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NEA Members Teaching OnlineThe bottom line: Quality and access are central concerns that determine how faculty feel about teaching and learning - whether in a classroom or online. Delegates to the 2000 NEA Representative Assembly approved a new dues category that will make Association membership easier for part-time faculty. Bylaw amendment 1, which creates a one-fourth dues category for part-time membership in NEA, passed in a secret ballot vote with the support of 74 percent of the RA's delegates. The lower dues category makes it more likely that adjunct faculty, many earning only $1,200 to $1,500 per three-credit course, will choose union membership as a means to improve their employment conditions. Many NEA state affiliates have already created special dues categories for adjuncts, as part of their efforts to recruit new members. A first-of-its-kind NEA survey of faculty who teach distance learning courses finds 75 percent of NEA higher ed members hold positive feelings about distance learning. The reason for this enthusiasm: technology's ability to extend educational opportunity to students who can't take courses in traditional settings. A Survey of Traditional and Distance Learning Higher Education Members also found that faculty enthusiasm is tinged with apprehension about the amount of time it takes to prepare and teach distance-education courses. Respondents predicted that faculty members would have to do more work for the same amount of pay as a result of the proliferation of distance education. More than half of distance learning faculty spend more hours on their distance learning course than traditional classes. The full report is available on the NEA Higher Education Web site at www.nea.org/he. Your chance to win $10,000 is one click away! To promote electronic communication, NEA members who share their E-mail address now are eligible to win $10,000. To participate, you need to validate your membership online. Use the code printed in the mailing label of the NEA Advocate. For rules, details, and how to find your code visit www.nea.org/win.
The award categories: The Art of Teaching, Democracy in Higher Education, New Unionism in the Academy, and the New Scholar Prize. For guidelines, E-mail clehane@nea.org or visit the awards page. |
The
deadline for article submissions to the 2000 NEA Excellence in the Academy
Awards is September 30, 2000. 