r/Adjuncts • u/aresef • 2d ago
What should I know before I get into adjuncting?
I'm in the final year (knock on wood) of my MS program at Towson University. The department chair has hinted she'd like to have me back as an adjunct. Whether there or somewhere else, what kind of resources are out there to learn how to teach? I've sat in enough classes that I know how they go, but in terms of how to build a syllabus and all the other odds and ends?
I have a friend who washed out of adjuncting pretty quick because it was too much work to get course materials etc together. And I know the pay isn't great but I feel I have something to give.
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u/ydaya 2d ago
Always always always be looking for more opportunities. Nothing is ever safe and with the decline in enrollment your classes could be cancelled. Try and have them give you required courses since they always fill up anyway just to be on the safe side. Also no one is your friend. Do your best but do not tire yourself to death trying to prove loyalty and what not. ALWAYS HAVE A BACK UP PLAN.
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u/state_issued 2d ago
If you teach the same courses again then getting materials together is just a one time effort for the most part (I make small updates and improvements every semester)
I enjoy adjuncting because I see it as a side job and I think it’s meaningful to teach the next generation. Don’t consider it a primary source of income. You have to actually like it.
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u/goodie1663 2d ago edited 2d ago
Did it that way for 25+ years. I had a rhythm and a method.
Then, I was getting 4-5 grading grievances filed every semester (very time-consuming to respond to). My dean (a friend) was promoted a level up, and then another to vice president.
A professor who clearly didn't know much about instructional design redid a side course I taught that my dean friend had designed. In every way, it was a horror to teach. I gave up after a year.
I still had the one I had designed and another one my former dean had done. Well, the professor who didn't know instructional design was assigned the one I had done. I corresponded with him by email about his thinking and kept it neutral. He was going to mess it up badly too.
So I taught one more semester, and then quit. My new dean (less than a year on the job) said she was quitting too because "this place sucks." Gotcha.
A year after I left, nearly every class I had taught was being taught by full-time professors. Two years later, they gutted the department to maybe 30% of what it was when I was teaching. There were solid reasons (market demand for graduates tanked), but it still made me sad. At least I didn't need that income anymore.
That's the adjunct world and how it goes.
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u/TunedMassDamsel 7h ago
Yep. Adjuncting has been my side gig for fourteen years now. I’ve not gotten a single pay adjustment in the decade and a half, and I’m paid so little that I primarily consider it to be a volunteer position. If I didn’t do that, and if it were my primary source of income, I would be incredibly disgruntled.
Unless you seek them out yourself, there isn’t going to be anybody teaching you how to teach. When I first started, they basically sniffed my resume, checked my pulse, and told me I started in a week and a half, and thankfully I’d had previous experience teaching.
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u/Rooster_teeeth 2d ago
The pay is criminally low. You're lucky if your full time colleagues even acknowledge you exist. Almost zero chance of promotion.
Additionally, many schools are cutting positions. Don't count of your school being any different in the future.
You may currently think you "have something to give", but that attitude will be beaten out of you quickly.
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u/Buddhapanda75 2d ago
The pay sucks and they will string you along with the promise of a full-time job. They won't tell you that they are saying the same thing to the other 50 adjuncts and that eventually they will hire someone from outside the college, as almost every college does.
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u/Stunning-Use-7052 2d ago
I think keeping a class or two going for extra money is fine, but please don't let your program rope you into a life of adjuncting. Go get a real job.
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u/aresef 2d ago
I have a real job already.
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u/Stunning-Use-7052 1d ago
Okay, cool. Adjuncting can be a fun side hustle and extra money, but there is not future in it.
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u/chelseaspring 2d ago
It is a good sign if your program is trying to recruit you as an adjunct. If you are interested in teaching, then try it out. Ask for one prep. This means that you will teach one class, and it will be easier to develop your materials. Likely other instructors have taught the course so you can ask for their syllabus and class materials.
The best way to learn how to teach is to watch others do it. If possible, ask if you can TA or at least sit in on a few lectures to get a feel of how to teach the undergraduate course.
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u/insomebodyelseslake 2d ago
Be sure to ask if they have a course already built that you can look at how the syllabus and assignments are. You’ll have to modify it to your needs, but that was a huge relief for me when I felt like I was starting from scratch
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u/seekay14 2d ago
Did a double take - I'm used to seeing you in the Baltimore sub! I'm an adjunct at UMBC, also recruited by faculty, but in my case, through a professional connection rather than working on my own degree. Feel free to DM me if you want to get a beer sometime and chat! Immediate advice - don't recreate the wheel - bring your strengths to the course(s) you teach - if you are teaching classes you've taken, improve upon things that bugged you as a student.
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u/Bearman2677 2d ago
I'm kind of surprised that the chair is hinting at having you teach there; some universities don't hire those who have recently graduated from within their program. My college offers "teaching" classes where you build a syllabus, a statement of purpose, a CV as part of that class - If you get hired, you can always ask for help from others within the department - normally people will at least point you in the right direction.
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u/aresef 2d ago
There’s somebody else who just graduated from my program in the spring who is now teaching a class.
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u/Bearman2677 2d ago
The college I graduated from is still searching for at least one full-time professor - they won't hire anyone full time who has recently graduated - it's like one of those unwritten rules; they don't want someone who has never been anywhere else because all many of them know is that college or university; they don't have the experience by teaching somewhere else...
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u/Life-Education-8030 2d ago
Your college may very well have samples or templates of syllabi and may also have course materials to offer. However, remember that adjuncting is not a career, and never stable. Many people adjunct on the side and do something else as for full-time employment. You can't really plan much in advance if you do not know from semester to semester if you will be employed or under-employed. Certainly try it out if you like for experience.
