Reengaging Adjuncts: A Professional Learning Community Exploration The field of Education has experienced dramatic change over the last 40 years. There has been a shift from physical campuses into the realm of virtual campuses. The economy has forced more than one school to cut professional development and tenure from the budget. This has caused a dramatic shift from tenured full-time faculty as "sage on the stage" professors to an increase of part-time adjunct faculty who facilitate education through activity and collaboration. These adjunct faculty are given less pay, reduced or nonexistent benefits, and are provided little advancement opportunities (Monks, 2009) which is a benefit for frugal post-secondary schools. As a result, these faculty members are afforded less support and often treated as external employees. The backlash from this affordable workforce is largely dissatisfaction and disenfranchisement from the institution. Another trend in education, the Professional Learning Community (PLC), has spread throughout schools across the nation in an attempt to engage and support faculty members. While professional learning communities existed as early as 1960, the concept did not begin to spread until the late 1980's (Allthingsplc, 2011). In recent years, the PLC has become an answer to the isolation that plagues faculty as well as a reasonably accommodated solution by the ever shrinking budgets at most universities Colorado Technical University (CTU) defines the professional learning community as a group of motivated faculty who will develop as professionals and professors to enhance student learning. This definition precludes students but does make an effort to engage both faculty within a physical classroom and those who teach courses in the virtual campus. PLC's allow faculty to develop by working in collaboration to address the issues and concerns presented by their particular campus, program, and courses whether they are teaching online or in a classroom. Professional learning communities require a high level of engagement and information sharing. They are shown to reduce isolation and create effective change. They also allow faculty to develop naturally through congruous methods of peer review and collaboration. Colorado Technical University has a large population of adjunct faculty members. The school has 5 physical campuses that employ approximately 400 adjuncts or part-time faculty. The largest student population for the school attends the Virtual campus and therefore this campus also maintains the highest number of adjunct faculty, approximately 1,200. CTU instructors have an abundance of knowledge related to course content that they are eligible to teach. Many are employed full-time or have previous experience related to the instruction that they are imparting to students. While this is highly beneficial for the students, the instructors are increasing their workload by becoming part-time instructors at CTU. Since many instructors have two careers, they attempt to balance both on a regular basis. Colorado Technical University offers various accelerated degree programs consisting of 5 week sessions. Students have the opportunity to complete 2 courses per session, and four courses per quarter. This enables them to move through their coursework rapidly which provides learners the opportunity to move into their chosen career field at a steady pace. Furthermore, there is a short period between one session and another. While this is extremely advantageous for students, it can create fatigue for instructors. In addition to the accelerated nature of the program, faculty expectations have shifted several times over the past two years. The Academic department has also experienced several shifts in leadership. There are many changes that occur at CTU on a regular basis. These changes are most often communicated by email and can become overwhelming due to the combined abundance of incoming communication from CTU staff and students. Much of the change and requirements are implemented without faculty input creating an information dissemination model that contributes to the adjuncts feelings of isolation and communication fatigue. In 2010, the virtual campus began a new faculty support and monitoring system called the Faculty Success Score (FSS) whereby faculty courses were closely monitored by Academic Quality Analysts . The Academic Quality Analyst role at CTU is highly important. This group oversees the quality of instruction by reviewing each course. The identified faculty expectations within the course are monitored closely. When areas of improvement are identified, instructors are promptly provided with guidance for improvement. Some instructors have become increasingly resistant to receiving this type of individualized feedback. There is evidence to support that the feedback may be received better if provided by a group of peers. The motivation for continuous improvement can be increased by providing a collaborative environment of instructors with common goals in a professional learning community. In addition to the new FSS and monitoring, the University began gathering Net Promoter Score (NPS) information from students and faculty to rate their satisfaction. The faculty, both at physical campuses and the virtual campus, expressed dissatisfaction. Further exploration of the data gathered by the Academic Quality Analyst1 over the last two years would support the evidence of communication and change fatigue in the faculty population. The key to successful professional learning communities at Colorado Technical University balances on the assimilation and engagement of adjunct faculty members. In this informative session, we will discuss the implementation of PLC at CTU and how adjunct faculty communication and change fatigue were addressed. We will review quantitative and qualitative indicators of adjunct satisfaction and engagement. We will illustrate the methods used to engage adjunct faculty in the PLC's and also how that culture change is supported by PLC maintenance and interaction. Audience members will participate by completing the NPS survey and other feedback techniques used to gauge faculty engagement and motivation in the professional learning community. As each feedback tool is completed by the audience, we will present the methods used to combat communication fatigue and disengagement in adjunct faculty at both the physical and virtual campuses.

References:

ALLTHINGSPLC. History of PLC. Retrieved from http://www.allthingsplc.info/about/aboutPLC.php.

Monks, James. Who Are the Part-Time Faculty? There's no such thing as a typical part-timer. Academe Online. July-August 2009. Retrieved from http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2009/JA/Feat/monk.htm.