Ellen Uses a Variety of LMS for Teaching Multiple Online Courses

 

Ellen teaches online courses for more than one institution. Her primary responsibility as an instructor is for a community college, where she teaches online courses in health care at the undergraduate level. In her primary instructor position at the community college, her duties are determined by union rules. Her workload includes teaching an average of 17 credit hours per semester. If she teaches a three-credit online course, she gets a 5.8% load attached to the online course. For example, a three-credit course would be the equivalent of 20% load plus the added percentage for online courses. Each course must carry a minimum enrollment of 16 and a maximum of 24 participants. As part of her load, she coordinates fieldwork with 20 learners, which accounts for 5% of her workload. In addition, she is required to participate in service activities. For those, she is a member of three college committees that meet sporadically each year. 

 

Ellen also teaches online courses as an ad hoc instructor for two other institutions. These ad hoc positions focus primarily on teaching. One drawback of teaching at different institutions is you never know if the institutions will use the same learning management system (LMS). In Ellen’s case, each institution uses a different LMS, which becomes a challenge. As a veteran online instructor, she can manage her workload with minimum support strategies; however, she uses design, teaching, and time allocation strategies to function efficiently and effectively as an online instructor.

 

Design	·      Plans ahead to manage workload. ·      Determines all course activities and assignments including when they should be released in the LMS. ·      Spends about 12 hours on each course design, but once the courses are designed, her tasks become a matter of administrative, facilitative, and evaluative functions.
Teaching	·      Uses quizzes, group discussions, and projects. ·      Returns emails within 24 to 48 hours. ·      Teaches from home because she is not interrupted and dedicates long periods of time to different courses.
Time-Allocation	·      Blocks out small chunks of time, early in the morning and during evening hours, except on the days she teaches on campus. ·      Sets up online office hours to avoid a 45-minute trip to campus and other transportation issues such as road construction and parking.

 

One of Ellen’s major challenges when teaching for a variety of institutions is to keep up with the different LMS. She discovered that planning ahead of time for her online courses, prioritizing course activities, and setting up the release dates of course features helped her better manage her workload. This approach is also a time saver because the instructor is relieved from having to be constantly monitoring the different features of the various learning management systems during the delivery of the online courses. For example, when teaching multiple courses, it is difficult to remember the specific units and their activities for each course. By having them pre-set, the instructor’s time is freed up to participate in group discussions, provide learner feedback, and respond to participants’ concerns.

 

Reference

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

Bruno Balances His Workload by Teaching Online During Short Semesters

Bruno is a full professor at a four-year institution teaching courses in the discipline of sociology at the undergraduate level. His three-credit 100-level online courses are offered during the winter break (for three weeks) and summer semester (for six weeks). Course enrollment varies from 25 to 35 participants. He teaches his online courses during these time periods to focus specifically on his teaching and research. During these times, he does not have any service responsibilities and is able to spend set hours for the course and research activities. He uses design, support, teaching, and time-allocation strategies to balance his workload.

Design	The first time he designed his online course, he spent about 40 hours preparing the materials. Once the online course was designed, his time to prepare the course for each offering was considerably reduced.
Support	Seeks one-on-one instructional design support from the teaching and learning center at his institution. Obtains content ideas and course materials from external resources, such as a local center related to the course topics, short videos from YouTube, and the historical society photos.
Teaching	Uses a variety of teaching strategies for his online course that include: PowerPoint lectures, short videos, group discussions, quizzes, papers, interviews, and the learning management system drop box for learner personal feedback. The difference between the two online course offerings is the amount of content employed in the course. For the shorter session, he removes some of the readings.
Time-Allocation	Uses automated grading on quizzes and group grading instead of individual grading. Provides grading online all the time versus intense grading done for face-to-face courses. Spends 20 hours per week for his online course and allocates 10 to 15 hours for his research activities.

 

For instructors whose responsibilities involve teaching, research, and service, teaching online during shorter semesters in contrast to long semesters can be an effective strategy for balancing workload. Service activities such as committee meetings, conference participation, and institutional projects, can be time-consuming and side-track instructors from teaching and research. Online teaching and research activities require focus, discipline, committed blocks of time, and anticipation of course responsibilities. By choosing to teach online during short semesters, instructors can dedicate focused time to their research, collecting fieldwork data from anywhere.

 

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.

Chuck Manages His Time Rather Than Time Managing Him

Chuck, a teaching academic staff at a four-year institution, teaches early childhood online courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. His teaching workload varies from semester to semester and his course duration lasts from 10, 12, to 16 weeks. Course enrollment varies from 25 to 28 participants. On a given semester, including summer, he teaches two face-to-face courses and one online course. As part of his workload assignment, he is also the program manager. For Chuck, a Type-A personality, teaching online is a 24/7 commitment. It is difficult for him to disconnect; however, he has developed strategies to manage his time. He uses design, support, teaching, and time-allocation strategies to manage his workload. Below are Chuck’s strategies for balancing her workload.

