Log on, Plug in, Fire up - April 23, 2013

Register for the first session of the Log on, Plug in, Fire up: Technological Trends in Adult, Continuing, and Higher Education conference on "Innovative Disruption: What This Means for Educators". The webconference is scheduled for April 23, 2013 from 10:00-3:30 pm CST. It will be presented by Bruce Maas, CIO and Vice Provost for Information Technology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Register today at http://lnkd.in/uC7H38 

Instructor Strategies to Balance Workload

Being an online instructor gives you more flexibility in terms of where and when you can work, but it can also be a trap, unless you allocate your time strategically and balance your work and personal life. Organization, discipline, and flexibility are essential.

Organization provides structure and helps with pre-planning and course delivery. Blocking out specific time for course design and delivery prior to the course can help you predict how many hours you would spend on your online course. This can also give you more time to concentrate on actual teaching during course delivery. For some instructors, this can mean being able to balance workload more efficiently between co-instructors and cohort groups. In addition, pre-course organization can help you allocate time for non-course administrative, research, and service responsibilities. 

Discipline can help you adhere to your schedule and maintain a set routine during the term of their course and can be a time-saver. Blocking out specific time during the day or weekend for learner responses and sticking to it can reduce workload. To avoid letting work take over your personal life, learn to set boundaries. Setting aside time for personal obligations is an important aspect of maintaining quality of life. Using the following strategies can help you maintain a work-life balance:

•  Work from home, in a family environment, to gain freedom
•  Avoid working on the online course on weekends
•  Maintain a separate physical location for teaching online to allow for mental separation between work and personal life.
•  Avoid responding to emails on weekends. If you have the need to write your response, do so, but wait to send it during regular work hours to prevent learner expectation that you are constantly available.  
•  Distinguish between work and personal life when teaching online exclusively from home
•  Manage learner expectations through explicit communication about email response and assignment feedback

Flexibility is important in the area of personal matters. For a period of time you may have to rearrange your schedule to accommodate personal issues. This is okay. You must find a way to manage workload and prioritize your time to find balance and success in your personal and work life. Below is a Table of Strategies for Balancing Workload.

           TABLE OF STRATEGIES FOR BALANCING WORKLOAD

Design                      Support       Teaching         Allocate Time    

Pre-plan course         One on one  Administrative Be Organized

Know responsibilities  Institutional  Facilitative      Be disciplined

Prioritize activities      Peer             Evaluative      Set boundaries

Anticipate needs         External                             Be flexible

Reflect on/revise

Template for Managing Tasks and Prioritizing Time

Our “Being There for the Online Learner Model” and “Framework for Creating Presence” were developed to help you understand that presence is “perceptual” in nature and is an important part of designing and delivering an online course. With this in mind, you are better able to bring the human aspect into your online course, make it personal experiences, and more effectively engage your learners.

Our “Template for Managing Tasks and Prioritizing Time” in our book, Managing Online Instructor Workload: Strategies for Finding Balance and Success (Conceição & Lehman, 2011) helps you look at your course from a broad perspective and is a valuable template to use when planning your course design and delivery. It can serve as a guide for managing and balancing workload when creating your new online course, converting a face-to-face course to the online environment, or revising a course already taught online.

For new courses, the template can help you estimate the tasks you may do and the time you may spend during the design and delivery of the course. For converting courses, the template can assist you in rethinking how you can teach your course in the new environment. For existing online courses, the template can help you revisit your tasks and your time spent to become more efficient and effective when teaching the same course again. Our book, Managing Online Instructor Workload: Strategies for Balance and Success (Conceição & Lehman, 2011) also provides examples on how this template can be used in each of the three instances.

Next week we’ll follow up with "Strategies for Balancing Online Instructor Workload."

References

Lehman, R. M. & Conceição, S. C. O. (2010). Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to “Be There” for Distance Learners. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Conceição, S. C. O, Lehman, R. M. (2011). Managing Online Instructor Workload: Strategies for Finding Balance and Success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Framework for Creating Online Presence

Looking at the Framework for Creating Online Presence you see the Being There for the Online Learner model on the left. The model and framework help you become aware of and understand what is necessary to make presence happen online. The arrow running from the model to the instructor represents the instructor’s awareness of how presence occurs online. The arrow from the instructor to the determinants of presence represents the path the instructor takes to design the course with a sense of presence. The determinants of presence are the components of the design process that guide the instructor’s creation of presence in the online environment. The arrows from the determinants of presence to the model and from the model to the determinants of presence show the continuous action involved in using and revisiting the components of the framework.

Lets look at the determinants of presence more closely:

·  the type of content is determined by the course discipline; the focus of content is either process-based or content-based or a mix of both
·  the format may be self-paced, group-based, or a mix of both formats
·  strategies engage learners with the instructor, the content, and each other and can be instructor-led, logistical and instructional, cooperative, and/or collaborative
·  instructor roles are varied, depending on what needs to be accomplished and can include the role of instructional designer, lecturer, tutor, mentor, supporter, facilitator, catalyst, observer, and/or evaluator. In all cases, the instructor is also a learner, interacting with course participants and  engaging in course activities
·  the type of technology used in the online course can be asynchronous (time delay), synchronous (same time), or a blend of both (asynchronous and synchronous technologies offer different experiences and are used for specific reasons)
·  support is critical in the online environment. Learners need both instructional and technical support to function well. Support from the instructor provides psychological and emotional assistance; technical support helps learners overcome deficiencies in writing or lack of understanding about technology.


Next week, our: “Template for Managing Tasks and Prioritizing Time.”

References

Lehman, R. M. & Conceição, S. C. O. (2010). Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to “Be There” for Distance Learners. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Conceição, S. C. O, Lehman, R. M. (2011). Managing Online Instructor Workload: Strategies for Finding Balance and Success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.