My MOOCshake Brings All The Boys to the Yard

MOOCs, man. That's the acronym I've heard the most lately. In STEM meetings. In Academic Tech meetings. On blogs. In articles on Higher Ed.

I've been in a MOOC, as a student. It was a literature MOOC done through Coursera.

It sucked.

No interaction with the professor. Lacking interaction with peers. Sure, there are videos of the professor talking, and those are generally well done, but I can't ask questions of a video. A video can't check in on the work that I'm doing. In the MOOC I was in, there was really no metric of success other than handing the assignment in.

At a time when research (and actions at the college) are moving toward increased student contact, toward 'high touch' approaches, the tilting of attention towards MOOCs is counter-intuitive.

Unless, of course, all intuition is centered around tuition. And cost.

It's all about the money, folks. What? I can register 500, 1,200, 16,000 students in a course with a single professor? Well, gee...that sure seems cost effective. Moving from a workforce of full-time, tenured profs to mostly adjunct to (maybe) MOOCs picking up a lot of the burden.... We're headed in the wrong direction.

The students I see every day would not benefit from a MOOC for remedial math or English or ESL. These students need face-to-face contact. They need to be put in touch with someone who cares about them, who checks in on them, and who puts them in contact with tangible resources (tutoring, library, disability resources, etc.) on campus.

If there's no campus, there are no tangible resources. There is no face-to-face.

But there's low overhead. Why pay 5 of me to teach 15 classes when one MOOC can handle it all--for a dramatically cheaper price-point? Because only about 10% of students are successful in MOOCs. And it's not even clear what 'success' actually means there.

In my classes, the success rate is a lot higher than 10%.

Who are these community colleges supposed to be serving anyway? Last I checked, it wasn't publisher and business entities. Then again, I'm probably naive.

Respecting Adjuncts

It's nice for people to notice the work adjuncts do. (I'm not an adjunct at my college, though I was at a different institution. I'm a full-time, soon-to-be tenured professor. Then I'll become an Associate Professor and shed the Assistant piece of my title.) I've always been mindful of praising my adjunct faculty when it's warranted (sometimes it's not) and making them feel included. I've always respected them. They work hard, and even if some are folks I wouldn't choose to be best friends with, they are committed to their students and able colleagues.

Some FT faculty at the college (here and elsewhere) aren't as appreciative of adjuncts. They sort of look down on them, even  though they are essential to the work we do at the college.

My wife, who was adjunct until she got her FT ESL post (yesterday), felt unappreciated by some FT colleagues. One, in particular, was downright rude in his/her dealings with my wife. Like adjunct didn't deserve basic respect. OR care. Or thought.

But now that my wife's finishing up her adjunct duties here and moving, she's being treated differently. It's like she's grossed some golden Rubicon of worthiness because she's been selected as FT faculty at a community college (elsewhere).

And that's a bit sad. And wrong.

My wife's been a great teacher since day one. She's not any better now because she's going to be FT. She's always been great (I am a little bit biased here :D). Whether adjunct or FT, she's the same teacher.

And whether adjunct or FT, instructors in the community college system (and elsewhere) deserve respect. If you're a coordinator of adjunct faculty, a chair of a department that relies on adjunct faculty, or simply a colleague of adjunct faculty, please treat them well. They deserve it (and more).

Unless, of course, they disrespect you. Then it's gloves off.

One Ends and Another Begins

First day of the new semester. Rolled into the office about 9am--after the gym. Felt good to start with some exercise, and I got my morning reading done to boot. A few students visited the office to get exams from last semester, register for new classes, or just to catch up. I'm lucky to have good rapport with my students. Not everyone does.

My classes are full. That's a good feeling too. With other similar classes being cut due to low enrollment, it's nice to have full classes. And the program that I coordinate is healthy as well. Upswing in students, actually. Having to create the first wait list for our program in...at least two years. It's nice.

It's also nice to begin a semester where I know I have tenure. I just finished the process last month, and it becomes official in March. It's a very good feeling. Don't let anyone try to pass it off as nothing. It's not nothing. I really feel like I belong here now. I'm not temporary. I have a place here; I have a voice.

But just as my tenure process ends, my wife's is about to start. She found out today that she's been offered a full-time, tenure track job in a different county. She's taking it. That means that she's moving, and I'm staying here. We'll have to find a place in the middle to live, but for now, we'll be living separate.

It'll be a strange semester.