Adjunct Starter Kit: Outside the Classroom

Office Hours

You should schedule at least one office hour per week for each section you teach in order to be available to students for extra assistance. When possible, please make your office hours mirror your teaching modality (e.g., have face to face office hours for a face to face course and live remote office hours for a live remote course). Please make your students aware of how they may find you for help.

Starfish: Faculty shall use Starfish to note their office hours and the choice of video-conference platform. This will allow students and enrollment services staff in Room 101 to access information about office hours in one place and format, and it will allow faculty to make changes to office hours as needed (for example if they increase office hours during peak advising season or must change office hours for conferences, etc.). Starfish shall be the remote equivalent of posting office hours on an office door or posting on a door that hours have been changed or cancelled. Starfish also automatically links with your Outlook Calendar.

Setting up office hours in Starfish (7 mins)

Changing/Canceling your office hours in Starfish  (2.5 mins)

Granting Permission for the Suite Secretaries to See Your Calendar
Your students and advisees will have access to your calendar for office hours, but please grant Chrissie Askew and Deb Fedenko access as well. This will enable them to help other students, staff, and faculty to find your office hours as needed. The videos above show how to do this, and this document does as well.

Video-Conference Platform: Faculty may use their choice of Video-Conference platform for Office Hours, this includes using Zoom. However, if a student requests live-captioning for Office Hours, Faculty must make it available.

Office Space: Shared office space is available for adjunct instructors in Rooms 212 and 243. Adjunct faculty teaching in English, math and science will be located in Room 212, adjacent to faculty suite 220; faculty teaching in business, social sciences, and other disciplines will be in Room 243, adjacent to faculty suite 241. Keys to cabinets assigned will be issued through the Facilities office, please request from Deb/Chrissie as needed.

Adjunct Office Space

Room 212 - supported by faculty suite secretary Chrissie Askew (bcaskew@tompkinscortland.edu) in room 220
Faculty in English, math, and science will work in room 212

Room 243 - supported by faculty suite secretary Deborah Fedenko (df1@tompkinscortland.edu) in room 241
Faculty in business, social sciences, and other disciplines will work in room 243

College Teaching Center (CTC) - located next to the Baker Commons Classroom in the library, faculty are always welcome to use the CTC as long as no other group is using it for a meeting or CTC event.

If you would like to reserve the CTC for a meeting, please contact CTC Coordinator Eric Jenes (ej1@tompkinscortland.edu)

Communication with Students

Responding to Student Correspondence and Grading
Please include in your syllabus how long it will generally take you to respond to student correspondence/questions and the best way to contact you. Ensure that your response time will be less than 1 -2 business days. Furthermore, please include in your syllabus how long it will generally take you to grade student assignments, especially high-stakes work like papers, exams, etc. If you fall behind your typical procedures, please make sure to let students know that you will be taking longer than usual. We ask not that you follow a specific or standard timeline; instead, we ask that you grade student assignments with deliberate speed and keep students informed about when they can expect work to be graded.

Communication Tools Available

• E-Mail: All formal college correspondence between instructors and students must be conducted via Tompkins Cortland email accounts to ensure both network security and conformity to FERPA legislation (Starfish, Brightspace, and other communication systems use these accounts). TC3 emails are owned by Tompkins Cortland Community College, and the College maintains the right to access these accounts. It is advised that you keep your personal and professional emails separate.
• Texting Function: In your class list in Self Service, you have access to a texting function. You can select individual students or the entire class, and then click on “Email/text (Short) Message Selected” from the left-hand list. A new dialogue box will appear, and you can enter a text message and an email message (if needed).
• Starfish: You can message a student in Starfish by searching for the student and then clicking on “Message” in the dialogue box that appears. Those messages go directly to the student’s email inbox and are only seen by the student. If you choose “Note,” that note can be seen by the student’s support team.
• Teams: Because MS Teams was used during the 2020-2021 academic year, students are familiar with that platform. They can call you during office hours or send a chat.

It is strongly recommended you avoid distributing your personal phone number and email to students; instead, use one of the official college modes of communication.

Applied Learning / Internships

Applied learning opportunities for students can be used to enhance class curriculum and provide invaluable hands-on learning experiences to re-enforce classroom concepts and networking opportunities for students. The College implemented Handshake during summer 2021, which is a career management system that manages internships, job opportunities, and supports the administration of applied learning opportunities for faculty. Handshake is administered by the Department of Workforce and Employer Partnerships (BIZ).

Please contact Carrie Coates Whitmore, clw@tompkinscortland.edu, ext. 4334, to learn more about Handshake and how the department can support your applied learning efforts, and exploring opportunities with local employers.