Contingent Faculty at For‐Profit Institutions

Proper, Eve

doi:10.1002/ir.20247

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(18 reference statements)

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“…The relatively infrequent mentions of faculty qualifications in our sample, however, may obscure the limitations of FPCU faculty. FPCUs employ faculty that are predominantly part-time and adjunct labor (Proper, 2017;Smith et al, 2012), and adjuncts at FPCUs are paid much less than those at other institutions (Coalition on the Academic Workforce, 2012). By masking such details, FPCUs may imply that the education they offer is equivalent to that available at nonprofit institutions, but that education may in fact be of a lower quality (for example, because faculty may not be able to invest as much time in student support due to heavy adjunct loads).…”

Section: Faculty and Staffmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unfulfilled promises: Tensions in mission statements of for-profit colleges and universities

Winfield¹,

Beckowski²

2022

Preprint

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While collegiate missions of non-profit institutions have been extensively studied, missions of for-profit colleges in the United States have received less attention. This study examines the mission statements of 98 degree-granting for-profit colleges to articulate how these colleges describe their educational purposes. Our content analysis found that these institutions emphasize post-graduation opportunities and outcomes while also describing the curricula available, highlighting the contradictions of promoting access while seeking profit. We advance a deeper understanding of these institution’s self-ascribed purposes so that policymakers can ensure adequate student protections at for-profit colleges.

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Section: Faculty and Staffmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unfulfilled promises: Tensions in mission statements of for-profit colleges and universities

Winfield¹,

Beckowski²

2022

Preprint

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“…While higher education administrators and tenured faculty generally agree that hiring tenure-track faculty should be prioritized, financial pressures on universities make adjunctification hard to avoid. For-profit educational institutions in the U.S. rely even more heavily on adjunct faculty, with 90% of instructors being contingent (Proper, 2017). Even adjuncts on full-time, multi-year contracts earn less than comparable tenure-track positions.…”

Section: Deprofessionalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deskilling of Teaching and the Case for Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Hughes

2021

J. Eth. Emerg. Tech.

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This essay describes trends in the organization of work that have laid the groundwork for the adoption of interactive AI-driven instruction tools, and the technological innovations that will make intelligent tutoring systems truly competitive with human teachers. Since the origin of occupational specialization, the collection and transmission of knowledge have been tied to individual careers and job roles, specifically doctors, teachers, clergy, and lawyers, the paradigmatic knowledge professionals. But these roles have also been tied to texts and organizations that can disseminate knowledge independently from professionals. Professionals and organizations turn knowledge into texts and tools that enable lay people to access knowledge without the intermediation of professionals or organizations. In the 21st century, one emerging tool for transmitting knowledge is the intelligent tutoring system. This paper examines how technological, epistemic, and economic trends in education are supporting the routinization, proletarianization, and automation of the occupation of teaching, leading to the increasing substitution of intelligent tutoring systems for human instruction. Some trends, such as standardized curricula and testing, both restrict teachers’ professional autonomy and facilitate the creation of pedagogical tools. Other trends reduce teachers’ ability to resist automation. The growth of adjunct teaching and paraprofessional roles in higher education allows organizations to take over and rationalize parts of the traditional teacher role. Faculty evaluations and learning outcomes assessment weaken professional claims to be the sole arbiters of instructional quality and student learning. The widespread use of intelligent tutoring systems also depends on the sophistication of software capable of performing the social-emotional and cognitive roles that educators perform. Eventually, pedagogical software will be able to interactively individualize curricula to the needs and interests of every learner, more cheaply, quickly, and accurately than any human teacher. Assessment of learning will be continuous, and certification of learning will be for specific skills instead of broad area competencies. Intelligent tutoring systems will help transition education from its medieval and industrial-era model to more accessible and flexible continuing education for employment and life enrichment.

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