I do some adjunct teaching at a local college. I got an email this morning from a person representing a company called Campuswire, which I’ve not heard of but that doesn’t mean anything.
According to the email, the company is establishing something called Campuswire Courses, in which “top professors” are being invited to teach semester-long courses for–well, more than I’m making at my college, which in turn is substantially more than I’d be making as an adjunct at most of the nearby schools.
The courses are to be offered to “anyone on the internet” and the hope is to hire people to “deliver game-changing learning experiences.” Not my favorite phrasing, but there you go.
The pitch is definitely aimed at adjuncts. The letter is mostly personalized, with one glaring misstep; the writer singles out a particular course I teach that the company is interested in, but a) I don’t actually teach it and b) my department doesn’t offer it. (For the record, given time to prepare, I could teach it. If it were offered. Which it isn’t.)
Anyway, they’re inviting me to get in touch with them and “talk further.” Obviously I’ll do more research first before taking that step. But I’m curious about whether anybody here in–or out of–academia has run into these folks before, and if so, what your impression might be! Thanks.