Listening to Adjunct Faculty Voices: A Case Study for Supporting Adjunct Faculty Across Career Stages at a Small Community College

Abstract

Community college adjunct faculty, who teach a majority of first-year courses, face varied challenges related to limited access to ongoing support. This qualitative study examined the effects of an instructional coaching program on community college adjunct faculty’s self-efficacy and ability to enhance instructor presence in online courses. Using a multiple case study research design, I investigated the impact of an instructional coaching program on two early-career (<7 years) and two mid- to late-career (>12 years) online adjunct faculty. Self-Efficacy Theory (Bandura 1997, 2005) and the Community of Inquiry model, along with Richardson et al.'s (2015) operationalization of Instructor Presence, provided the interpretive frameworks for coaching session data and faculty-student interactions recorded in pre- and post-intervention archived courses (Garrison 2016a). Findings revealed self-efficacy gains across career stages, with early-career faculty demonstrating a stronger willingness to adopt new technologies such as GenAI, resulting in significant improvements in their self-efficacy and application of newly acquired knowledge and skills. Mid- to late-career faculty expressed higher perceived confidence from their extensive face-to-face teaching experience with a more cautious and thoughtful approach to implementing new teaching strategies in their course. These results confirm that ongoing professional development catered to the distinct needs of adjunct faculty across different career stages leads to substantial improvements in online instruction and student learning, promoting a stronger sense of belonging and contributing to improved retention rates.