Hi,

Does anyone have any opinions on how supportive particular online colleges are administratively towards new faculty?  I get the impression that some schools just throw you to the wolves, while others hold your hand as long as you need it.

And is there any correlation between student complaints on the administrative end of online colleges, versus administrative support of faculty?

Jay

You know I have no idea.  I have heard that University of Phoenix requires quite a bit of training for an adjunct before they turn them loose on the students but otherwise I couldn't tell you.  Maybe Steve can pipe in here.

From my understanding, it can take like six-months or longer before anyone can teach at University of Phoenix. They are pretty strict with their hiring practices and I also hear they have strict training requirements. The best choice is to send some e-mails out to get an idea of the training process. In my opinion, however, it should not matter where you teach because if it is your first teaching job then you have an opportunity to learn from it and maybe get hired elsewhere because of your experience.

 Good luck!

jayrosen:

Does anyone have any opinions on how supportive particular online colleges are administratively towards new faculty?  I get the impression that some schools just throw you to the wolves, while others hold your hand as long as you need it.

No one holds your hand as long as you need it.  All of them expect you to figure things out pretty quickly, and rightly so.  Generally, though, schools (online and otherwise, for-profit and non-profit) have a reputation for treating adjuncts as though they are disposable.  They literally act like they can just go down to the adjunct store and pick up a six-pack of replacements if anything goes wrong.  And the truth is, they pretty much can, since there are always people who want to pick up teaching gigs.

And is there any correlation between student complaints on the administrative end of online colleges, versus administrative support of faculty?

I've never seen a study on that, but I suppose I'd be pretty surprised if there weren't at least some positive correlation.

-=Steve=-

SteveFoerster:

jayrosen:

Does anyone have any opinions on how supportive particular online colleges are administratively towards new faculty?  I get the impression that some schools just throw you to the wolves, while others hold your hand as long as you need it.

No one holds your hand as long as you need it.  All of them expect you to figure things out pretty quickly, and rightly so.  Generally, though, schools (online and otherwise, for-profit and non-profit) have a reputation for treating adjuncts as though they are disposable.  They literally act like they can just go down to the adjunct store and pick up a six-pack of replacements if anything goes wrong.  And the truth is, they pretty much can, since there are always people who want to pick up teaching gigs.

And is there any correlation between student complaints on the administrative end of online colleges, versus administrative support of faculty?

I've never seen a study on that, but I suppose I'd be pretty surprised if there weren't at least some positive correlation.

-=Steve=-

Sounds like a dissertation topic to me.

Cajun:

Sounds like a dissertation topic to me.

Ha!  I was thinking the same thing! 

-=Steve=-