What do you need for good working conditions?

[polly_mer]

By request, I'm starting a new thread to talk explicitly about work conditions for teaching since we have both people who are doing the work and the department chairs, deans, and others here in this community to discuss.

From the No Office thread:

Slightly off topic for this post, but office space is one of those things that is incredibly important in terms of working conditions. I've been lucky enough to always adjunct at places that always at least gave me a shared office and it has always made me feel much better about my job. It gives me a home base on campus, being able to go in early and get work done, having a place to put my stuff. It also has less tangible benefits. I've become friends with a few permanent faculty members just because they have offices next to me or I see them in the hall.

Faculty: what do you need to do your job?

Chairs etc: what information do you need to advocate for your faculty or what do you want to say about the conditions under which you work that may not be readily visible to faculty?

[downer]

I taught at a school with classrooms that had a desktop computer with no monitor, just a projector. So I had no way to prevent students from seeing everything I did in setting up what I was showing. It was also very inconvenient since I had to look behind me to see what was happening on the screen. So I would prioritize having my own computer monitor and an ability to decide when students can see what I have on the screen.

I want an ability to control the temperature in the classroom, especially if it is too hot.

At another school, some adjuncts leave a small suitcase in the adjunct room so they don't have to bring in the same things every time, which would be hard especially since many come using public transport. Administration occasionally puts up "Verboten!" signs up, but people just ignore them. So I'd say some storage space is important.

I'd also like somewhere to leave a coat and lunch when I spend a day on campus without having to worry about them getting stolen.

What I'd really like is a small couch to lie on between classes.

[marshwiggle]

Would it also be helpful here for people to identify things that have been provided that have been particularly useful, but not necessarily on the radar in most places?

One specific issue I'm curious about: Many places that provide some sort of shared office space with or without shared computers. Are shared computers worthwhile and/or better than using your own laptop? If not is there infrastructure like shared printers that make using your own laptop more viable? Are there any resources to defray the cost of your own laptop? (Some of these same questions could apply to phones as well.)

FWIW, my "day job" is on campus, so I already have an office, phone, computer, etc. and thus I don't have these issues, but I've tried to imagine what would work otherwise. After I retire from my "day job", these concerns will become relevant.

[polly_mer]

One specific issue I'm curious about: Many places that provide some sort of shared office space with or without shared computers. Are shared computers worthwhile and/or better than using your own laptop? If not is there infrastructure like shared printers that make using your own laptop more viable? Are there any resources to defray the cost of your own laptop? (Some of these same questions could apply to phones as well.)

Shared computers have been annoying every time I've been in the situation, but bringing my own laptop has been its own hell, especially the more complicated the network is.

The shared computers work best if they are like the old-school computer labs where one logs in, has a home drive mounted in some central location so files are available on every computer on the network, and allow one to personalize a desktop/applications.  The benefit is those networked computers tend to connect properly to all the printers and authenticate to the servers with almost no hassle.

The shared computers that aren't like a profile that follows you around that are more like the open-access computers at the public library are much less useful for anything other than entering grades into the standardized system.

However, getting my personal laptop to connect to the wi-fi and allow me to authenticate as faculty to all the necessary systems can be very iffy, especially at the struggling institutions that have almost no resources for IT. 

I haven't experienced a situation where good shared office space exists and yet the expectation is to bring one's own laptop and phone.  Part of the problem with the expectation of bringing one's own laptop is often the expectation extends to the idea that one can find somewhere to sit in the library or the student union building.  Having a shared bull pen with space for storage (papers and coat/lunch) along with desk space, computers, and office phones was a much better experience in teaching, even only being on campus one day per week for about 4 hours.

[mahagonny]

What do I need? There are levels of needs being met:
Substandard but workable; learning will take place, but seriously hampered
Barely adequate
Pretty good!
Optimal

At one of my schools I am woefully under equipped. Some of the needs are specific to my field and I won't go into it further at this time. I can certainly tell the forum about it, but until adjunct faculty are included at at least several paid meetings per semester, there isn't a reasonable hope of decent standards being met. It's too easy for us to be off the chair's radar. It goes to the basic reality of segmented faculty structure. I stand by my claim that tenure track faculty hoard workspace for themselves. Readily available space for meeting with students may not be essential, but hunting for it or having a dearth of it can take extra time, and shows a less professional appearance to the student. Suggesting that the department doesn't hold you in such high regard. Don't believe me? You should have been there when my student Peter said, out of the blue, 'I can't believe they stuck all of you professors in this one tiny room.' If I hear one person comment like that, I figure 30 more are thinking it.

