Looking at Online Instructor Workload from Course Task Categories

 

It’s helpful to divide the tasks into categories. Though not all-inclusive, we’ve identified four task categories: design, administrative, facilitative, and evaluative.

 

Design Tasks

Design Tasks occur mainly before the course begins and are determined by the type of course that is being taught - a new course, a converted course, or a revised course. These tasks also indicate your role or roles and clarify your workload, which depends on the type and focus of the content, the course format, interactive strategies, technology use, and the support provided.

Administrative Tasks

Administrative Tasks involve those non-content course areas of communication, management, and support. Workload in this category is determined by the number of students enrolled, their experience, and the technology used. Administrative tasks start before the course begins with the orientation activities for learners. During the course, these tasks involve continuing communication (for example, twitter), managing assignments, and providing technical support.

Facilitative Tasks

Facilitative Tasks require instructor and learner engagement. Here, workload is determined by the depth of engagement during the delivery of course. To help manage workload in this category, you can limit the number of learner posts, set strict discussion guidelines, use group work to share class leadership with learners, and avoid group work when there is high enrollment or when learners have time constraints. You might also choose to hold synchronous chats when course content requires demonstration, language skills, or participation with guest speakers.

 

Evaluative Tasks

Evaluative Tasks include individual and group/team assessment and involve formative feedback on learner experience. To manage evaluation, first determine appropriate approaches, then consider enrollment, course strategies, the technology used, and the time of evaluation. You might also want to use a grading grid and create a file with feedback comments to help save. Other options are group rather than individual grading, peer grading, prompt feedback to save time, and assigning virtual team projects.

Once a starting point for course design has been determined, you should select a framework for designing the course. A suggested framework is our "Framework for Designing Online Courses with a Sense of Presence."

 

References

 

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

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.

New Thinking and Creative Strategies Help Online Instructors Manage Workload

 

Close your eyes and imagine the differences between the face-to-face and online environments. In the face-to-face environment, you can see your learners, hear their voices, and touch concrete objects. You can easily move among your learners, have eye-contact, feel a very personal sense of closeness, hear voice nuance, read body language, and demonstrate concepts. However, in the online environment everything is very elusive. You must think much more carefully about how you can relate to and engage your learners, create a sense of closeness, and describe your actions. In this environment, preplanning, intentional design, explicit instructions, and creating a sense of presence become essential.

Planning, intentional design, creating explicit instructions, and creating presence require time, energy, and creativity and can influence instructor workload. Workload is determined by

• the course discipline
• the course format
• interactive strategies
• the instructor role
• technologies
• support

 

For the Determinants of Presence, see our book, Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching.

The issue for instructors is to understand and think about what makes the online environment different. The challenge is to think with a new mindset about designing and delivering instruction, developing instructional strategies that work in the online environment, and creating a sense of presence that will make the virtual environment feel more real and personal. At the same time, instructors need to be mindful of workload. This is a challenge, but it can be realized.

 

References

 

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

Lehman, R. M. & Conceição, S. C. O. (2011). Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.