments and paperwork, academic policies, counseling services at the college, accreditation process and systematic plan for assessment and evaluation, assignments and paperwork, orientation manual • Participate in course meetings when possible • Computer training • Meet with Skills Lab Coordinator • Copy of all course books • Seasoned instructor with them during initial clinical days

  21. Effective Communication • Communication with Program Coordinator at least once a week for at least the first semester • Given information regarding communication with other faculty members, students, and who they directly report to, mailbox, campus cruiser

  22. Fostering Balance and Forming Relationships • Classroom and Skills Lab observation • Meet with all course coordinators to be aware of the entire curriculum and how the segment that they are teaching fits into the whole • Time to review resources, documentation procedures • Social gatherings

  23. Sample Adjunct Orientation Schedule Monday, August 16: • 8a-5p – Hospital Orientation Tuesday, August 17: • 10a – Meet with Director of Nursing Education • 10:30a – Meet with Program Coordinator • 1-3:30p – Nursing Orientation Wednesday, August 18: • 8a-3p – NRB 121 Orientation Thursday, August 19: • 7:30a-3p – Computer Training Monday, August 30: • 7a-3p – Clinical Orientation on Nursing Unit Wednesday, September 1: • 8:30a – Meet with Course Coordinator re: NRB 221 and Systematic Plan for Evaluation • 9:30a – NRB 121 Meeting • 1p – Meet with Course Coordinator of NRB 121 • 2p – Meet with Course Coordinator of NRB 122 • 3p – Meet with Course Coordinator of NRB 222

  24. Sample Adjunct Orientation Schedule Wednesday, September 8: • 8-11:30a – Observe NRB 121 Class • 12:30-3:20p – Observe NRB 121 Lab Monday, September 13: • 8-10:50a – Observe NRB 121 Lab • 11a-12n – Observe Open Lab • 1p – Meet with Skills Lab Coordinator regarding skills labs, simulation, and student nurse organization Wednesday, September 15: • 8-10:50a – Participate in NRB 121 Lab • 12:30-3:20p – Participate in NRB 121 Lab Monday, September 20: • 8-10:50a – Skills Lab • 11a – Meet with Program Coordinator • 1p – Resource Review Wednesday, September 22, Monday, September 27, Wednesday, September 29: • 8a-3p – Clinical with clinical group and full-time clinical instructor Weekly follow-up via telephone, email, or in person with Program Coordinator throughout semester

  25. Framework of Faculty Engagement • Leadership should inspire willingness among adjunct and full-time to become active partners • We ask for their suggestions all the time • We tap on their knowledge, especially if they have worked in other institutions • We recognize everyone’s accomplishments in public venues – include their accomplishments at meetings • Culture of college should treat full-time and adjunct faculty as valuable partners • Show them how things are done – this is why they get oriented to all aspects of the curriculum and get copies of all evaluation results

  26. Framework of Faculty Engagement • Need to provide resources, incentives, recognition for everyone to actively engage • Include in professional development opportunities • Should be institutional expectations and opportunities to continuously engage in implementing, evaluating and improving strategies for everyone toward change • Pair full-time and adjuncts as instructional collaborators - mentoring • Use adjuncts’ past experiences to help • College culture should be inquiry-based, collaborative, transparent • Should not be “us versus them”

  27. New Employee Faculty Manual Based on NLN Core Competencies of Nurse Educators: • Facilitate learning • Facilitate learner development and socialization • Use assessment and evaluation strategies • Participate in curriculum design and evaluation of program outcomes • Function as a change agent and leader • Pursue continuous quality improvement • Engage in scholarship • Function within the educational environment

  28. References Billings, D.M., & Kowalski, K. (2008). Developing your career as a nurse educator: The importance of having (or being) a mentor. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 39(11), 490-491. Blauvelt, M.J., & Spath, M.L. (2008). Passing the torch: A faculty mentoring program at one school of nursing. Nursing Education Perspectives, 29(1), 29-33. Board of Governors. (2006). Mentoring of nursing faculty. NLN Nursing Education Perspectives, 27(2), 110-113. Cox, M.D. (2004). Introduction to faculty learning communities. In M. D. Cox & L. Richlin (Eds.), Building faculty learning communities: New directions for teaching and learning, No. 97. SanFrancisco,CA: Jossey Bass. Cutting Edge Series. (2011). Engaging Adjunct & Full-time Faculty in Student Success Innovation. Retrieved from www.publicagenda.org/files/pdf/ATD_engaging_faculty_in_student_success.pdf Eagan, M.K., & Jaeger, A.J. (2009). Effects of exposure to part-time faculty on community college transfer. Research in Higher Education, 50, 168-188, doi: 10:1007/s11162-008-9113-8 Hart Research Associates. (2010). A national survey of part-time/adjunct faculty. Washington, DC: American Federation of Teachers.

  29. References Jaeger, A.J. (2008). The effects of part-time faculty on first semester freshmen retention: A predictive model using logistic regression. Journal of College Student Retention, 10(3), 265-288, doi: 10.2190/CS.10.3.b Jaeger, A.J., & Eagan, M.K. (2009). Unintended Consequences: Examining the effect of part-time faculty members on associate ‘s degree completion. Community College Review, 36(3), 167-194. Lorenzo, G. (2011). The Revitalization of American Community Colleges: A Synthesis of Current Initiatives, Programs, Issues, and Challenges. Retrieved from http://www.edpath.com/images/ccPaperFinal.pdf Offstein, E. H., Morwick, J. M., & Shah, A. (2007). Mentoring programs and jobs: A contingency approach. Review of Business, 27(3), 32-37. Rogers, C.B., McIntyre, M., & Jazzar, M. (2010). Mentoring adjunct faculty using the cornerstones of effective communication and practice. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 18(1), 53-59. doi: 10.1080/13611260903448375 Schuster, J.H., & Finkelstein, M.J. (2006). The American faculty: The restructuring of academicwork andcareers. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Smith, J. A., & Zsohar, H. (2007). Essentials of neophyte mentorship in relationship to the faculty shortage. Journal of Nursing Education, 46(4), 184-186. Umbach,P.D. (2007) How effective are they? Exploring the impact of contingent faculty on undergraduate education. The Review of Higher Education, 30(2), 91-123, doi: 10.1353/rhe.2006.0080

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