Recruiting, Orienting, & Supporting Online Adjunct Faculty: A Survey of Practices

In the summer of 2015, "The Learning House, Inc." and "WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies" (WCET) conducted a survey of 202 deans, directors, and provosts at two- and four-year higher education institutions who were familiar with the online learning practices at their respective institutions. The goal of the survey was to gather information around the hiring, expectations, policies, and support of adjunct and part-time faculty members for online courses. Following the survey, in-depth follow-up interviews were conducted with eight participants from the survey. Where possible, the authors sought to identify successful practices from which others might learn. Key findings included: (1) One-size-fits-all policies; (2) Increasing responsibility and flexibility for adjuncts teaching online; (3) A fundamental divide among institutions about how adjunct faculty can develop online courses; (4) Professional training and development not guaranteed; and (5) Recruiting the same for online and on-campus adjuncts. This report sought to benchmark policies and procedures that colleges are using in supporting their online adjunct faculty, and the authors hope that the data, and recommendations that follow, will help inform and guide higher education institutions toward best practices in recruiting, orienting and supporting adjunct faculty for online courses, as well as benchmark their current operations against a larger sample. Key data points are represented graphically in the body of this report, and the full results of the survey are represented in the appendix.