 

Design	Online courses repeat from year to year, so he spends time during the prior semester to prepare for the subsequent offering.
Support	Uses a course orientation with detailed information about the online course as an introduction to the online environment and creation of a context for learner comfort. Uses the help desk for learner support when technical problems arise.
Teaching	Uses group discussions, audio-narrated PowerPoints, audio announcements, and project presentations to accomplish that.
Time-Allocation	Dedicates 20 hours a week to teaching his online courses. Blocks out time daily to check the online course, usually, he does this in the early morning or evening. Checks on the course a little bit every day, rather than in large chunks of time. Manages learner expectations by telling them through explicit communication when he will respond. Has a flurry of learner activity at the beginning of the week and a slower pace toward the end of the week.

 

Managing his time rather than time managing him can be a challenge for online instructors, mainly for Chuck who enjoys being connected 24/7. But this can be a trap. To resolve this challenge, it is important to identify time allocation strategies that can help instructors better manage their time. Over time, Chuck developed strategies that met his needs and created a course that built community.

 

What can you do to avoid being constantly connected with your course? How can you share course responsibility with your learners? How can you allocate your time more efficiently?

Chuck sets up blocks of time to be connected to his online course, uses the community-building approach to involve course participants in learning from and assisting each other, and has a good sense of the pace of his online course.

 

Reference

 

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

Beatrice Uses Individual Feedback as a Workload Management Strategy

 

Beatrice, an associate professor at a four-year institution, teaches three-credit psychology online courses at the undergraduate level. Her academic load includes teaching two courses per semester (one course is supervision), conducting research (70% of her time), and participating in service activities. She teaches online during the regular semester for 14 weeks and during the summer semester for four weeks. Her course enrollment during the regular semester varies from 40 to 100 and during the summer semester from 20 to 40. Her online courses are content-based, and her activities are based on the course textbook. Her focus for workload management is on quality individual feedback on assignments. For her courses, she uses design, support, teaching, and time allocation strategies to balance her workload based on class enrollment. Below are Beatrice’s strategies for balancing her workload.

 

Design	Organizes the course based on the textbook chapters. Employs the PowerPoint files and quiz bank that come with textbook. Works one to two weeks prior to the beginning of the course to revise her online course.
Support	Receives institutional training to prepare for online teaching. Has a teaching assistant (TA) when course enrollment is high. TA helps her manage online courses by participating in the discussions and providing most of the learner feedback.
Teaching	Uses orientation activities to reduce learners’ questions about the course structure, assignments, and other concerns during the course. When there is a large enrollment, she divides the learners into discussion groups. In the discussion forum, learners have to post a 300 to 400-word message with their results and then post a 200 to 300-word message in response to someone else’s posting. Uses a quiz bank from the textbook. Provides an opportunity for learner feedback comments through a quiz dispute box. Creates instructor presence by rapidly responding to students’ emails and through course announcements and reminders.
Time-Allocation	With high enrollment, she focuses on individual feedback rather than on course design or group discussions. Takes two days to grade assignments (five hours each day per assignment) for a class of 40 learners. Checks the LMS constantly throughout the week, including weekends. Tells learners when she is not available. Uses a Word document template with examples of comments for learner feedback on the individual assignment.

 

By using pre-designed content and selecting a key design aspect of the online course, as Beatrice does with feedback, instructors can better manage their workload when they have a course with high enrollment. Beatrice provides quick responses by email. This can be a challenge for instructors whose learners perceive that they are available 24/7. The solution is to use teaching strategies that create boundaries and communicate these boundaries to the learners. Another teaching strategy in this situation is to draft a response to the learner while it is still fresh in your mind but hold back sending the response right away. This avoids learners’ perception that you will always answer their emails immediately.

 

Reference

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

Stan Plans Ahead to Predict His Workload

 

Stan, an assistant professor at a four-year institution, teaches three-credit adult education online courses at the graduate level. His academic load involves teaching three courses per semester, conducting research, and participating in service activities. He teaches both face-to-face and online courses during the regular 15- or 16-week semester and teaches online courses during the summer. His courses average an enrollment of about 22 non-traditional learners. His experience with non-traditional learners, who work full-time and have family obligations, requires that he design his online courses with a variety of options. That means planning ahead to meet learners’ needs. For his online courses, he uses design, teaching, and time allocation strategies to balance his workload based on his learner population. Below are Stan’s strategies for balancing his workload.

 

Design	Plans his online courses ahead of time. Puts himself in the role of the learner when designing his online courses. Offers an optional face-to-face course orientation. Organizes course based on units. Uses once a week synchronous chats, group discussions, and individual assignments. Chooses not to include teamwork because his non-traditional learners would have a difficult time coordinating team tasks. Has a folder with new ideas and notes taken during the delivery of the course, which serve as guides for when redesigning the course.
Teaching	Stan’s work tapers off as learners become more independent and his role changes from that of an expert to that of a guide. His time commitment to the course is reduced as the online course progresses. Encourages learner interaction by having them critique each other’s work.
Time-Allocation	Blocks out time in the morning to check his course, responds to emails, and participate in the discussion with learners. Announces that he responds to emails within 24 hours, so that course participants know what to expect.

