A Collective Self-Study of Facilitating a Professional Community With Adjuncts as Faculty Associate Compeers

• In Event: Attending to Issues of Collaboration in Self-Study

Abstract

A growing number of universities are expanding programs through an increased reliance on adjunct faculty, yet with minimal support for adjuncts’ professional development. This research describes a collective self-study by faculty who facilitated an online self-study research community for adjunct faculty. Based on a transdisciplinary design, the community promoted transformation of individual teaching in the service of enhanced student learning. Facilitators supported participants’ self-study research while examining participants’ experience of critical friends work. Although participants learned to employ self-study methodology with varying degrees of success, facilitators attained significant understanding of how to introduce self-study in a virtual forum. As universities increasingly employ adjunct faculty, this low-resource/cost, peer-to-peer program has strong potential to improve higher education and enhance adjuncts’ professional status.

Authors

• Allison W. Parsons, George Mason University

• Anastasia P. Samaras, George Mason University

• Beth Dalbec, George Mason University

• Lynne Constantine, George Mason University

• Anya S. Evmenova, George Mason University

• Paula Cristina Azevedo, Marymount University

• Andrew Vardas-Doane, George Mason University

• Arvinder Kaur Johri, Prince William County Public Schools

• Lesley Smith, George Mason University