Managing Virtual Adjunct Faculty: Applying the Seven Principles of Good Practice
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- Briefs, Case Studies, Papers, Reports
- Author(s) and Contributors:
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Author(s): Maria Schnitzer
- Source(s) and Collection(s):
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Sources(s): Community
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Abstract
Since the publication of the Seven Principles of Good Practice in 1987 by Chickering and Gamson, distance education has become a major delivery method for higher education. Virtual adjunct faculty have largely carried higher education into the cyber classroom. Adjunct faculty have always been broadly used in higher education, especially in the community college setting. Nationally, adjuncts teach 30-50% of all credit courses. At community colleges, adjuncts compose about 60% of all faculty (Gappa and Leslie, 1993).
Florida Community College at Jacksonville (FCCJ) has one of the largest distance learning programs in the state of Florida with yearly enrollments of more than 35,000. About 80% of all online course offerings are taught by virtual adjuncts. About 70% of the active 250 adjuncts teaching in the program reside in the state of Florida , and the other half in assorted states. This paper offers best practices for the support and management of online adjunct faculty within the framework of the Seven Principles for Best Practice.