[cathwen]

I am now an adjunct at UrbanU, sliding into retirement, after having taught there full-time as a NTT faculty member.  When I was full-time, I had an office (shared with one other person) and a computer.  As an adjunct, there is one shared room in the basement for all the adjuncts in the department--although few seem to be there at any given time. 

In our shared space are round work tables that look as though they would be perfect for student conferences, except that we are told sternly *never* to meet students in our shared space.  This pretty much eliminates the possibility of regular office hours; any meetings are by appointment, for which we have to scrounge up some other space.

We have shared computers; not an issue for me, as I have my own laptop, but getting onto the campus network is sometimes difficult (much as polly_mer described above).

The room is open and we do not have keys, so we cannot leave our stuff there. 

So, this is not an ideal situation.

[polly_mer]

What do I need? There are levels of needs being met:
Substandard but workable; learning will take place, but seriously hampered
Barely adequate
Pretty good!
Optimal

What do those levels look like in concrete terms that a chair/dean could act upon?  For example in the substandard-but-workable category, I once was assigned a classroom so small that we had to put desks in the hall so that people writing on the front board weren't touching the front row of desks.  Those desks spent a lot of time in the hall that semester for other classes as well for faculty who liked circles for discussion or also wanted students to write on the board.

In the you-have-to-be-kidding-me category (the one below substandard-but-workable), I was once assigned to teach physics lab in a regular classroom that was shared so we couldn't leave any equipment set up between class periods.  In addition, I was moving that equipment down and up every class period from the real lab on another floor with no functioning elevators in the building.  I was tenure-track with two offices on campus (one for faculty and one in the administration building) and spent absurd amounts of time before and during that term explaining why this was not the solution to accommodate a student and was overruled at every turn.

<on preview of cathween's post>  Oh, the key situation!  Yes, having keys to the relevant buildings so that one can set up labs/studios/dry runs with quirky technology during times the classrooms will be empty helps a lot for working conditions.  Again, I have been TT with an office in the building and denied keys to the main doors because something was stolen once 10 years ago so now only the one security guard on duty for the whole campus can unlock a building upon a phone request with at least 1 hour notice. 

At a place I was adjuncting one day per week, I was trusted with keys including one to the office supply cabinet.  As a grad student at various places, I was trusted with keys to the building.  TT at Super-Dinky College and in charge of the accreditation report?  Not trusted with keys to the building, despite often working during non-standard hours and needing access to my office.

[apl68]

You know you're low on the totem pole when four of you have to share an office with three desks, one of which looks like it must have been Korean War surplus. No computers--we had to use a shared graduate work space down the hall.  The shared graduate assistant work space had printers that never seemed to be maintained and paper recycling boxes that overflowed knee-deep around them.

[marshwiggle]

At a place I was adjuncting one day per week, I was trusted with keys including one to the office supply cabinet.  As a grad student at various places, I was trusted with keys to the building.  TT at Super-Dinky College and in charge of the accreditation report?  Not trusted with keys to the building, despite often working during non-standard hours and needing access to my office.

Does any place use card access for any of these spaces? We* have cards here that give access to buildings, but I'm not aware of them being used for specific rooms. That would seem to be a decent solution, since the list could be updated every term, and like hotels, a lost card wouldn't require "re-keying" the place.

*I know full-time faculty and staff get them; I'm not sure about part-time. Since I warrant one from my full-time "day job", I don't know if I'd get one otherwise.

[downer]

Shared computers: these days a lot of universities have computers where when you log in, you get to the same set of files and your browser settings are the same wherever you are, so it makes no difference which physical terminal you use. (Well, that's when it works well, which is not all the time. The start up time can also be long on a physical machine you have not used recently.)

I prefer to use a computer on campus rather than lug a laptop around. Logging in to campus wifi can also be a trial with a laptop.

