Natalie Manages Her Tasks in Chunks When Designing for Multiple Courses

Natalie is an ad hoc instructor at a four-year institution. She also works as a graduate assistant for a public university and a consultant for a private university. These jobs are part-time while she is working on her doctoral studies. She teaches a three-credit undergraduate-level course with an enrollment of 26 participants during a six-week summer semester. Natalie considers herself a multi-tasker because she works in three different positions, carrying out similar tasks, in different capacities. For her, dealing with all these responsibilities, tasks of each position must have its own space. Workload management for her is not just for the course she teaches; it is also for her personal life. Natalie uses design, teaching, and time allocation strategies to manage her workload.

 

Design	Designs her course for each position in its own online space, time, and physical location. Designs the entire course in the LMS in advance because it includes incorporating voiceover, video, authored video resources, and scripts. This requires sophisticated technology, intensive blocks of time, and focused attention. Completes tasks in small chunks.
Teaching	Uses a scavenger hunt activity to orient learners to the online environment, group discussions to engage learners in conversations about the topic, and team projects in which learners share their work. Uses essays as an assessment tool and provides individual feedback on learner writing. During the semester, she provides quick responses to learners based on her expectations.
Time-Allocation	Accomplishes her work from task to task. Schedules specific time for her online course work. Completes her most important tasks, like grading, when she is most alert such as late mornings or early evenings. Provides feedback in the beginning of the week (on Monday evenings) for about three hours. Creates a schedule for her learners for when to post responses to the discussion. Spends an average of 10 hours a week on the online course. Checks her online course at least once in the morning and twice in the evening. Has virtual office hours for learners to meet with her for questions or concerns about the online course.

             

For online instructors, who work in different positions doing similar tasks, like Natalie does, managing the workload can be complicated. Because instructors in this situation must distinguish between the various tasks, they need to allocate specific online space, time, and physical location to adequately accomplish these tasks. In an era when the Internet is ever-present from job to job and during our personal life schedule, setting boundaries and holding to them, is the solution.

 

Reference

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

Kay Blocks Out Time for Her Online Courses

 

Kay is a Clinical Assistant Professor at a four-year institution on a 12-month contract. She teaches 3 to 4-credit undergraduate courses in the discipline of health care. Her courses are offered during the regular 15- or 16-week semester and during the 12-week summer semester. Her online course enrollment varies from 20 participants during the regular semester to 12 participants during the summer semester. Her responsibilities focus on teaching, administration, and service. Kay’s teaching workload involves 12 units per semester: 7 to 10 credits of teaching, one credit for service, 1 to 3 credits for administration, and 0.5 credit for e-learning for the department. She teaches two online courses during the summer semester. As part of her administrative duties, she coordinates a program within her discipline. Her face-to-face courses are hands-on and interactive. When moving her courses to the online environment, Kay had to rethink her workload by incorporating design, support, teaching, and time allocation strategies.

 

Design	Focuses on how to distribute course activities to balance her workload among all courses in each semester. Spends 10 to 12 hours preparing the online courses before the course starts. Designs throughout the course duration and spends four hours per week designing the course during the semester.
Support	Seeks course innovation by attending conferences and involving learners in sharing resources. Uses one-on-one support from the teaching and learning center at her institution, peer support, and institutional support through the help desk.
Teaching	Uses group discussions, games, and creative activities as her teaching strategies. Develops a detailed syllabus about course expectations. Communicates to learners her guidelines for responding to their emails (within 48 hours) and communicates her level of participation during the course delivery. First checks the discussion forum and emails and then moves on to other aspects of the online course.
Time-Allocation	Is disciplined with her schedule for the online courses. Mondays and Wednesdays, she blocks out time from 9:00 AM to noon for online courses by closing her office door and letting other colleagues know that she is teaching at that time. Reserves time in her calendar for teaching online.  Checks her courses every day as a cross out mental check list for the day. Allows some flexibility in case personal issues arise. When a personal issue occurs, she rearranges her schedule.

 

Kay’s workload focuses primarily on teaching and service. Thus, blocking out time for the online courses is critical for helping her manage her workload. Kay closes her office door during these times to avoid distractions and dedicates exclusive time for her learners. In doing this, she shows colleagues that she is allocating specific time for her online courses during regular work hours. Kay is very disciplined with implementing her closed-door approach and checking her online courses every day as a way to mentally cross off her daily tasks.

 

Reference

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

Strategies for Finding Balance and Success – TIME-ALLOCATION

In our book, Managing Online Instructor Workload: Strategies for Finding Balance and Success (Conceição & Lehman, 2011), we suggest four strategies that are based on four major themes that emerged from an instructor/learner study we conducted: 

 

1.    design strategies

2.    support strategies

3.    teaching strategies

4.    time-allocation strategies

 

These strategies can guide and help online instructors determine how to manage their workload and prioritize their time so that they can find balance and success in their work and personal life. This week we’re looking at the fourth strategy – TIME-ALLOCATION.

4. TIME-ALLOCATION – Although teaching online can give instructors more flexibility in terms of where and when they can work, it can also be a snare, unless instructors allocate their time strategically. Often, online instructors think that they must be “always there” for their learners. This extreme behavior can take over instructors’ work responsibilities and their personal lives. This is a common struggle that instructors experience. Through time-allocation, they can gain control over their time, rather than having time control them. 

Design, support, teaching, and time-allocation strategies are valuable to use if you, as an instructor, are looking for balance and success in online teaching. 

 

References

 

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