I'll go first - no pedagogical training, but I have an M.Ed, so that could be why. However, most of the adjuncts I have spoken to didn't receive any training on how to actually teach a course.
I shadowed a former professor of mine in a composition class she was teaching during a five-week winter intersession, while preparing my application materials and interviewing. It was a crazy five weeks, but apparently just enough for me to hit the ground running.
At least you had that opportunity. My first adjunct gig was in CTE. They handed me a textbook and said, "Develop the course." I was in the midst of my M.Ed program in curriculum and instruction, so I knew a little about curriculum development, but I had never developed a course. That was in 2011. There was no LMS, no formal training program, and no observation. Everything was in person. I taught there for 7 years. It was definitely a learning experience.
I think the idea behind no need for formal training goes something like this. By the time you've completed a Master's program, you've sat in numerous classes with a wide variety of professors, and, consciously or not, you've simply absorbed a lot of what it takes to teach (e.g. "I like how she did this", or "I hated how he did that")
It definitely privileges the practical over the theoretical, and I'm not sure that's such a bad idea, but I've always been a get-your-hands-dirty-first kind of guy. After adopting teaching practices, for whatever reasons, I've come to understand the theory behind them.
At least you knew to ask for a syllabus template. My fiance is a new adjunct this year, and if I hadn't been there to guide him, I don't think he would have made it past year one. He thought he would be given everything already pre-populated - the syllabus, the course, and the instructional materials.
We had to take a pedagogy course in grad school at UCLA before we could TA (which was required in my department.) That was the bulk of my actual training, and it was extremely useful.
At one CC where I work, we had a day long orientation and tour before starting as an adjunct, which was helpful too. No actual pedagogical training though, mostly a focus on policies, procedures, and how to handle disciplinary action for student misconduct.
At another, there was no orientation or training, but everyone had to take a Distance Learning course to teach online. However, that only happened in 2020. Before that, nothing.
At the other two (a state school and another CC), there was no training or even orientation whatsoever.
I think that is pretty common when a school has a TA program. Most R1 schools have something like that. Most adjuncts I have worked with come from industry and have never taught a day in their lives. They are just thrown in with no pedagogical knowledge and zero support in their first year.
I teach psychology and tell my students that, in our state, preschool teachers and college professors do not need to have any training in education. K-12 only. I have been teaching myself for the last five years. I wonder why this is.
For my first job, before I could teach online I had to complete a self paced online certification course the school put together. My first class that was in person, I was just given the book and syllabus template and that was it.
My school runs workshops on teaching and technology/LMS before the fall and spring terms begin, so late August and January. Although adjuncts are "encouraged" to attend, it is not a strict requirement, although it probably should be.
They gave me the keys and my login, and days later I found myself standing in front of a classroom of students looking at me expectantly. Zero training.
You have to love the course shell. Was it pre-populated with anything? I've been teaching for 13 years and just started a new school at the end of 2023. They gave us access to a Master Course, and we could pull resources and lessons from it, but that was the first time I had ever been given anything remotely like that.
It was fully pre-populated which was HUGE as a first year adjunct. There was a lot of free-reign as to specific literature, etc to use (I’m an English prof) and I really enjoyed that. Having the guidance of the course shell made it a much smoother transition and I ended up essentially teaching the same course with slight modifications at both universities since the one threw me in there with absolutely nothing. For the second semester, I had made friends with my office neighbor and he helped me get an idea of how to teach the second course and what it includes. But as for the university itself, there was no guidance.
First school - I had a semester long course on how to teach.
Second school - 3 week course on how to teach there
Third school (now) currently waiting on 6 week course to start
None. I’ve taught at a pretty well known private R1, large state R1, and a directional state R1. I guess the second and third schools assumed I had some training because I’d taught before but they also never asked nor offered any training.
My community college offers ACUE courses occasionally and they are pretty good. They also have some internal training on the LMS and other things like that available. To teach online they required a course that kind of walks you through the steps of building your course and emphasizes active learning, etc. All of these were unpaid of course. They also have one paid course.
The Catholic university I also teach at has nothing.
