August 7th 2008

SoCafe's Business Model SoSucks

Ok, "sucks" is a totally immature way to respond to anything, but geez (insert eye rolling here and that pffffft sound), a company that wants to charge adjuncts $395 for certification in "10 core competencies?" Is that like the Ten Commandments of Adjunct Teaching?

1. I am the Dean your Dean

2. You shall have no other teaching gigs before mine

3. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Dean

You get my drift.... SoCafe's 10 core competencies include:

Interact effectively with a diverse student population.
Provide student feedback in a manner that supports learning

How does one test faculty on those things in order to issue a certificate? The student feedback one I find particularly interesting, because I actually think the way we give feedback to our students is crucial in whether or not our students succeed in our courses. Faculty at cocktail parties who regale colleagues with witty tales of ripping into their students without a scrap of humanity leave me cold. Hell, they leave me hoping such faculty will choke on the olives in their martinis and stop giving the rest of us a bad name.

I am not against certification, per se. I am against this particular form of certification, because it's just a way for SoCafe's owners to make $395 from adjuncts who hope employers will give a rat's tail about such certification. Here's the truth: the adjunct who's available, and who answers the phone first is going to get the course. If the guy's who's got SoCafe certification happens to be in the bathtub when the phone rings, the department Chair is going to move right on to the next person on the adjunct roster. No questions asked.

This method of hiring sucks big time. Rather than outsource certification, college and university officials should be encouraged, pushed, shoved and threatened at briefcase point by the national faculty unions to start hiring all part-time faculty the same way full-time faculty are hired.

That change would be totally phat my fellow faculty friends.

Posted By Part-Time T. at 2:06 PM

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By: Anonymous
Posted: August 10th 2008 3:44 pm
Adjuncts save your money! As the saying goes: It it looks like a duck and walks like a duck it is a duck. This looks like and walks like a get rich scheme for the founders of the Society of Certified Adjunct Faculty Educators. I'm sure at one time or another Adjuncts have thought there might be one or two areas in their teaching methods that could use some polish. But instead of paying $395.00 for a certification program I believe most Adjuncts search out what they need to improve your teaching methods. The Internet has many free or low cost resources, libraries have a wealth of free information. I certainly wouldn't pay SoCAFE $395.00, arrange for my educational transcripts to be sent to SoCAFE, follow the SoCAFE ten month study schedule, take a 10 module exam with 200 questions with a time limit of 600 minutes all to gain a certificate from an organization that has no established credibly or founders that have not distinguished themselves in the teaching field. Have the founders ever presented at national conferences or submitted papers to be published? If you think SoCAFE has some special insights into teaching well save yourself almost $300.00 and purchase and read the three books that comprise the core of the Society of Certified Adjunct Faculty Educators' program and exam. The books are: Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom (2006, 2nd Ed.) by Stephen Brookfield, $30.40, ISBN-13: 978-0787980665 Tools for Teaching (1993) by Barbara Gross Davis, $37.60, ISBN-13: 978-1555425685 Teaching at Its Best: A Research-based Resource for College Instructors (2007, 2nd Ed.) by Linda B. Nilson, $30.40, ISBN-13: 978-1882982646 The authors of the books will appreciate your support!

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