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

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Bibliographic Details
Title:	Listening to Adjunct Faculty Voices: A Case Study for Supporting Adjunct Faculty Across Career Stages at a Small Community College.
Authors:	Neff, Linda S.¹, Archambault, Leanna²
Source:	Online Learning. Jun2026, Vol. 30 Issue 2, p246-270. 25p.
Subject Terms:	Adjunct faculty, Educational coaching, Online education, Career development, *Community colleges, Self-efficacy
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 selfefficacy and ability to enhance instructor presence in online courses. Using a multiple case study research design, we investigated the impact of an instructional coaching program on two earlycareer (<7 years) and two mid- to late-career (>12 years) online adjunct faculty. Self-Efficacy Theory (Bandura 1997, 2005), the Community of Inquiry model (Garrison 2016a), and Richardson et al.’s (2015) operationalization of instructor presence provided the interpretive frameworks for analyzing coaching session data and faculty-student interactions recorded in preand post-intervention archived courses. 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 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 suggest that when ongoing professional development is designed to meet the unique needs of adjunct faculty across different career stages, it can improve their sense of institutional belonging and retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database:	Education Research Complete

Description
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 selfefficacy and ability to enhance instructor presence in online courses. Using a multiple case study research design, we investigated the impact of an instructional coaching program on two earlycareer (<7 years) and two mid- to late-career (>12 years) online adjunct faculty. Self-Efficacy Theory (Bandura 1997, 2005), the Community of Inquiry model (Garrison 2016a), and Richardson et al.’s (2015) operationalization of instructor presence provided the interpretive frameworks for analyzing coaching session data and faculty-student interactions recorded in preand post-intervention archived courses. 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 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 suggest that when ongoing professional development is designed to meet the unique needs of adjunct faculty across different career stages, it can improve their sense of institutional belonging and retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	24725749
DOI:	10.24059/olj.v30i2.5005