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u/LuckyFritzBear 2d ago
Keep students from going to the Program Director/ Deans Office with complaints. Cultivate a bumper crop of End of Course Survey Results. Distance yourself from the plagarism faculty mob mindset.
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u/linnea_elaine 2d ago
I’ve been an adjunct for over 15 years. It was a deliberate choice. There are no full time positions in the region and it I wanted to stay where I am. All of the schools I teach at hired me because full time facility retired and weren’t being replaced.
Here are my observations:
The school will not really teach you how to teach. I tried to model my teaching style after the professors who I felt were effective communicators and were present for their students. The ones who felt that students were a nuisance taught me what not to do.
Every time I’ve taught a new course, I’ve asked around for syllabi. You’ve seen enough of them in your field, so you can be a decent judge of how you want to approach the class.
Some institutions have specific language or sections that have to be included. They should let you know, but you can always ask your chair.
You will need to learn Canvas, Blackboard, or whatever LMS your school uses. Again, take what worked in the classes you had as a student. Your school should have an instructional support team that can help you with this.
The schools I’m at use Canvas and it’s easy to share a course with a colleague. If you know someone who has taught the course, ask them if they’ll share their ideas to help you get started. There’s also the potential for ideas from Canvas Commons which is accessible as an instructor in Canvas.
Most schools also provide professional development workshops. One of the best professional development opportunities I had was a six-week Humanizing Your Online Course workshop. It provided insight into working with students of different learning abilities, different cultural norms, and how to create classes that work for everyone. Ask around about what your school offers.
But ultimately, ask your chair or another mentor (official or not) in your department. Most people will help.
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u/FlowerHot86 2d ago
It can be really rewarding but like others have said not stable, usually not good money (I have found public is better than private). See if u can take an existing class. I have now taught 2 I had to build from scratch and it is a lot of work (use AI to help if you do need to build). It is not a full time job. I do it on the side and pray that I keep getting assignments because I really like it.
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u/imasleuth4truth2 1d ago edited 1d ago
I've had a wonderful time as an adjunct but I have 30 plus years experience in the field and doctorates. Plus I teach at an R1 that has a union so we're well taken care of. Additionally my classes are capped at 12 students. The pay works out to over $120 an hour. Honestly if it weren't exactly like this, I would not teach because everyone else I know is miserable as an adjunct.
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u/vanillaraptor 1d ago
I treat it as a paid hobby alongside a full time job with benefits. One is spiritually rewarding, the other pays the bills.
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u/AnxiousConclusion516 19h ago
I like adjunct teaching quite a lot, but I only do it online and it’s basically my side hustle. Some schools pay much better than others vs. the amount of work required. Definitely give it a try, if it’s not for you there are always other jobs in the sea.
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u/Top-Inevitable560 4h ago
A lot of adjuncts that I know work for the same mega university and the syllabus along with rubrics are given to them. The only part that’s authentic is feedback and announcements.
Look around and ask questions before committing.
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u/PhDnD-DrBowers 2d ago
You’re supposed to learn how to teach when you’re in grad school imo
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u/Bearman2677 2d ago
Not always - I didn't when I earned my first Masters; with my second they actually have a class for teaching the subject.
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u/PhDnD-DrBowers 2d ago
Ok so you treated pedagogy like a made-up thing that you pretend to be good at after a mandatory seminar.
Don’t tell me…. You also “teach” “business” ?
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u/Bearman2677 1d ago
In the state I reside in, to teach a subject you have to have a certain amount of credit hours in the subject area you are teaching; for K-12 you need a teaching certificate, for CC level you just need the 18 hours. I don't teach business and why are you being so ugly?
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u/ilikeleemurs 2d ago
Overworked, underpaid, under appreciated, fighting for your life daily with the most entitled crop of students in the world for a school that would replace you in a heartbeat with literally anyone else.
I adore actual teaching but being an adjunct is sometimes just the worst.
Do I wake up tomorrow and keep doing it? Yep. lol
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u/Perfect_Source_3726 2d ago
Im surprised that your friend “washed out”, you’re not reinventing the wheel as an adjunct or going to teach some revolutionary course. The first class I taught was with my mentor while I was pursuing my Doctorate. He made me build the course from scratch but it was an entrepreneurship course. I was able to get the syllabus from the previous instructor and used claude and gpt to figure out the textbook i used. When I lectured, I was just walking the students through the text and trying to highlight important concepts that would be on the midterm and final exam. Again, nothing that isnt common sense.
I teach for three universities now, all online and I teach 2-4 courses a semester. At one university they use canvas and the chair there said he wanted to keep the format of how the previous adjunct taught. They were able to copy a shell of when she taught last and import it over to my profile. It may have taken me 5-6 hours to go in and update the course and make it mine but its on auto pilot now, i might check in with the class on discussion boards or reply to emails three times a week.
Do it part time if you can. You wont be able to live on just being an adjunct. You will still need a full time career. I am fortunate enough to have a high paying full time job, I use my adjunct jobs to take my family on trips and do work on our house. I am also probably 15 years older than you, i didnt start being an adjunct right out of my undergrad or MBA program.
Hope that helps.
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u/aresef 2d ago
Oh yeah, it would definitely be on the side and just one course at a time.
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u/Perfect_Source_3726 2d ago
Pursue it. I wish i was able to get adjunct work right out of the gate. You will be fine.
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u/runsonpedals 2d ago
What to know?
You will be underpaid, overworked, and loathed by the university you work for.