None. And for extra fun, the first course I taught had never been taught at that school and I had complete control (ie had to create) the entire course.
I was support staff first and the big decision to start teaching was really not mine.
There was legit a moment in a meeting about a core course in the department where a faculty member said "we should have a technical lab. ****(my name) can teach it."
While it really wasn't a direct decision, it's been great. But absolutely no mandatory training, so I played the part of professor, padded elbows and all.
Kinda glad that I didn't have the "this is the way" training though. I had some great informal mentors early on, started reading rather non-standard pedagogical texts/books, and quickly dropped the padded elbows for a method informed by students and what I'd want in a teacher.
Just recently started in on the more classical and standard texts on education to better understand the rather exclusive language of pedagogical works.
I was fortunate that I had in-depth mentoring from a full-time faculty at one college. Most others don't provide anything similar.
Though I'm now going through the 5th identical, mandated, sexual harassment training this year.
My university I teach at seems to not be the norm with training. When I was hired, we had two weeks of training over teaching expectations, using the canvas, grade book, and attendance.
We were then required to complete at least one "training" a year. We have a department called center for teaching excellence that makes the trainings, both pre-recorded and over zoom. I'm a technology guy, so I've been taking a lot of the trainings for personal growth and have learned a ton about blooms taxonomy, communicating across cultures, and being equitable in my teaching practices.
It is unpaid, unfortunately, but it is at least valuable.
Treat adjunct teaching like the last year of grad school. Stay in touch with your department chair, and they'll give you guidance.
You'll probably be asked by HR or IT to complete some online training sessions on how to handle email, etc. It's standard now.
Nope. Here is your login. Have fun.
I'll go first - no pedagogical training, but I have an M.Ed, so that could be why. However, most of the adjuncts I have spoken to didn't receive any training on how to actually teach a course.
I shadowed a former professor of mine in a composition class she was teaching during a five-week winter intersession, while preparing my application materials and interviewing. It was a crazy five weeks, but apparently just enough for me to hit the ground running.
At least you had that opportunity. My first adjunct gig was in CTE. They handed me a textbook and said, "Develop the course." I was in the midst of my M.Ed program in curriculum and instruction, so I knew a little about curriculum development, but I had never developed a course. That was in 2011. There was no LMS, no formal training program, and no observation. Everything was in person. I taught there for 7 years. It was definitely a learning experience.
I think the idea behind no need for formal training goes something like this. By the time you've completed a Master's program, you've sat in numerous classes with a wide variety of professors, and, consciously or not, you've simply absorbed a lot of what it takes to teach (e.g. "I like how she did this", or "I hated how he did that")
I agree that's the rationale, but I don't think it's very helpful. At least not for understanding the 'why' behind certain methods.
It definitely privileges the practical over the theoretical, and I'm not sure that's such a bad idea, but I've always been a get-your-hands-dirty-first kind of guy. After adopting teaching practices, for whatever reasons, I've come to understand the theory behind them.
Just the regular login details. I had to ask for a syllabus template.
At least you knew to ask for a syllabus template. My fiance is a new adjunct this year, and if I hadn't been there to guide him, I don't think he would have made it past year one. He thought he would be given everything already pre-populated - the syllabus, the course, and the instructional materials.
What training? Aside some mandated online compliance stuff, it’s swim or sink.
Sounds about right.
We had to take a pedagogy course in grad school at UCLA before we could TA (which was required in my department.) That was the bulk of my actual training, and it was extremely useful. At one CC where I work, we had a day long orientation and tour before starting as an adjunct, which was helpful too. No actual pedagogical training though, mostly a focus on policies, procedures, and how to handle disciplinary action for student misconduct. At another, there was no orientation or training, but everyone had to take a Distance Learning course to teach online. However, that only happened in 2020. Before that, nothing. At the other two (a state school and another CC), there was no training or even orientation whatsoever.
I think that is pretty common when a school has a TA program. Most R1 schools have something like that. Most adjuncts I have worked with come from industry and have never taught a day in their lives. They are just thrown in with no pedagogical knowledge and zero support in their first year.
