Search for Online Teaching Jobs and Classroom Adjunct Jobs in your area.
Every day this website attracts nearly a thousand adjuncts across the country looking for classes to teach. CNN recently cited Adjunct Professor Online as the the "go-to" website for adjunct jobs.
Click here to review a case study demonstrating how quick, easy and cost efficient posting an adjunct job on Adjunct Professor Online can be.
About Me
I’ve been teaching as an adjunct for roughly 10 years. I still love it. But I also find it frustrating.
This site is an attempt to bring some things into focus for me.
Unlike other Adjunct websites, there’s nothing to join here. Nothing to buy. Everyone is welcome. Come in and look around. Read a few posts and leave a comment, ask a question. If you can enlighten me, please do.
I’m fascinated by learning.
When it occurs, it’s magical, electrical . . . and likely chemical: a dopamine spike that encourages us to reinvent the experience again and again. Perhaps it could be argued good learners are created as a result of an addiction to the pleasurable chemical milieu created by an epiphany. But of course it’s not that simple. Learning doesn’t behave like an equation. Teaching doesn’t always result in learning.
Although my approach to teaching continues to evolve, major beliefs remain grounded in my understanding of psychology and the diverse individual/group dynamics of the classroom.
Each student must be valued and respected, regardless of their ability or performance in the classroom. This is not always easy, but it’s the broadest, and most fertile of foundations for learning. And the effect of respect goes well beyond the individual. The respect, or lack thereof, shown to a single student contributes to the overall culture of the class, influencing all.
Learning can’t take place without engagement.
Learning is active and requires sporadic participation of the mind. And I do mean sporadic. Sandwich participation with moments of introspection to create a relevant context. Something to keep in the forefront: meaning is always in the context—not the facts. If you don’t invite the opportunity to create context (and all context is personal), you’re just teaching a list.
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Teaching vs. Telling...
I have a great interest in online (what used to be called distance learning) education and have first hand experience with what it is NOT. Online education is not a "Power Point Presentation" on a subject that expects retention. Online education is not a process that does not include the student as part of the curriculum, but if a teacher is present who brings the content and the student into a synergy then online education is far more powerful than face-to-face brick and mortar can be. The tools that are available today to support true, online education surpass those of the contemporary classroom by providing a richer experience that can be asynchronous and still engaging.
The activity of learning is key to the process and without engagement from the learner the whole process is at best difficult and at worst a failure. Learning, in my experience, is accomplished best online with a curriculum that not only has a list of topics to be covered but is able to interact between the student, the group of students and the instructor in ways that each plays a role in carrying the topics. Following the old saw of "tell 'em what you are going to tell 'em, tell 'em, and tell 'em what you told 'em may sound trite, but actually can form a loose framework to convey the list of topics and from the interaction promote the discovery needed to make each portion part of the learners experience.
The magic and electricity of the learning process should not be the exclusive delight of the teacher, but shared with all who are interested and able to participate. If this is promoted by empowerment of the whole group, coupled with respect and a fostering of academic space to present, fireworks that ensue are what brings us all back for more...