Number of hours required to develop a new course?

[hamburger]

It looks like the employer is ripping you off again, Hamburger.

It has been two weeks since I submitted a breakdown on how I would spend the 60 hours to develop a new course which they said I would be teaching next semester. Never heard from the department. The deadline for all the teaching materials ready for approval to open the new course is in less than two weeks. Meanwhile, they advertised for a new part-time position on developing courses including the one in my area mentioned here. Since they don't give me the contract, I don't have to start doing the work. Am I right?

[downer]

It looks like the employer is ripping you off again, Hamburger.

It has been two weeks since I submitted a breakdown on how I would spend the 60 hours to develop a new course which they said I would be teaching next semester. Never heard from the department. The deadline for all the teaching materials ready for approval to open the new course is in less than two weeks. Meanwhile, they advertised for a new part-time position on developing courses including the one in my area mentioned here. Since they don't give me the contract, I don't have to start doing the work. Am I right?

Yes, obviously.

[hamburger]

It looks like the employer is ripping you off again, Hamburger.

It has been two weeks since I submitted a breakdown on how I would spend the 60 hours to develop a new course which they said I would be teaching next semester. Never heard from the department. The deadline for all the teaching materials ready for approval to open the new course is in less than two weeks. Meanwhile, they advertised for a new part-time position on developing courses including the one in my area mentioned here. Since they don't give me the contract, I don't have to start doing the work. Am I right?

Yes, obviously.

I heard that many colleagues have been around for over 15 years and they are still part-timers.

[hamburger]

A senior professor asked me to have some new course materials ready to show him earlier next week. The deadline to have all materials ready for the new course to be approved before opening for students to register is in about 10 days. The department has not even replied to my 60-hour work proposal. No contract has been created. Are they asking me to do free work for them now? Don't know why they also advertised the new position I mentioned. What suggestion do you have?

[polly_mer]

Give up on this employer and get a different job.

[hamburger]

Give up on this employer and get a different job.

Thanks for the suggestion. The 60-hour proposal has been turned down. Now, they are asking me to attend the 3rd organizational meeting to get some work done before even a proposed contract has been issued. Even HR mentioned that the department could offer me higher hourly rate, the department chose the minimum.

[Cheerful]

Meanwhile, they advertised for a new part-time position on developing courses including the one in my area mentioned here.

Even HR mentioned that the department could offer me higher hourly rate, the department chose the minimum.

Everything you write sounds awful and it's been going on for years.  Like a bad, amateur novel.  It's all true?  You owe it to yourself to find a better life.  Life's too short.  Why spend so much time thinking and writing about these awful things?

You've indicated no hope that your current place will improve.  Focus on finding a better life.  Good luck.

I'm starting to doubt these posts because it seems no rational person would stay in a situation relentlessly awful with new awful stuff happening weekly.

[Caracal]

Give up on this employer and get a different job.

Thanks for the suggestion. The 60-hour proposal has been turned down. Now, they are asking me to attend the 3rd organizational meeting to get some work done before even a proposed contract has been issued. Even HR mentioned that the department could offer me higher hourly rate, the department chose the minimum.

Ugh, that's a very bad sign. A good department should be trying to pay adjuncts as much as they can within university rules.

[hamburger]

Give up on this employer and get a different job.

Thanks for the suggestion. The 60-hour proposal has been turned down. Now, they are asking me to attend the 3rd organizational meeting to get some work done before even a proposed contract has been issued. Even HR mentioned that the department could offer me higher hourly rate, the department chose the minimum.

Ugh, that's a very bad sign. A good department should be trying to pay adjuncts as much as they can within university rules.

I heard from colleagues that this place always penny-pinching professors especially part-timers. They only care about getting more students and having a high retention rate. Quality is not really a concern.

[hamburger]

Meanwhile, they advertised for a new part-time position on developing courses including the one in my area mentioned here.

Even HR mentioned that the department could offer me higher hourly rate, the department chose the minimum.

