The three most common problems faced by part-time faculty during the pandemic are:
1Countless hours of unpaid work related to instruction or serving students
2Unpaid expenses related to getting set up at home for online work
3Reduced or lost wages due to class cancellations or reduced hours
Many respondents lamented the unpaid work and expenses they have been forced to take on.
“Transitioning to online teaching, building course modules with assignments, recording lectures, trying to mirror what we’d be doing in class, responding to student issues via email, etc. is extremely time-consuming. I spend most of my day and into the night on my computer. My office hours stipend doesn’t come near to appropriate compensation for the online transition. Having said all that, I need and want to be sure that I am accessible and that my students are confident and successful. I hope things get better soon!”
“My class sizes have increased and my pay has decreased.”
“Full-time instructors are provided with the technology they need, but part-time instructors at my college are expected to fund all the tech needed to teach on their own.”
“I’ve spent $4,700 on equipment upgrades in order to teach online. I’ve spent 4 times the hours preparing online teaching materials. I would like to be compensated properly.”
“I have had to spend an unbelievable amount of time to adjust to each of the three colleges/universities that I teach at just to comply with their emergency summer and fall online teaching requirements. Two colleges would not recognize the certification that I already have from the third. It was very stressful and I am not currently being paid for the amount of work I am doing.”