[Juvenal]

I'd say my department has few if any defects that I can see for the functioning of the faculty members, FT or adjuncts.  I have to say working conditions are good.  Perfect?  Where can such be found?

But since I'm retired after decades of FT and now only adjunct, let me view from the POV of the adjunct.

There is a key-carded adjunct office with computer on its own desk, another desk, and lockable lockers.  The adjunct computer is linked to printers in the administrative area copy room, a short walk to the other end of the floor.  And everyone has the code to the main copier as well.  Most faculty, FT/adjunct, do their own copying, but there's a departmental assistant to call on if needed.

All lecture halls have computers and projectors, some more glitchy than others, but rooms are not assigned by FT/adjunct status, just by course.

There is a faculty lounge (mailboxes, sofa, soft chairs, microwave, sink, fridge, tables, chairs) that all are welcome to use, and some adjuncts will meet students there--no objection from FT that I've seen.  There's also a large conference room that, if free, and it usually is, can be used to meet students in.  But there is no objection to meeting students in the adjunct office.  The adjuncts rarely compete for use of this office; often adjuncts come, teach, stay a short while for any student matters, and leave.

The departmental administration is neither slack nor micromanaging.  It seems all necessary things get done.

Adjuncts are invited to the two or three departmental meetings a semester, but not many come.  The meetings never last more than about an hour; some food is often served.  I've never seen any peacocking or sniping.

FT/adjuncts/staff all have key cards to their appropriate areas, labs, and faculty/staff bathrooms.  (Is this important?  I find it so.)

The campus is handsome, not dreary: nicely laid out, well maintained, interestingly planted, some real topography giving visual interest. (One's heart does not sink when you come to campus--at least not when you are looking at the physical structure.)

Negatives--First, of course, adjunct pay is the usual rather risible amount per course, but the college (a CC) is unionized, and adjuncts have a voice and representation. Second?  HVAC can be a little erratic, but that affects all.  Third?  Oh, come on, you know what it is: parking.  If you have a mid-morning class, prepare to hike some distance, just or unjust, FT or adjunct...

[mahagonny]

What do I need? There are levels of needs being met:
Substandard but workable; learning will take place, but seriously hampered
Barely adequate
Pretty good!
Optimal

What do those levels look like in concrete terms that a chair/dean could act upon?

Ask tenured faculty what adjunct faculty need for successful teaching and they'll probably recall the worst situation they've ever endured and then tell you that it is workable. Which is technically true, but means (1) The job of allotting workspace is an issue that takes into account faculty hierarchy, and therefore (2) it's fine for a part-timer. But ask them what they need to teach, now, and you'll get some good answers. Use those answers, and apply them to all faculty who teach, evenly, as available. That's what I'd do if I were a dean. Right before getting tarred and feathered.
It's impossible for me to discuss this subject without mentioning the problem that tenured track faculty represent. So sorry.

Shared computers: these days a lot of universities have computers where when you log in, you get to the same set of files and your browser settings are the same wherever you are, so it makes no difference which physical terminal you use.

Our department is terminally ill. Wifi works terrible because of building construction material. They could put an ethernet outlet in my teaching room, but it wouldn't help because my laptop does not have an ethernet hookup. Being able to go online in the room would be a big advantage.
But the classrooms used by tenure track faculty have hard wired computers all ready to go.
In my department, most of the courses taught by adjunct faculty are more like labs. Small numbers of people. Small rooms. there's no hardship or indignity in a smaller room unless three or more are storing their teaching materials there. Then it is fairly inconvenient and if it's obvious to everyone that it doesn't have tone that way, also demeaning.

[chemigal]

What do I need? There are levels of needs being met:
Substandard but workable; learning will take place, but seriously hampered
Barely adequate
Pretty good!
Optimal

What do those levels look like in concrete terms that a chair/dean could act upon?

Ask tenured faculty what adjunct faculty need for successful teaching and they'll probably recall the worst situation they've ever endured and then tell you that it is workable. Which is technically true, but means (1) The job of allotting workspace is an issue that takes into account faculty hierarchy, and therefore (2) it's fine for a part-timer. But ask them what they need to teach, now, and you'll get some good answers. Use those answers, and apply them to all faculty who teach, evenly, as available. That's what I'd do if I were a dean. Right before getting tarred and feathered.
It's impossible for me to discuss this subject without mentioning the problem that tenured track faculty represent. So sorry.

