Respecting Adjunct Faculty

We have lived lives of being unappreciated part-time faculty members and we support the American Association of University Professors and their want to bring adjunct faculty up to a higher level of respect and standing in universities:

Today, 48 percent of American faculty serve in part-time appointments, and non-tenure-track positions of all types account for 68 percent of faculty appointments. Year after year, the problem gets worse as more and more faculty jobs are part time or non-tenure track. Faculty holding these appointments are often poorly compensated—receiving low wages and few, if any, fringe benefits. Without job security and academic freedom protections, they are subject to administrative whim. Students suffer when the majority of faculty are inadequately supported by their institutions.

At some major universities -- like New York University -- adjunct faculty members teach 70% of the undergraduate courses. That sort of hard working part-timer needs the equal financial support of their university as well as the respect of their full-time and tenured teaching colleagues.

We believe if you know your work you will win your wants -- and that is why we have great confidence that adjunct faculty members will one day reap the full benefits of their dedication and hard work.

Is Virtual Learning as Effective as In Person Teaching?

Is it possible to learn online as effectively as you can in the classroom?

The answer is: Yes!

A bad teacher is a bad teacher -- but a great "real classroom teacher" can be a terrible online teacher because one must adhere to a different set of demands and expectations as an online instructor.

We all need to open more pathways of thinking. We must be creative. We must not think in days and weeks and hours. We must believe in the "everlasting now" as we are always thinking and learning at all times.

We must also always think in "virtual eternity" and that will begin to light up new ways of pondering that will lead us to know how to make our online classes sing -- and we work on those totems of entertainment and learning every day here at Boles University!

Building an Online University

We were pleased with the news today that Colorado State University is going online with its learning:

Colorado State University is launching a $12 million online university that will help students who don’t have the time or money to get a traditional on-campus four-year education.

Called CSU-Colorado, and approved by the CSU Board of Governors on Friday, the online university will serve Coloradans and out-of-state students.

CSU is facing the inevitable fact: University Learning no longer requires a campus. Your students do not need dorms. Your faculty must not live in Colorado to teach.

In a decade more students will be earning degrees online than in traditional classrooms because distance learning is convenient, cheap to create and propagate, and gets easier as technology gets better.

Electronic Books

We love the idea of using electronic books for online teaching.

We know textbooks, and the ideas that create the text, can change and be updated to The Now in an ongoing basis while paper is always embedded -- stuck even -- in history.

If you want to hold paper with print in your hand -- you can always print your eBook for the traditional reading experience!

Is Virtual Learning as Effective as In Person Teaching?

We are often asked if learning online in a virtual environment is just as good as taking a class in person.

We believe "Going Virtual" is the way of future teaching because you don't need buildings. You don't need travel time. You don't need to worry about parking or finding a chair or a particular room on a certain day.

Your computer is your classroom and you can "attend class" from the park, your bedroom or a fast food joint.

The key to finding success online is the quality of your professor. It can be easy to ignore student needs and to recreate an in-person class with a virtual one. Students are gifted and important.

Teaching virtually takes special needs and conditions to create a warm and inviting intellectual learning experience that will stay with your forever. We provide that sort of setting right here at Boles University.