 

Stan understands that online courses just don’t naturally happen. They require pre-planning, organization, and intentional design. Pre-planning helps him manage his workload so that his workload doesn’t manage him during his course delivery. The course organization assists instructors in determining a framework for their content and activities, thus they know what to expect during each course sequence. Intentional design serves as the means for instructors to maximize the efficiency, effectiveness, and appeal of online teaching to meet and anticipate their learners’ needs.

 

Reference

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

Lauri Used Co-Teaching to Balance Her Workload

 

Lauri, an associate professor at a four-year institution, teaches three-credit online linguistics courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Her course load is the equivalent of 2.5 courses per semester. Her courses are taught during the regular 15- or 16-week semester with an enrollment of 10 to 25 participants. She co-teaches her online courses with a colleague. In addition to teaching, she also has administrative duties as a coordinator of a certificate program. Lauri dedicates one day a week to her research. To balance her research and service responsibilities, she is not involved with teaching during the summer semester. She uses design, support, teaching, and time-allocation strategies to balance her workload. Below are Lauri’s strategies for balancing her workload.

 

Design	Co-designs with another instructor. Reduces required readings. Provides clear guidelines for discussions. Divides learners into groups.
Support	Obtains technical support through the help desk during preparation stages. Uses orientation activities as part of learner support at the beginning of the course. Shares stories of other learners on their online course experiences in previous courses.
Teaching	Sets specific guidelines for each instructor’s role. Gives rapid response to learners via email.
Time-Allocation	Has a light instructor presence during the week by answering general questions in the discussion area. Has a heavier instructor presence at the end of the week when they wrap up the discussion. Have learners summarize and lead discussions. Sets up blocks of time during the week (3 to 4 days per week). Tells her learners that she is not available on weekends.

 

 

In Lauri’s case, co-teaching seems to have worked as part of her design strategy for the type of online course she teaches. Setting up clear guidelines for co-teaching is essential for an efficient and effective online course delivery. This strategy may not work for everyone, but it is an option. It is important to check the institutions’ policies and procedures regarding co-teaching. Keep in mind that the best strategies are the ones that fit with your teaching and lifestyle.

 

For Lauri, focusing on the course during the week and avoiding weekend teaching, worked well for her to distinguish between her work and personal life. Balancing between light and heavy instructor presence during the week was an efficient way to manage the teaching workload. Selecting one day a week to work on her research prevented distractions from other responsibilities and kept her organized with her research responsibilities. Leaving the summer semester for service and research helped her balance other academic responsibilities.

 

Reference

 

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

Instructors’ Stories about Balancing Workload

 

For the next few weeks, we will share instructors’ stories about balancing their workload when teaching online based on the approaches they used. These stories are the result of 14 interviews with online instructors in higher education. More detailed instructors’ stories can be found in our book, Managing Online Instructor Workload: Strategies for Finding Balance and Success, published in 2011.

 

The 14 stories we selected represent a variety of disciplines (education, health care, linguistics, sociology, science, and early childhood), positions held (tenure-track instructor, teaching academic staff, learning designers, consultants, etc.), course duration (semester, 3-6 weeks, etc.), level of instruction (graduate or undergraduate), and instructor experience. We use pseudonyms to identify the instructors in our stories and maintain confidentiality. The aim is to focus on the strategies that most concern instructors who teach online. In some cases, these strategies overlap. It is our hope that you will be able to identify with some of these stories, learn from them, and apply them to your own practice.  

 

Stay tuned!

 

References

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

Using the Template for Managing Tasks and Prioritizing Time

 

As we noted in our previous postings, our “Being There for the Online Learner Model” and “Framework for Creating Presence” (Lehman & Conceição, 2010) were developed to help you understand that presence, which is “perceptual” in nature, 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 a personal experience, and more effectively engage your students.

This week, we’re introducing our “Template for Managing Tasks and Prioritizing Time,” found in our book, Managing Online Instructor Workload: Strategies for Finding Balance and Success (Conceição & Lehman, 2011). This template helps you look at any type of course from a broad perspective and better manage your tasks and time.

• 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. 

 

Template for Managing Tasks and Prioritizing Time

 

Course Sequence	Type of Task	Week #	Time Spent
Before the course	Design
During and end of course	Administrative
	Facilitative
	Evaluative

 

Download the Template for Managing Tasks and Prioritizing Time.

 

In addition to the template, our book provides examples of how this template can be used in each of the three instances. It also suggests strategies that instructors can use to maintain their quality of life. Teaching online can be overwhelming if you let it control you. Managing workload and prioritizing time help put you “in control.”

 

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.