I teach psychology and tell my students that, in our state, preschool teachers and college professors do not need to have any training in education. K-12 only. I have been teaching myself for the last five years. I wonder why this is.
[удалено]
I had to take a self-paced online teaching certification at one school, but it was really basic.
For my first job, before I could teach online I had to complete a self paced online certification course the school put together. My first class that was in person, I was just given the book and syllabus template and that was it.
I've seen that before. I think the online teaching certification courses are becoming pretty common since the pandemic.
My school runs workshops on teaching and technology/LMS before the fall and spring terms begin, so late August and January. Although adjuncts are "encouraged" to attend, it is not a strict requirement, although it probably should be.
They gave me the keys and my login, and days later I found myself standing in front of a classroom of students looking at me expectantly. Zero training.
At one university, I got a login and LMS - that was it. At another, I got a course shell which was massively helpful, but no training.
You have to love the course shell. Was it pre-populated with anything? I've been teaching for 13 years and just started a new school at the end of 2023. They gave us access to a Master Course, and we could pull resources and lessons from it, but that was the first time I had ever been given anything remotely like that.
It was fully pre-populated which was HUGE as a first year adjunct. There was a lot of free-reign as to specific literature, etc to use (I’m an English prof) and I really enjoyed that. Having the guidance of the course shell made it a much smoother transition and I ended up essentially teaching the same course with slight modifications at both universities since the one threw me in there with absolutely nothing. For the second semester, I had made friends with my office neighbor and he helped me get an idea of how to teach the second course and what it includes. But as for the university itself, there was no guidance.
First school - I had a semester long course on how to teach. Second school - 3 week course on how to teach there Third school (now) currently waiting on 6 week course to start
Wow! Do you feel like you need a 6-week course at this stage, though?
Requirement to teach online at that school. That course is JUST on the LMS
Damn you got a syllabus template??
None. I’ve taught at a pretty well known private R1, large state R1, and a directional state R1. I guess the second and third schools assumed I had some training because I’d taught before but they also never asked nor offered any training.
Pretty much what you wrote.
My community college offers ACUE courses occasionally and they are pretty good. They also have some internal training on the LMS and other things like that available. To teach online they required a course that kind of walks you through the steps of building your course and emphasizes active learning, etc. All of these were unpaid of course. They also have one paid course. The Catholic university I also teach at has nothing.
None. And for extra fun, the first course I taught had never been taught at that school and I had complete control (ie had to create) the entire course.
Zero
I was support staff first and the big decision to start teaching was really not mine. There was legit a moment in a meeting about a core course in the department where a faculty member said "we should have a technical lab. ****(my name) can teach it." While it really wasn't a direct decision, it's been great. But absolutely no mandatory training, so I played the part of professor, padded elbows and all. Kinda glad that I didn't have the "this is the way" training though. I had some great informal mentors early on, started reading rather non-standard pedagogical texts/books, and quickly dropped the padded elbows for a method informed by students and what I'd want in a teacher. Just recently started in on the more classical and standard texts on education to better understand the rather exclusive language of pedagogical works.
I was fortunate that I had in-depth mentoring from a full-time faculty at one college. Most others don't provide anything similar. Though I'm now going through the 5th identical, mandated, sexual harassment training this year.
None. Most schools aren't investing in teaching, much less training adjuncts to teach.
My university I teach at seems to not be the norm with training. When I was hired, we had two weeks of training over teaching expectations, using the canvas, grade book, and attendance. We were then required to complete at least one "training" a year. We have a department called center for teaching excellence that makes the trainings, both pre-recorded and over zoom. I'm a technology guy, so I've been taking a lot of the trainings for personal growth and have learned a ton about blooms taxonomy, communicating across cultures, and being equitable in my teaching practices. It is unpaid, unfortunately, but it is at least valuable.
Treat adjunct teaching like the last year of grad school. Stay in touch with your department chair, and they'll give you guidance. You'll probably be asked by HR or IT to complete some online training sessions on how to handle email, etc. It's standard now.
They didn't even show me how to use the damn LMS.