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Tuesday, December 11, 2012

How Obamacare health reform could affect faculty at colleges and universities

How Obamacare health reform could affect faculty at colleges and universities

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/12/how_obamacare_health_reform_co.html
Brian McVicar | bmcvicar@mlive.com By Brian McVicar | bmcvicar@mlive.com
on December 07, 2012 at 12:37 PM, updated December 07, 2012 at 1:13 PM
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Many colleges and universities are looking for more guidance about how the federal health reform law will affect the status of adjunct employees.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- With about a year left before major portions of the federal health reform law take effect, colleges around the country – including Grand Rapids Community College – are looking for more guidance about how new regulations will affect adjunct instructors.
Specifically, the concern is over a provision in the act treating employees working 30 or more hours a week as full-time, thus requiring employer-assisted health care.
Considering that many in academe “talk more about credit hours and course loads than hours worked, more clarification is needed,” Craig Smith, director of higher education for the American Federation of Teachers, recently told Inside Higher Ed.
A Grand Rapids Community College spokeswoman agreed.
President Steven Ender, during a recent board of trustees meeting, said depending on how the law is implemented, the college could face significant costs associated with providing insurance for adjunct faculty.
The college, as of now, doesn’t offer insurance to its 600 or so adjunct faculty.
Kathy Mullins, executive deputy to the president, said the college is in the process of examining the law and how many adjuncts' work-load approaches the 30-hour threshold.
She declined to comment further.
Fred van Hartesveldt, president of GRCC's faculty association, said the number of adjunct faculty who work more than 30 clock hours per week is significant.
"If the health care act looks at clock hours, there will be a lot of adjuncts at over 30 hours a week," he said. "I'm sure they would love to have health insurance, but I'm sure the college would not want to pay for that. So that's going to be the issue."
In a statement, Grand Valley State University spokeswoman Mary Eilleen Lyon said administrators are examining the law but have not taken any actions.
At least two colleges and universities – Community College of Allegheny County in Pennsylvania and Youngstown State University in Ohio – have already created caps on the amount of hours their adjunct faculty teach to avoid fees associated with the affordable care act, according to Inside Higher Ed.
That was a blow to adjuncts because not only does it mean they won't gain health coverage, it also means lower pay because they're teaching fewer courses, according to Inside Higher Ed.

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Announcing the 8th Institute for New Faculty Developers


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The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Kennesaw State University and the POD Network are pleased to present the 8th Institute for New Faculty Developers
Registrations are now being accepted for the Institute, to be held June 24-28, 2013, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Faculty development is crucial for institutions which are becoming more student-centered and need to be more accountable to the public. As a career, it is rewarding and exciting. And yet, most people in the field entered it without proper training or a qualifying degree and have faced a steep learning curve when they were starting out.


The Institute is designed to answer questions asked by new faculty developers and to provide the resources to get them started in planning, developing, and managing programs that will be effective in strengthening teaching and learning on campus.

Participants at the Institute will learn from a group of outstanding presenters and facilitators from a diverse mix of institutions who are recognized leaders in the field.

Participants will save $150 off the regular Institute fee when registering by the Early Bird deadline of April 5, 2013. Those who register by the early bird deadline will also be included in the needs assessment, and will be able to give input as to what concurrent sessions would be most helpful to them.
Fees for this five-day program include all program activities and materials, two key resources “A Guide to Faculty Development” and “How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching,” and most meals and refreshments, all at a reasonable rate.


REGISTER ONLINE HERE.

See you in Atlanta!
 

Hoag Holmgren
Executive Director
The Professional and Organizational Development
Network in Higher Education (POD)

and
Michele DiPietro,
Executive Director
Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning
Kennesaw State University
President
Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education

Professional Organizational Development Network in Highter Education
Center for Excellence
in Teaching & Learning
1000 Chastain Road MB#5400
Kennesaw, GA 30144

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TGIF -- Online Roles for Retired Academics plus MOOCs: 2 great Events this Week





Twenty ninth issue, Volume Five

TLT Group TGIF 12.11.2012           
From TLT Group World Headquarters
When deciding what you can do in 2012 for organizations you admire we hope you will think of the TLT Group. Please click here to support the (non-profit) TLT Group with a donation as 2012 ends.

Two NEW member only workshop series will begin in January:
  • Members Only Exchange: Social media/Networking Tools/Reslources
  • Silver Cloud Monthly event.         
More from the TLT-SWG Blog

Painfully funny re core standards: Read “Recommended Levels of Insulation" to/with your kids. Clothe the emperor!

Experiments w TAs, peer-grading in MOOCs - Coursera - elsewhere? PREP FRLV 12/7 2pmET #TLTGfrlv

Marcus notes1 “Univs suffering from near-fatal 'cost disease'..is Tech the Answer” HELPFUL PREP FRLV 12/7 2pmET #TLTGfrlv

13 Useful Questions re MOOCs frame Marcus’ Notes from Stanford “Unconference,” HELPFUL PREP FOR FRLV 12/7 2pmET #TLTGfrlv

Marcus recommends almost 30 recent pubs (comments, analyses) re MOOCs: HELPFUL PREP FOR FRLV 12/7 2pmET #TLTGfrlv

Online Workshops
NEW for December!!!
Members Only Exchange
Different Kinds of Roles : Additional roles to improve online/hybrid courses, sessions
(This session is free to TLT Group Members $75 Fee to others)
December 12, 2012 2:00pm EDT
Leaders: Steve Gilbert, Beth Dailey, and others. Register in advance here.  

What's the least an additional person could do to be useful in contributing to the teaching/running of online/hybrid sessions
What if the person is a faculty colleague from the same academic department? What if the person is a student serving as "designated scribe"? What if the person is a retiree quite expert in the subject? A retiree from another discipline entirely? An instructional designer? A Grad TA?
How much/little authority, responsibility, tasks can/should be shared?
Also - an exploration of WHAT ROLES WOULD IMPROVE THE TLT GROUP'S ONLINE SESSIONS? "DELEGATED LEARNER" OR "VOICE OF THE LEARNER", "LEARNER REPRESENTATIVE" OR "MODEL LEARNER" "SURROGATE LEARNER" "VISIBLE LEARNER" "REPRESENTATIVE LEARNER" - Someone who has NOT already learned how to use the tool/resource who goes through the process live, in public, asking questions, showing false starts, willing to reveal mistakes,"all learning is about beginning", keeps the teacher SLOW enough so that others can also be going through the first-time learning experience and actually using the tool/resource at least once with at least some success ... asks questions that others probably want to ask... but are either reluctant or unable (can't get microphone) to ask for themselves.
Look for this workshop in 2013: Demysifying Accreditation

Colleges Doing Creative Things to Stay Alive FridayLive! Dec14 2pm ET Free to all Register in advance

 Join our Experiment
Members Only Experiment
Learn in Real Time - How to Create a Google Form,
Dec 13 2pm ET, Members Only, Register in advance
Leaders: Gloria Hofer and Beth Dailey
Google Forms can easily be used to collect feedback from participants in an online session. Follow along as Gloria Hofer, Instructional Technology Resource Specialist, at  Santa Clara University teaches Beth Dailey, Designated Learner or Honored Idiot, how to create a Google Form.  This is especially designed for those who have absolutely NO previous experience with this tool).  - Follow along yourself and create your own Google Form survey, etc. - ask questions as we go along live.
  
 
Encourage. Enable. Engage.

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