Shared computers: these days a lot of universities have computers where when you log in, you get to the same set of files and your browser settings are the same wherever you are, so it makes no difference which physical terminal you use.

Our department is terminally ill. Wifi works terrible because of building construction material. They could put an ethernet outlet in my teaching room, but it wouldn't help because my laptop does not have an ethernet hookup. Being able to go online in the room would be a big advantage.
But the classrooms used by tenure track faculty have hard wired computers all ready to go.
In my department, most of the courses taught by adjunct faculty are more like labs. Small numbers of people. Small rooms. there's no hardship or indignity in a smaller room unless three or more are storing their teaching materials there. Then it is fairly inconvenient and if it's obvious to everyone that it doesn't have tone that way, also demeaning.

I have worked many places and been in charge of scheduling in more than one of them.  NEVER have I worked somewhere where adjunct faculty had separate classroom space.  In every case rooms are assigned by class size, date and time and type of course.  Most places the room numbers are assigned even before the faculty are assigned to the course.  I wonder what sort of place you teach at that singles out its adjunct faculty and puts them in separate "adjunct" classrooms?  I would run away as fast as possible if I were you.

[mahagonny]

What do I need? There are levels of needs being met:
Substandard but workable; learning will take place, but seriously hampered
Barely adequate
Pretty good!
Optimal

What do those levels look like in concrete terms that a chair/dean could act upon?

Ask tenured faculty what adjunct faculty need for successful teaching and they'll probably recall the worst situation they've ever endured and then tell you that it is workable. Which is technically true, but means (1) The job of allotting workspace is an issue that takes into account faculty hierarchy, and therefore (2) it's fine for a part-timer. But ask them what they need to teach, now, and you'll get some good answers. Use those answers, and apply them to all faculty who teach, evenly, as available. That's what I'd do if I were a dean. Right before getting tarred and feathered.
It's impossible for me to discuss this subject without mentioning the problem that tenured track faculty represent. So sorry.

Shared computers: these days a lot of universities have computers where when you log in, you get to the same set of files and your browser settings are the same wherever you are, so it makes no difference which physical terminal you use.

Our department is terminally ill. Wifi works terrible because of building construction material. They could put an ethernet outlet in my teaching room, but it wouldn't help because my laptop does not have an ethernet hookup. Being able to go online in the room would be a big advantage.
But the classrooms used by tenure track faculty have hard wired computers all ready to go.
In my department, most of the courses taught by adjunct faculty are more like labs. Small numbers of people. Small rooms. there's no hardship or indignity in a smaller room unless three or more are storing their teaching materials there. Then it is fairly inconvenient and if it's obvious to everyone that it doesn't have tone that way, also demeaning.

I have worked many places and been in charge of scheduling in more than one of them.  NEVER have I worked somewhere where adjunct faculty had separate classroom space.  In every case rooms are assigned by class size, date and time and type of course.  Most places the room numbers are assigned even before the faculty are assigned to the course.  I wonder what sort of place you teach at that singles out its adjunct faculty and puts them in separate "adjunct" classrooms?  I would run away as fast as possible if I were you.

Of course, I can run away if I want to. Thing is, I've been doing this so long, I know what I'm doing and it takes more than a little toxicity to scare me away or get in hot water.
You don't believe me. That's what it is. I suspect we are not in the same field. The smaller rooms being used by the adjunct faculty is related to the type of course, class size, and the fact that the faculty who teach these types of courses are adjunct. In other words, there are common sense utilitarian reasons why the rooms and classes are assigned as they are. But the smaller rooms do not have the hardwired computers and, those rooms being used by adjunct faculty, do not have the negotating clout that the tenure track and their union have.
It helps to know what it's like to negotiate with admin in an adjunct-only union. One contract you try for more pay and they say 'no.' Next time around you try for computers and they say 'all right, here's one...wait, no two! computers for the whole bunch of you.' Next contract you try for 'please don't raise the parking fee so high' and they say 'no.' Etc.

[mahagonny]

...and those few adjunct faculty who are teaching the classes in the regular rooms of course would have the use of the hard-wired computer, screen, projector, etc. i just don't happen to be one of them.