American Public University System Reviews

Pros

Remote allows you flexibility to work anytime and anywhere.

Cons

Technology is out-of-date, but plans to update are in the works.

Pros

Health Care Benefits. 401K. Sick Leave. Flexible Hours. Students Are Military. 20 days Vacation. PD Opportunities. Good Colleagues.

Cons

Disorganization From The Top Through The Ranks. No Real Leadership. Comeplete Lack Of Communication. Labor/Workplace Issues. Pay Among Worst In Industry. Turnover Off The Charts. Pressure to Grade Inflate. No Support From Supervisors. Dog Eat Dog Climate.

Advice to Management

You have good people but you burn them out and use them up. Instead of letting rank and file leaders shine you swamp them in endless reports and neg them for not meeting standards that don't mean anything. You chase good people away by watching the little things instead of big picture. If you want better performance, reward it. Stop nit-picking everyone to death and look at bigger picture. No one trusts leadership to...

Pros

Working remotely has been a blessing as my children have aged. I enjoy working with faculty and students.

Cons

It has become apparent over the last six months or so that Faculty and Directors are but mere tools in the eyes of Upper Level Administration. The bottom line is the money. Cap Labor spreadsheets are sent to us on a regular (usually with less than a day turnaround to complete them) and our OER Initiative and constant, circular examination of UFWI rates is indicative that the most important thing is KEEPING our students,...

Advice to Management

Get a grip. Killing your employees will not work out well for you. Yes, we know there are 1000 people out there looking for jobs who are desperate and will take our jobs (this is what we are told if we dare to object to yet another rule, regulation, or initiative), but they won't stay. No one can meet these standards. Pay your people appropriately and have some respect for work-life balance. There's got to be a better...

Pros

interesting variety of courses fascinating students

Cons

We work in the dark without much knowledge of what is going on throughout the university. Payment for adjuncts is so erratic that we can work for weeks without actually knowing what we are earning. So much turnover in middle management means that adjunct part timers can get heavily faulted because the new people coming in decide to change a lot of rules that those of us who have been working there longer than they have...

Advice to Management

Treat the faculty at least as well as you treat the students. Make a cribsheet of all the existing rules, with a column on the left of the way things used to be (do you even know what the faculty you come in to supervise are used to?) and then in the right hand column what the new procedure has been changed to so people know what to expect. Be clear and concise in communications. Do not address to all faculty information...

Pros

Positive environment, friendly management team

Cons

Stressful work environment occasionally, inadequate pay, lack of advancement opportunities

Advice to Management

N/a

Pros

My program and the people who run it are amazing! Working remotely is nice, but comes with a cost.

Cons

Without a PhD you won't make more than $45,000 a year. The amount of students you have to teach (per your contract), combined with the number of papers/projects in each class, makes it difficult to stay on top of the grading and have time to really "teach".

Advice to Management

Getting a PhD is time consuming and expensive. Not having one shouldn't keep instructors from rank advancement - especially when they have over 10 years teaching experience.

Pros

Working with many of the students is a great experience. I just wish I had more time to work more directly with them.

Cons

Way too much workload - like double what is reasonable. Even with working 7 days a week, I cannot keep up with all the requirements and have to look for shortcuts when I can. I have to spend my vacation time doing the course owner work.

Advice to Management

You are burning out your faculty. Maybe you are fine with that. But keep in mind that the same will happen to you soon if you stay on this track. I am hanging in there for another year with you. But all of your faculty could make more money at other institutions and have a better work-life balance.

Pros

Accelerated learning with programs used in billing processes.

Cons

Management was too distracted and often pushed their work onto lower-level employees

Advice to Management

Do your own work and of you need assistance, make sure to stay late with your employees to see the job complete. Too often did I stay late to help out management only to watch them leave for the day as soon as 4:30 came around, leaving me to work late.