office administrator

administration manager

office manager

University of the People

Successfully acclimating to the structure and requirements of an adjunct instructor will depend on what your goals are. 

I will start by addressing accreditation. UoPeople is a nationally-accredited institution recognized by the US Department of Education. There is an ongoing process of the university gaining regional accreditation. As far as I know, the outlook for regional accreditation appears positive and could occur within the next couple of years. 

The position is volunteer-based but requires that candidates have earned at least a bachelor's degree to instruct non-credit courses, a master's for undergrad courses, and at least 18 doctoral-level credits earned for instruction of graduate courses. 

There is payment for volunteer instructors - it's an honorarium system that pays at the end of the term and has three tiers of pay, one for each of the abovementioned levels of coursework. The payment is not much, but it's not anything to complain about, as this is a position you are volunteering to fulfill. Also, the hiring process is fairly slow and can take a few months.

There is so much to learn from the students. The student body is very diverse, as they reside in countries from all around the world. 

As others have said, plagiarism is an issue. But often it's important to maintain cultural awareness and sensitivity in determining plagiarism. And in my course, plagiarism did not occur frequently. Many students put a lot of effort into their studies and are grateful to receive personalized, constructive feedback from instructors.

Although it's a volunteer position, the job itself is still a legitimate instructor position. You have responsibilities and must maintain your engagement with students and your courses regularly. You undergo instructor evaluations at least yearly, with the initial one occuring in your first assigned course. 

If you want to gain experience as a virtual instructor in higher education on a global scale and do not mind sharing your expertise for low compensation, this is a great position for that. 

I intend on staying with UoPeople as an adjunct instructor for a while. I enjoy engaging students and watching them grow. Engaging and motivating students through class discussions and individualized feedback impacts students far beyond what is realized. Some may think the impact is minimal because of the virtual setting. This is completely untrue.

I love this job because I can instruct students living anywhere and witness the improvements they make. Conclusively, the job is really great. While the pay is low, it is directly stated from the beginning what sort of pay one can expect to receive. The job would be even better with improved compensation, yes; however, the money is ultimately not the driving factor here. It's about providing students with an education while also learning from students and gaining that experience.

I enjoy working for UoPeople as an Adjunct English Instructor. Although I’ve been with the university for about six months, I have already completed one term and am close to finishing my second. The workload is manageable, and I typically complete all grading by the weekend or before Thursday, which is when grades and announcements are due. 

My onboarding experience was excellent, and my mentor was incredibly supportive, guiding me through each step and helping me feel confident in my role at UoPeople. I especially love working here because I have a background in teaching ESL online to adults, so transitioning to teaching English in higher education has been amazing. Many of my students come from diverse backgrounds, including the Middle East, South America, South Asia, and Africa, and this semester I even have a student from Haiti.

The only downside is the payment structure. We’re paid around two weeks after the previous semester’s grades are submitted. For non-university classes, the pay is $600 per semester for two classes, $300 for one class, and $900 for three classes. I feel that more frequent and higher pay would be beneficial, but overall, UoPeople is a professional environment and a great place to gain experience. Additionally, there are opportunities to take on more courses when there’s a need for instructors in the department. This semester, I was selected to teach three English classes. I truly love my students, and they seem to enjoy our classes as well.

The University of the People is a secretive and cruel place.  I applied and was accepted to the Faculty Certification program.   I took the first quiz (passed) then got a 10/10 out of my first written assignment.   Yay!  Couldn't wait to see how I did on my written assignment as I spent a good deal of time getting it polished.  My excitement was growing and I was ready to do this 'Volunteer' work.  It pays $900 for a term and you are asked to to at least 15 hours per week. The work was due on Wednesday and I received an email on Thursday summarily dismissing me from candidacy.   No reason why-no feedback on why. No grade on my final assignment.  The Faculty Development team responded to my question of 'why' with an email saying they are too busy to provide a reason why I was not accepted.   Perhaps U of (MEAN) People wants to appear 'exclusive' by rejecting lots of potential volunteers.   Maybe they had too many prospective teachers in my discipline and and don't need me.    All in all, I am an adult and a truthful response for being rejected from a volunteer position doesn't seem like a huge ask.    I sent a LinkedIn message to the CEO of University of the People and his assistant let me know he does not respond to messages.   Also sent him an email--a response does not look good.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The courses are well-designed with thoughtfully created assignments and discussions.   The majority of the assignments are peer reviewed by multiple peers which offers dynamics in filtered through experience, culture, geographical location, political regulations, etc. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Stressful might be harsh to explain the difficulty with teaching in a virtual environment. Explaining or giving impactful feedback, where it is not overly critical, that is constructive and where the students get your meaning.  

