The Storm Approaches in Tea at the Cabin in the Woods

Warnings are popping up all over the screen of my laptop to prepare for up to 12" of snow. I'll believe it when I see it. Sometime in the wee hours of the night it is supposed to begin and dump large amounts of heavy wet snow on the forest and roads surrounding my home. If that, in fact happens, classes will be called off for the morning and frankly, I can't afford to lose a class time for this course since it is so incredibly full of things we need to cover. But, what can you do?

The past couple of years the college decided we needed to have an on-line program. being the team player, I agreed to develop some courses and to teach in the format at a MUCH reduced rate in pay. I say that because the on-line courses count as "Over-Loads" and we get paid as if we are adjunct professors for over-loads. At first i accepted this when I was assured there would be no more than 15 in a class. Let me tell you about how someone's word has little to no merit in the word of academia - even with a contract. The course I just completed had 25 very active students, requiring anywhere from 2 - 4 hours a day - EVERY DAY - of work. I figured it out, I got paid all of $13.00 an hour, lost time that I could have spent with friends or family or reading something fun, and interfered with my peace of mind.

Now, today, I received the evaluations from the students about the course. On a 0 - 5 scale with 5 being the highest, my overall rating was a 4.6. That's not too bad. But the comments left me scratching my head. Things like, "There is too much work in this course, three major papers with 5 pages is too much for one class." (five page papers are not major papers on the college level... ) "This was very time consuming, I work and have kids not like typical college kids, that's why I am taking on-line classes so I don't have as much work to do." (If you want the degree, you need to earn it and that requires work - it's part of going to college. Also, I went to college as a parent of small children and worked full-time doing what every other student on campus has to do - I don't feel sorry for you.)
"I can't believe we had as many as 5 discussions questions to respond to in a week!" (That was only the first week and the last week of class only had 2 - it was a bit of an exaggeration)

So, now the question is, do I continue to develop courses at this low price and teach for pittance or do I decide to no longer be a team player and just stop? Here's the kicker in all this, I am up for promotion this year to Associate Professor... Can we say CATCH 22? AUGH>>>

Before I leave for my next class, I have a question to ask of you, What do you about a person you have lent money to, a large sum to you, in order to assist that person in paying the rent? After 2 years the person is now gainfully employed and makes as much if not more money than you and has still not returned the "LOAN". Is it fair to request the money be paid back soon or do you let it ride? If you ask for it back, how do you do that without losing the friendship - which is by now already strained as far as your concerned? I could use some insight into this. Thanks for everything.

Later.