Everything you write sounds awful and it's been going on for years.  Like a bad, amateur novel.  It's all true?  You owe it to yourself to find a better life.  Life's too short.  Why spend so much time thinking and writing about these awful things?

You've indicated no hope that your current place will improve.  Focus on finding a better life.  Good luck.

I'm starting to doubt these posts because it seems no rational person would stay in a situation relentlessly awful with new awful stuff happening weekly.

Recently I question myself this too. Life is short. Colleagues who are full-time told me that they are also suffering because  most professors are part-timers. This leaves full-timers lots of things to do. Sometimes they spend more time dealing with students' complaints  than teaching because complaining is a culture in this department. The school is afraid of students' complaining and students know about this. Full-timers have to face endless of such students until they retire or quit earlier. They said that it is just too time consuming and tiring to deal with these students. This makes me think if I want to have a full-time job in this place. If I continue to work here, my research career is dead.

[polly_mer]

So, what have you done today to look for another job at a different employer?

We're all agreed this is a terrible place that won't do right by you.

What's the plan to go forward?

[hamburger]

So, what have you done today to look for another job at a different employer?

We're all agreed this is a terrible place that won't do right by you.

What's the plan to go forward?

Filling in applications. I found this process annoying. Different places require filling in the same information on different forms. Is this unavoidable?

They don't have a full-time job for me nor they can guarantee a new contract next semester. So it is fair that I apply somewhere else as well. When is a good time to leave? I don't know if I will have an offer to teach in this place next semester. If I do, there is a high chance that I will waste my time and energy on those entitled students again. My publications has been on hold for years already. If I quit, I will be unemployed which may not look good when I look for another job.

[hamburger]

So the head told me that in this department, they only pay the minimum for part-timers to develop a new course. It has been a few days but again, they don't give me a contract. Meanwhile, the head asked me to send materials for the new course. What does that mean? They don't even want to pay the minimum rate and expect free service?

[Caracal]

If I quit, I will be unemployed which may not look good when I look for another job.

The thing to remember is that you have a job that does not pay very well at all. It should be possible to find something that pays more money, even if its just working at Starbucks. That might not give you a lot of professional satisfaction, but the way you talk about your job and your students, your job doesn't give you that now. At least if you work retail, you get to just leave at the end of the day.

Unfortunately, being an adjunct long term won't make you more competitive for most full time academic jobs. Certainly, in terms of other part time jobs, nobody is going to care much if you took a year off from teaching.

[downer]

Meanwhile, they advertised for a new part-time position on developing courses including the one in my area mentioned here.

Even HR mentioned that the department could offer me higher hourly rate, the department chose the minimum.

Everything you write sounds awful and it's been going on for years.  Like a bad, amateur novel.  It's all true?  You owe it to yourself to find a better life.  Life's too short.  Why spend so much time thinking and writing about these awful things?

You've indicated no hope that your current place will improve.  Focus on finding a better life.  Good luck.

I'm starting to doubt these posts because it seems no rational person would stay in a situation relentlessly awful with new awful stuff happening weekly.

Recently I question myself this too. Life is short. Colleagues who are full-time told me that they are also suffering because  most professors are part-timers. This leaves full-timers lots of things to do. Sometimes they spend more time dealing with students' complaints  than teaching because complaining is a culture in this department. The school is afraid of students' complaining and students know about this. Full-timers have to face endless of such students until they retire or quit earlier. They said that it is just too time consuming and tiring to deal with these students. This makes me think if I want to have a full-time job in this place. If I continue to work here, my research career is dead.

That's a surprisingly skillful changing of the subject. Cheerful's point was that nobody could exhibit as much learned helplessness as "hamburger." The suggestion was that "hamburger" might be a character of fiction.  I had the same reaction. I have done a search for symptoms of "self-defeating personality disorder."

Anyway, "hamburger" will never get a full-time job at this place, so don't even think about it.