4 ms·

As someone who could be interested in teaching part-time, how much is the workload (in hours per week) one needs to spend when teaching an undergrad/grad course

As someone who could be interested in teaching part-time, how much is the workload (in hours per week) one needs to spend when teaching an undergrad/grad course? Would a good 4-year university accept an adjunct who holds a Master's degree from a top-10 CS program, but not a PhD, to teach an upper-level course (that does correspond to the person's area of specialty)? --- Added: Thank you for all the ideas and esp detailed explanation from tom_b. It sounds like more work than I can allocate time for in the near term. Perhaps in the future. I thought up an alternative: Join/organize meetups and occasionally give talks or participate in panel discussions about recent/latest research sounds like more fun and less work than teaching in a formal setting. (Posted here in case someone would like to make use of the idea.)

BeetleB 8y ago
>Would a good 4-year university accept an adjunct who holds a Master's degree from a top-10 CS program, but not a PhD, to teach an upper-level course (that does correspond to their area of specialty)? They may, but adjuncts are poorly paid, and often have fewer benefits, than faculty members. Many adjuncts often have no real guarantee they'll have a job the following semester/year. They are the first to get axed when there are budget problems. And frankly, having spent time in academia, they do have a significant ego problem. Adjuncts will be treated poorly by professors. Many lower level courses will have a "director" who is a professor, and he will usually treat the adjunct poorly. Rarely do adjuncts have freedom in what homework is assigned and what the syllabus will be.
- hiram112 8y ago
  > Many adjuncts often have no real guarantee they'll have a job the following semester/year. They are the first to get axed when there are budget problems. So pretty much like every job I've ever had in the private sector.
  - BeetleB 8y ago
    >So pretty much like every job I've ever had in the private sector. Yes, but with a lot higher pay, and often with better insurance, etc. And your work experience in industry has more weight. I don't know how employable a person is if their only experience is teaching. Just looked up two of them in a nearby university. 12 month salary is $75-80K. No stocks, bonuses, etc. Both have MS degrees. It is a decent salary if the job is not stressful, and you are in a dual income family. But job security is likely poorer than in industry.
thealfreds 8y ago
Might not be as prodigious but could look at picking up a part-time bootcamp instructor role. Definitely a lot different than teaching a CS course but might scratch that teaching itch. Time required is generally around 15-20hrs / week depending on the course.
tom_b 8y ago
Yes. I have taught introductory courses to undergraduate and graduate students with only a MS in CS. I think you would probably be able to teach upper-level courses if you could demonstrate expertise in the subject matter. Workload varies. I preferred project-based assignments and tried to give students freedom to choose projects in a personal area of interest to increase their commitment, but it makes grading terribly time-consuming. I found that even with a well-defined rubric, individual projects cost me somewhere between 30-60 minutes of grading time per student. I have taught using a provided syllabus and created my own. I was vastly happier when I created my own, but it adds time. With a provided syllabus, I probably spent 3-4 hours reviewing material and slides per lecture. That included reading the course textbook materials and working through most of the textbook problems. Maybe double that time when working from the syllabus I created, making new slides, and prepping for in-class programming work. Grading sucks. If you teach a required course, you will also have to deal with some number (hopefully small) of unmotivated students. One of my courses was an elective course and I found the students .... happier? And no matter how much I emphasized not waiting to start programming projects (including by having graded check points), a significant number of students wait until the day before projects are due to start. And then flame out. Don't teach a course as project-only if it is a programming-oriented course. A meaningful number of my students submitted rather well-done programming projects, but were unable to write a for loop on an open-book exam. I also had students who were suspiciously unable to even use a required editor to demo small programs in one-on-one meetings. Otherwise, teaching was fun and it's definitely worthwhile. All the warnings you hear about adjunct pay being low are also true.

BeetleB 8y ago

>Would a good 4-year university accept an adjunct who holds a Master's degree from a top-10 CS program, but not a PhD, to teach an upper-level course (that does correspond to their area of specialty)? They may, but adjuncts are poorly paid, and often have fewer benefits, than faculty members. Many adjuncts often have no real guarantee they'll have a job the following semester/year. They are the first to get axed when there are budget problems. And frankly, having spent time in academia, they do have a significant ego problem. Adjuncts will be treated poorly by professors. Many lower level courses will have a "director" who is a professor, and he will usually treat the adjunct poorly. Rarely do adjuncts have freedom in what homework is assigned and what the syllabus will be.

hiram112 8y ago
> Many adjuncts often have no real guarantee they'll have a job the following semester/year. They are the first to get axed when there are budget problems. So pretty much like every job I've ever had in the private sector.
- BeetleB 8y ago
  >So pretty much like every job I've ever had in the private sector. Yes, but with a lot higher pay, and often with better insurance, etc. And your work experience in industry has more weight. I don't know how employable a person is if their only experience is teaching. Just looked up two of them in a nearby university. 12 month salary is $75-80K. No stocks, bonuses, etc. Both have MS degrees. It is a decent salary if the job is not stressful, and you are in a dual income family. But job security is likely poorer than in industry.

thealfreds 8y ago

Might not be as prodigious but could look at picking up a part-time bootcamp instructor role. Definitely a lot different than teaching a CS course but might scratch that teaching itch. Time required is generally around 15-20hrs / week depending on the course.

tom_b 8y ago

Yes. I have taught introductory courses to undergraduate and graduate students with only a MS in CS. I think you would probably be able to teach upper-level courses if you could demonstrate expertise in the subject matter. Workload varies. I preferred project-based assignments and tried to give students freedom to choose projects in a personal area of interest to increase their commitment, but it makes grading terribly time-consuming. I found that even with a well-defined rubric, individual projects cost me somewhere between 30-60 minutes of grading time per student. I have taught using a provided syllabus and created my own. I was vastly happier when I created my own, but it adds time. With a provided syllabus, I probably spent 3-4 hours reviewing material and slides per lecture. That included reading the course textbook materials and working through most of the textbook problems. Maybe double that time when working from the syllabus I created, making new slides, and prepping for in-class programming work. Grading sucks. If you teach a required course, you will also have to deal with some number (hopefully small) of unmotivated students. One of my courses was an elective course and I found the students .... happier? And no matter how much I emphasized not waiting to start programming projects (including by having graded check points), a significant number of students wait until the day before projects are due to start. And then flame out. Don't teach a course as project-only if it is a programming-oriented course. A meaningful number of my students submitted rather well-done programming projects, but were unable to write a for loop on an open-book exam. I also had students who were suspiciously unable to even use a required editor to demo small programs in one-on-one meetings. Otherwise, teaching was fun and it's definitely worthwhile. All the warnings you hear about adjunct pay being low are also true.