AI summary
Summary of article:
The popularity of online courses at California community colleges has led to professors teaching dozens of courses at the same time, working part-time at many schools and earning higher incomes, leading to controversy over whether teaching quality and student interaction has suffered.
As online courses proliferate, some community college professors have found a way to combine courses with similar content, teaching hundreds of students at once and teaching dozens or more courses at once in a semester.
“CalMatters” media reported that Professor Thien-Huong Ninh Villarreal has at least two full-time teaching positions at community colleges; Furthermore, over the past 12 months, he has alsoUC Berkeley Sacramento State University and seven other community colleges as part-time faculty. This fall, he taught a total of 30 sociology, ethnic studies and business courses to approximately 1,100 students. In 2024, with the same teaching workload, she will earn about $800,000, according to public salary records.
「California Sarah Thompson, president of the Community College Faculty Association, explained that community college professors are supposed to be responsible for assessing students’ learning progress and providing direct guidance without the assistance of teaching assistants, but given the enormous teaching scale, this is a nearly impossible task. No one can teach 30 courses in a week and that in itself is a serious problem.
But Chris Ferguson, the executive vice chancellor who oversees the California Community Colleges system, said wearing multiple hats is not in itself evidence of poor teaching quality. In an email to CalMatters, he said wearing multiple hats only becomes a problem when faculty workload prevents them from providing necessary conversations, feedback, evaluation or student support.
CalMatters analyzes public salary records provided by the nonprofit Transparent California and cross-checks them with each college’s program data. The analysis found that at least 70 assistant professors received compensation from five or more community college districts, the California State University System, or the University of California System campuses in a single year; Many of them taught more than ten courses in a semester.
These professors did not violate any rules. In fact, there is currently no rule preventing part-time community college faculty from teaching in many school districts.
Andrew Vanden Heuvel, an assistant astronomy professor, told CalMatters that he teaches about 50 online courses and experimental classes from his garage office in a small town on the shore of Lake Michigan. Almost all the courses are pre-recorded and students can watch and learn at any time; This model is called asynchronous instruction. At UCs, California State Universities, and especially community colleges, this type of online course is common and widely used.
All tests are multiple choice and scored automatically by computer. For written assignments submitted by some students, he usually uses algorithms to evaluate them, only to verify whether the students have submitted the assignments or not.
Researchers say it’s unclear whether online courses are worse or better than traditional offline learning. Working adult students, who make up the majority of community college students, agree that online courses are very convenient, but this model also has obvious shortcomings. Asynchronous courses, in particular, often lead to less interaction between students and professors; Research shows that a lack of interaction can be detrimental to students’ academic performance.
Summary FAQ
-
The report notes that some professors use online and asynchronous teaching to integrate similar courses and face large numbers of students at one time. They can teach anywhere from a dozen to more than 30 courses in a single semester, and even teach at multiple schools and receive high salaries.
-
The union believes that community college professors should continually evaluate student performance and provide guidance directly without the assistance of teaching assistants; If they are responsible for too many courses at the same time, it is almost impossible to provide interaction, feedback, and learning support.
-
Officials with the California Community Colleges system said having multiple positions does not necessarily mean poor teaching quality. The key is whether teachers can still provide the necessary interaction, assessment, feedback and student support; There are currently no explicit restrictions on part-time teachers teaching across campus.
