About the Report

Understanding the role that adjunct instructors play in online education is critical as the amount of online education continues to rise. According to the U.S. Department of Education, distance education enrollment in fall 2018 reached approximately 6.9 million students, roughly 35 percent of the 19.6 million students enrolled that term. It is worth noting that, although overall student enrollment declined by five percent between fall 2012 and fall 2018, distance education course enrollment increased by 29 percent (NCES, 2021). And given the impact of the pandemic, it is likely that an even larger number of students have experienced online education since 2020.

This report explores the policies and procedures that institutions use to support online adjunct faculty. We believe that this data and the resulting recommendations should inform and guide institutions in developing promising practices in orienting, supporting, and evaluating online adjunct faculty. It is worth noting that, although the data is representative of the 116 responding institutions, it may not be representative of all of higher education. Key data points are represented graphically in the body of this report, and the full results of the survey may be found in the appendix.