Presentation by Stella Porto at the USDLA'2010 Conference, St. Louis, May 4, 2010.

1. Managing [online adjunct]
faculty at a distance
Dr. Stella Porto
Master of Distance Education
Graduate School of Management & Technology
University of Maryland University College

2. Focus
This presentation discusses
the challenges,
opportunities and
experience in managing
online adjunct faculty.
The approach is one of
shedding light on real-world
situations and formalizing
lessons learned.

3. Agenda
• Introduction
 Background & context
• The faculty lifecycle: challenges and approaches
 Hiring
 Getting ready for online teaching
 Living together
 It is all about communication; Resistance; Being the middleman; etc.
 Carrots & sticks: Incentives; Professional development; Coaching; etc.
 Saying goodbyes
• Final remarks

4. Introduction: Context
the MDE partnership

5. Introduction: Context
The program
The MDE focus on developing managers
and leaders in the areas of e-learning &
distance education within different Corporate
Training &
settings, including: K-12, higher-
Our mission is our
education, corporate, non-profits, Faculty
Learning
Media &
government and military.
means and our means Support technology
Potential managers of the DE mission
is our Distance
• Education
enterprise
Instruction
• Entirely online for part-time Higher
Design &
Education
working adults Support
• International Leaders &
Managers
• Collaborative

6. Introduction: the landscape
• Managing online adjunct faculty…
 Shift from a campus based perspective
 Employment ties are loose
 Ownership and accountability can be complex and
dubious
 Lack of community
 Dealing with students at a distance
 Difficulty in tailored faculty development provision

7. The faculty lifecycle

8. Hiring

9. Getting ready to teach online
• Formal training need
 Best practices in faculty
training
 Course design &
development vs. delivery
• Mentoring & Advising
• Support
 Academics
 Administrative

10. Getting ready to teach online
• Setting expectations
 Formally & Informally
 How do we avoid the
isolation without
micromanaging?
 How to be keep
consistency without
killing creativity?
• Setting boundaries

11. Living together: communication
Communicating
policies and
procedures
✔ Re-enforcing
✔ Being reasonable
✔ “Don’t kill the
messenger”
✔ Overseeing and
respecting freedom

12. Living together: communication
Sharing information
✔ Reach out to
everyone
✔ Share information
about the program
and the landscape
✔ Promote
collaboration

13. Living together: communication
One-on-One: telling bad
news
✔ The institutional perspective
✔ Teaching evaluations
✔ Issues of compliance
✔ Finding the core of the
problem
✔ Coaching PhDs?
✔ When things are simply not
working…

14. Living together: communication
Dealing with difficult students
✔ Policies and procedures in practice
✔ Taking sides
✔ Being the middleman

15. Living together: communication
Reflecting and building
community:
✔ Sharing experiences
✔ Building partnerships
✔ Enhancing the
program

16. (Social media for support
in the MDE: The MDE Faculty Forum)
The MDE Faculty-forum
 Management effectiveness
 Privacy, listserv mode, discussion
board, simple and not-invasive

17. Living together:
professional development
✔ Community of practice
✔ Training
✔ Scholarly activities
✔ Institutional perspective and beyond

18. Living together:
inclusion, ownership & belonging
✔ Course, program and materials
✔ Ownership vs. belonging
✔ Ownership & decision-making
✔ The big picture & the local view

19. Living together: assessment
✔ Course, program and materials
✔ Student surveys
✔ Peer visits

20. Living together: technology
✔ Resistance
✔ Training
✔ Needs and fads
✔ Mission & means

21. The MDE Student Support
Social Media Suite: The MDE wiki
The MDE wiki on new technologies
 Knowledge-base
 Information sharing
 Meta-learning

22. Living together: saying goodbyes
✔ Inapt for online teaching
✔ Issues with pay
✔ Excessive work
✔ Life happens
✔ institutional issues

23. Learning lessons…
 Resumes can sometimes
fool you
 The importance of the
online people skills
 Contributing beyond the
classroom
 Balancing ownership with
independent decision-making

24. Learning lessons…
 Social media can provide
enormous programmatic
support
 Learn to stand in the
adjuncts’ shoes
 The shoes may vary A LOT
though
 Accept being the
middleman and learn how to
do it well

25. Thank you!
Questions?
Contact: sporto@umuc.edu