We hold Saturday training sessions for adjunct faculty once per semester, covering both nuts-and-bolts (rosters, legal matters, syllabi) and more general pedagogy (how to hold effective and interesting lectures, increase student engagement, and build courses that are balanced and aligned between goals, objectives, assignments, and teaching practice).

The retreat is a single-day event that lasts seven hours.

List of Topics Discussed

• Introduction to Campus Resources
• Teaching Portfolios / Teaching Philosophy
• Course Design, Goals & Objectives, Syllabi, Lesson Plans
• Cheating, Plagiarism, and Disruptive Conduct
• The Diverse Classroom Environment: Learning Styles
• Instructional Methodologies, Assessment Techniques, PowerPoint, myUCF Grades
• Group work, PBL, Collaboration

Stipend Qualification

Instructors who qualify will be given a stipend of $150. You are qualified for the stipend if:

• You are an adjunct (part-time) instructor at UCF teaching in the semester during which the retreat is offered (you are also qualified if you attend a retreat that occurs one month before the semester you will be teaching).
• You are attending an adjunct retreat for the first time.
• You are not a UCF employee on a 12-month contract, regardless of your adjunct position(s).

Attendance is limited to forty participants, so please register early. Those wishing to attend even if they cannot earn the stipend may do so, but they must also register for the retreat in the usual fashion.

In addition to the Saturday Retreat, adjuncts are encouraged to explore our self-paced professional development site, which breaks down the teaching experience into smaller modules and investigates best practices for each of them.