Experiencing the shift: How postsecondary contract and continuing faculty moved to online course delivery

Abstract

The shift to online learning that occurred in March of 2020, created an unprecedented period of intense work for faculty and sessional instructors at the post-secondary level. This shift necessitated courses be adapted under short timelines, new technology be integrated into course design and teaching strategies and assessment methods be adapted for an online environment (Van Nuland et al., 2020). This study examines how sessional instructors, referred to in this chapter as contract faculty, and continuing full-time faculty members delivering the same online courses experienced this shift. While the demands of a continuing faculty position call for balancing of teaching, research and service responsibilities, contract instructors have their own unique stressors (Karram Stephenson et al., 2020). Contract faculty lack job security, are paid by the course and often receive their teaching assignments with short notice. By examining their perspectives on delivering the same courses online, we learn that the shift to online teaching resulted in additional work in order to adapt courses to the online environment, with faculty describing the challenges of balancing the additional work with other responsibilities of their position. Concerns of participants focused on a perceived inability to develop relationships with students in an online environment.

“We Learned As We Went Like Everyone Else”:

“…Two studies, by Watermeyer et al (2021) and Littlejohn et al (2021), investigated the experiences of university teachers in the United Kingdom as they transitioned to online teaching during the lockdown. In Canada, Danyluk and Burns (2021) surveyed full-time and contract university faculty to examine and compare their experiences during the transition. A later study by Trevisan and De Rossi (2023) examined the impacts on education faculty in Italy and the United States, a year after moving to digitized instruction.…”

“…As Hodges et al (2020) and other researchers have pointed out, the sudden move to ERT in the winter of 2020 meant that university educators, including information literacy librarians, had to abruptly adapt their instructional practices and transition from the classroom to online teaching, often in just a few days (Danyluk & Burns, 2021;Khan, 2021;Littlejohn et al, 2021;Shin et al, 2022;Watermeyer et al, 2021). Hodges et al observed that this change left many educators feeling like "instructional MacGyvers, having to improvise quick solutions in less-than-ideal circumstances" (p. 3).…”

“…For example, Littlejohn et al (2021) discussed how online teaching required additional time as well as resources (p. 8). Danyluk and Burns (2021) found that adapting courses and pedagogies added to existing workloads, and that online teaching was more time-consuming for educators than traditional classroom-based teaching, as they struggled to balance this additional work with their other academic and professional responsibilities (pp. 63, 68-69).…”

“…One positive theme that appears in the literature is the opportunity for pedagogical development, creativity, and growth afforded by the forced transition to ERT. For example, Danyluk and Burns (2021) found that a quarter of their survey respondents identified the transition to online teaching as being "wide open for growth" and an opportunity to "explore new methods of teaching and learning" (p. 72). Other researchers identified benefits such as an increase in technical skills (Khan, 2021, p. 6), the opportunity (albeit forced) for creativity and experimentation (Shin et al, 2022, p. 20), usefulness in future teaching (Trevisan & De Rossi, 2023, p. 68), and the "unparalleled opportunity for pedagogical reinvention" (Watermeyer et al, 2021, p. 637).…”

“…Finally, although many challenges were identified with at-home work, some researchers did remark on the benefits of working from home for some individuals. For example, Danyluk and Burns (2021) observed that some faculty enjoyed the freedom and flexibility it afforded, and some felt safer working from home during the pandemic than they would have in the classroom (pp. 72-74).…”