Anyone else get a really poor grade for their instructor eval this term? I've always gotten evals in the "ones" (their grade for good), but this term it's above 2.5. I got my ECMC "we expect to bring you aboard" email weeks ago, but no formal offer letter yet (not sure if adjuncts get those). I hate my PD, but he's never graded this poorly, and all my previous PDs were great or at least left you to do your job and teach.
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Nah, doesn't matter if CCi wants me gone or not as this isn't my main income. I just do my job and it is quite easy for the money I'm paid. Can't say that for everyone at CCi though. Even if I lose my job here (unlikely at this point) I have another one lined up.
This board makes me laugh. A lot of bitter people. Makes me wonder if a lot of the posters are right where the bitter people on here complaining about CCi are not attractive candidates to be hired elsewhere; makes complete sense.
57249: You're obviously angry about something (probably not to do with 57243 though, right?). Anyway, I'm HR and he/she is right. If you're telling the truth about coming to us and getting a positive outcome, you MUST be a California employee. That's the only state with employee laws that we acknowledge. Secondly, it was a rare situation, and you're still probably lucky to be employed. Maybe that's why you sound so pissed off - are you walking on pins and needles because you know we want you gone?
Well 57243, you are obviously trolling or are clueless. I had an issue and took it to HR, as well as, involved a lawyer and boom the issue went away. Shocking, not really. Regardless of how a company may portray themselves or the culture at the time, any employee HR issue can turn into big $$$$ these days. So while they may portray that HR does nothing to help employees it is actually contrary to popular belief.
Look at you, they have you fooled and eating out of their hands as you believe HR will do nothing so you continue down your mindless road. It is so cute, let me pat you on the head for eating right out of their hands, so cute.
57174: Wow, you really don't know CCI, do you? Are you new? There has never, ever been a case where going to HR hasn't made a situation worse. You do NOT want to be seen as a complainer in CCi culture. And NOBODY is worried about lawsuits. They find the idea hilarious! They treat employees as having no rights, they always have, and they've never had anything near a serious smackdown as a result.
Any adjuncts who are still with CCI (had classes assigned this term) make this your last term. I've been an adjunct, now FTF, and with the pay scale at the current rate along with the job responsibilities you are severely underpaid. At least FTF have enough pay for the 4 or 5 classes per term to make it out worthwhile.
If you receive a poor evaluation that is inaccurate go above your PD and make a formal complaint. If you have to, go to HR. Why? Because at least they then cannot use this as a reason to let you go. If they do, they may find a lawsuit on their hands for wrongful termination. Sometimes, it pays to get a lawyer involved. They have enough problems going on to worry about a handful of instructors.
Along the lines of the stresses of the job. Just keep your head down, don't interact with your PD unless you have to, and meet the minimum requirements. With Talisma and Skype outreach there are ways to contact multiple students at one time to save you massive amounts of time since students never answer or respond. In Talisma, think of how you would select multiple files to copy or move (same method to email multiple students). In Skype do a search on a how to, to call/SMS multiple students at one time.
We won't know exactly what we need to do this term until we see the faculty expectations which I'm hoping do not require the added useless outreach. I'm crossing my fingers. We just had our quarterly meeting and the instructor consensus was the outreach was a complete waste of time with non-performing or non-active students. Not terribly surprising.
This is the OP. thanks for the feedback, all. I too believe a poor eval out of the blue likely means a pink slip in my future. Sucks, but at least this was only a side gig for me and not my FT job to pay my bills/mortgage (I truly feel for the FTF in this position who are more directly impacted in their ability to provide for your families).
On a plus side, last week I started teaching for a state univ as an adjunct. It's per course pay isn't as high as CCi for adjuncts, but there's zero out reach, and as long as I teach the students well they treat me like a professional. I hope similar alternatives soon materialize for those that seem to be in the same boat, particularly those where CCi is your main paycheck.
Thanks for your feedback, everyone. It's nice to hear I'm not the only one feeling this way. And due to our somewhat isolated nature, it's easy to feel like we're in it alone. I think the working 7 days a week is definitely starting to catch up with me. I feel like I'm never mentally away from this job. Am not too thrilled about being required to be on Facebook too and posting requirements there. We keep getting more and more piled on us.
I have a thought on this, it is only conjecture, but I do not believe it is illogical even if it is unfair. I know right before May many full time faculty were hired (at ECPO anyway) and after the drop in student enrollment due to CCI not playing by the rules I think that it may be hard for the university to maintain these employees. If indeed as someone suggested that they are setting employees up to let them go I suspect this may be the reason. It isn't fair so if this is indeed the case then I am sorry.
768 I understand your struggle. I was promoted from adjunct to full time, and it was honestly the worst decision I ever made. I made some extra cash, sure, but not enough to warrant the mental anguish this position brings with it. I really hope you are able to make it through unscathed.
772, simply because they can. I was harassed as an online instructor for making my posts "too late in the evening," and was told that I should be treating my job as a normal 9-5 job, and make sure that I am available for students during normal business hours. Yet, I am also required to respond to emails within 24 hours. Those two ideas contradict each other, of course, but we are salaried employees -- 4 classes and 5 classes pay exactly the same. So, there's really nothing we can do about it aside from quit.
OP you are likely being positioned to be let go. A poor eval (fair or not) allows ECMC to fire you and reduces the chance of a wrongful termination suit. Sounds like many previously well-rated instructors are experiencing the same.
I am an adjunct so I had no idea what was happening with full time instructors. Why is there an expectation to be on call 24/7?
Hi All, I'm FT and dreading my eval. This term has been so stressful. No RIFs for Winter Term (so far) but I imagine they have a list of who would be the first FTs to go for each program in the event of. The pressure to do everything and be available 24/7 has been incredible. And getting henpecked in the process. It's getting harder and harder to remember the benefits of this position. The literal benefits are not that great and hoping to hear that ECMC will do better, at least by reinstating 401K match. No offer letter yet so I don't even know if my salary will be intact. In the meantime, the insanity trickling down from admin is barely tolerable. I know, I know. I am thankful to have a job and could leave at any time. Like most others, the remote position allows me to juggle my family's needs, which is the ONLY reason I stay.
754 That's awesome to hear. I hope all adjuncts ate able to find some hope in this mess like yourself.
I got the hell out. Now I make double what I made in a non profit college. That is, I teach one class (18 students) and get paid for what I made at a CCI school for teaching 2. Seriously. It is the worst adjunct pay there I've ever had. Why stay?!?!? They keep begging me back. No. I live having eager, willing students who respect what they are doing and want to be in my classroom. The CCI school I taught for was so bad. So bad. But I never wanted to make a change. Then they did me a huge favor. They didn't fill my classes one term. So I left. Then they gave me classes and I turned them down. I have a career again. And my self respect.
I just don't worry about it. I keep getting classes, I get paid and I do it the way I want to do it. I contact the PD as little as possible and I let students turn in work whenever and just grade it. I ignore the PD when they make comments to me and figure I will lose this job every term, but haven't yet. I do care about the students and try hard to help them though.
Sorry to hear both of your stories, although i am not full time, I never detailed to the PD or PL my other sources of income. CCI is not paying me for 24hrs a day service, but the current PD seems to assume that you will stop what your doing at the drop of hat for them, even if its 10pm at night..
Yep, my eval was pretty bad, and I'm full time. I was also berated by administration for teaching at other schools to make ends meet, berated by several students for not letting them turn in late work, and harassed by my ASC for not participating enough. Which is exactly why I'm leaving. If I have any advice, if you're an adjunct, get out now while you can, if you can afford it.