Resources for New Adjuncts

Image via WikipediaA new instructor came into my office yesterday. She has been asked to teach online with no teaching experience. This is not unusual. It happens in grad school all the time. It is a bit more harrowing at the community colleges because a new adjunct may or may not have any support. When I first started teaching, I had the benefit of a couple of years as a lab teaching assistant in writing centers, developmental English classes, and ESL labs. I also met Laura Perkins, a great adjunct English teacher who believes in the principles of collegiality and openness. That meant that she shared her syllabi and assignments with her peers. She believed that her value as a teacher was in what she did, not in the documents and assignments.

I asked on twitter today “What would you like to have known before you began teaching?” and got some great responses from Jason B. Jones of the Chronicle’s blog ProfHacker, which he says is essential reading for adjuncts especially the posts on applying for jobs and the six ways to make adjuncting more effective and fulfilling.

Stephanie Cheney responded generously with a link to her delicious book marks tag for an education class she is teaching. So I of course, immediately clicked on “Add to network” and will be following her work in delicious bookmarks.

Some websites & resources that I have found invaluable for online teachers include:

• Honolulu Community College’s Faculty Development Teaching Tips – I especially like the article here “101 Things You Can Do ithe First Three Weeks of Class.”
• A Berkeley Compendium of Suggestions for Teaching with Excellence – This is from 1983 and comes with the caveat that there are more up-to-date sources but much here is timeless.
• Online Teaching Tips – These are tips specifically from online teachers for online teachers.
• Online Learning Communities: Effective Strategies for the Virtual Classroom, by Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, 2007

I found that searching for the assigned textbook title in quotes and then adding the word “syllabus” gave me a good idea about how teachers were using a particular textbook.

Lady of the Lake added: Geoff, you might like to know about a 6-week Online Instructor Certification course offered by Educational Teleconsortium of Michigan. S

Do you have articles or resources that you would give to new teachers? Post them in the comments below. Thanks!

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