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
You work from the comfort of you computer which give some relief from beating traffic. Even though you’re working virtually, support is at your fingertips. In most  instances, a reply is relatively quick and concise. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I work at my own pace to grade and engage with students in the discussion forums and giving feedback to portfolio activities.

Administration officials do cater to their students, which is understandable, but this degree-mill school will dismiss faculty for not handing out passing grades to their entitled students who put in ZERO effort. Signing on with an honorarium was initially okay, but during the pandemic, the school was not accommodating to the staff, and you could not (and cannot) get ahold of anyone in a timely manner. Faculty and staff are extremely rude. Students want an A handed to them on a gold platter and if you question them because they obviously knowingly committed plagiarism, they become irate and cry out to administration (who are irresponsible and not receptive to the abuse towards their employees), and demand termination. This school will give you so many courses with no support system and there is no room for advancement. Do yourself a favor and find a teaching job somewhere else more deserving of your worth (that is actually reputable and not a degree mill) with your degree! Know your worth!

It is a good place to work if you sincerely want to pay it forward. Many people are volunteers and they do their best to do it. The biggest drawback is that the administrators are paid (not volunteers) to review, criticize, rebuke and put down the volunteers and make them feel like dirt. This might be the only way they can justify their highly paid positions without doing the day to day grunt work. I would recommend that the president looks at this upside-down structure and does something about it. I would also recommend that the donors look into this and see if the volunteers are being treated well and the donated fund is used to improve technology, higher standard course materials, tutoring centers, better library resources, etc. to make things better for the faculty and students. Currently, UoPeople is hiring more and more administrators  (possibly with the donor money) but not doing anything to make the student and faculty life better by providing better resources. Accreditation needs to look into these problems as well.

As this is a volunteer position, it is solely about providing education to a diverse student body. You will receive a modest honorarium for each 8 week course. Courses were typically 8-15 students, now classes are around 25-35 students for most sections. If you are receiving an honorarium for $300-$600 for an 8-week course, you can see why it is about giving back. I really like the flexibility (online) of making a difference and helping others. Since, my first course three years ago, the faculty responsibilities have changed a bit. For example, 6 comments to students in the discussion board weekly instead of 2 comments when I started teaching for the program. The University is expanding and growing each year.  With growth comes new policies and expectations. By the way, taxes are not taken from your honorarium upfront, you will pay those when you file your taxes.

I enjoy working with some of the students; that is about it. There is no structure. Policies are enforced and NEVER followed. Students run over the faculty, and when volunteer professors need backing up and support, we NEVER GET IT.

The pay is horrible, even for being a volunteer. They expect us to tend to students 7 days a week, even though the rule of thumb is to check emails and Moodle and respond within 48 hours. Training is obnoxious. The videos are old, and there is just no consistency. 

UoPeople is a great online school with a wonderful mission. Working with the folks at UoPeople has been very positive, overall, and many of the students really seem to appreciate what you do for them. Student complaints are handled fairly, as are most faculty concerns. There are some issues, such as frequent technology hiccups in the plagiarism checker. Because faculty positions are largely volunteer, you receive a small honorarium. I make about the same teaching three UoPeople classes as I do teaching one community college class at my regular pay rate. If you're solely looking for extra money, the time you put in is not equivalent to what you are paid. It's a great job for volunteers, however, and gives valuable experience. 

This place is toxic from top down starting with the president of the university. He kept asking for our instructor pay to be given back to the university because they are broke but then does not give even a charity receipt for the IRS. I was told to do over 15 hours a week and teach even during holiday and if I did not I got an email saying i was not doing my job. I had 47 students in my class and they said it was small class sizes on their website. This is obviously misleading and exploiting me as instructor. 
I will never work for a place that the president runs. 

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