Research universities around the world are increasingly drawing upon experienced practitioners in professional fields as adjunct faculty to deliver student learning experiences in diverse undergraduate and graduate program contexts. Adjunct teaching faculty provide the benefits of being immersed in the realities of practice, offer unique and rich insights into expertise and experience from the field, build valuable community partnerships with the university, and offer a cost-effective resource while freeing up many faculty members for research endeavors. Adjunct teaching faculty, while expert practitioners in the field, are not necessarily expert teachers in a research-intensive university environment.
This session will explore the development and impact of a strategic professional development initiative for field practitioners in the Faculty of Education at The University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. A substantive portion of this Bachelor of Education program is taught by adjunct teaching faculty who are seconded to the university for three to five days a week for up to three years in duration. Heavy workloads (including responsibilities in their home districts) and limited available time create significant challenges for these practitioners to engage in formal professional development.
In response to the demands of adjunct positions, the Faculty of Education has supported a cohort-based program developed specifically for the seconded and sessional instructors. This three-year program seeks to create a supportive community in which adjunct teaching professors engage in inquiry into their teaching and learning practice through scheduled bi-monthly cohort meetings and a series of collaborative and independent classroom-based professional development assignments.
Using feedback from presentations, participant observation of and reflection on cohort meetings, and interviews with cohort participants, this project investigates to what extent inquiry based practices in teacher education has impacted the pedagogical practice of adjunct teaching professors in the Faculty of Education at UBC.
Drawing upon the literature of self-study in Teacher Education (Alderton, 2008; Barak et al, 2010; Bullough & Pinnegar, 2001; Clarke & Erickson, 2007; Craig, 2009; Jasman, 2010; LaBosky, 2007; Pinnegar & Hamilton, 2011; Williams & Ritter, 2010) and autobiographical research in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (Duarte, 2007), the session will include an explanation of the program, discussion of the participant’s inquiry projects, and reflection on the ongoing professional and academic developments for adjunct teaching faculty.