Summer is coming up, and while more traditional schools have “summer vacation,” not so for the distance learning courses—no matter the season they continue to teach students. This also means instructors will continue to run up against obstacles, conundrums, barriers, hiccups, and challenges in their online classes, and thus another edition of my column. Have a distance learning question? Drop me an e-mail at ErrolDistanceLearning@gmail.com—I'll be glad to help out of I can!
Meanwhile, here is an interesting mix of subjects …
Okay, you are going to think this is too basic to answer, but I'm hoping you'll feel sorry for me! My question has to do with time management—I teach at three schools, and that equals five to seven online courses each session. And I need add I'm married with two children, have a full-time job selling real estate, and am on a softball team. There are times when my courses seem to get away from me because of my several involvements—any “secrets” to managing my time?
While your question may initially seem basic—there are “tons” of websites devoted to time management, as well as books and articles galore—you touched on one of the biggest challenges distance learning instructors encounter. Many who teach online simply forget about the importance of managing their time, almost as if it doesn't apply to courses delivered through a computer—but this life skill counts big time, especially because of the many areas in an online course where time management is crucial: posting grades, responding to student e-mails, sitting in on departmental and/or schoolwide webinars, grading assignments, monitoring discussions and chats—the list goes on.
But while I may have made you feel a bit better for asking the question I haven't answered it, so here goes: there is no one golden nugget that can tame time. It's individual, of course, that is, what remains a time management problem for one person may be easy for another. Yet there are a few major items that go a long way in helping anyone teaching online keep his or her time in check: (1) Organize—if there is a platinum suggestion this is it, for online teaching can't be done helter-shelter or by the seat of one's pants. Keep a daily schedule of what is due when—on your computer or on paper—and check it often. (2) Have a neat desk—the messier one's desk the more one will forget notes, due dates, responsibilities out of class, et cetera. (3) Partition off time for teaching, family, other work, and play—when you set yourself a schedule, even one that is general, you'll have an easier time teaching because you'll know that's your time to do just that (at least the major stuff, such as grading—you do need check your class e-mail several times a day). Try these—you'll begin to master time :)
I'm getting tired of trying to stay in step with what seems like a constant release of software I use to teach online. For example, just when I finally got comfortable with Windows 7 I’ve read that Windows 8 is coming out this fall; and likewise I just bought Office 10 at the beginning of the year, but now I’ve learned that Office 12 is also coming out in the fall. Is there any way I can just feel comfortable with what I have, and not worry that I will be left behind the software 8 ball?
Software and hardware updates are a combination of continual technological advances and efforts to keep or improve a market share by a manufacturer (such as Microsoft or Apple). And one can easily feel “out of the loop” if he or she does not have the latest piece of software—or the most current piece of computer hardware (whether that be in the form of a PC, laptop, tablet, or smartphone). But unless you are required by your school to use a certain type of software (and in nearly all cases where this happens the school provides free copies of the upgraded software to its instructors, and usually its students) there is no need to panic: you are fine with what works for you!
You mentioned Windows 8—the beta test version is out now, and feedback has it offering major problems for those who use a PC. And let's not forget Internet Explorer 10, soon to be launched—if past IE releases are any indication this update will not interface with many schools and applications in its initial debut. As for Office 12, well, no huge changes there, but changes, certainly, and some online instructors might like (I'll be reviewing it in a future “Try This” column). So, the ol’ bottom line is this: if your software—and hardware—perform well and do all the functions you need for your distance learning classes there is no reason to update. (And by the way: new releases are notorious for having bugs, resulting in a slew of patches from the manufacturers to fix the problems.) Certainly, keep an eye out for reports and feedback on new releases: what comes out as new usually ends up being the next standard (with some exceptions: remember Microsoft's Vista?).
Your suggestions in this column have been great, and I’ve used many to great success in my online classes—thanks! But I’ve run up against an obstacle for which I just can't seem to find a cure. Trying to help my online students as much as possible with their weekly assignments I post many resources throughout the course, even offering samples of what I expect from them and sending out mass e-mails to my students each week with a reminder of the areas on which to focus for these assignments. But it seems I was naïve in thinking this would result in my full class including all parts of the assignment! I’d say, on average, my classes have at least 20%-30% of students who turn in assignments that are incomplete—any suggestions?
We like to think that all our students read every one of our resources, posts, and e-mails we liberally distribute throughout the course. But that is in the Land of Nirvana, and teaching online brings us some students who just want to do the minimum of work with the least amount of effort, have other responsibilities outside of class that get in the way of their putting in more class time, or just don't care very much about earning a good grade. We as dedicated and enthused educators are not magicians; it is rare that we will reach each person in our courses in a manner that makes us feel totally satisfied with all students’ efforts. (There is a caveat to this: smaller class sizes and graduate-level courses tend to have greater overall student success.)
What you have shared with me is great—you are doing some marvelous things to help your students. I do have two suggestions, and the first is in direct line with the heart of why we are able to teach courses online: technology. With more and more students tuned in to the many facets technology offers in communication, the use of audio and visual—such as PowerPoint, Prezi, and YouTube—can get students more engaged in a course. Also, be sure reality-based education is a part of your course, that is, always transitioning your subject into the professional world where it is applied, needed, and expected; often, when students are reminded of a subject's importance to “the real world” it can spark an interest of doing better in a class because they realize it can help their stature and productivity on the job.
When there is a facultywide project I'm the person who others—fellow online instructors, as well as administrators—know can always be counted on to get the job done, to make sure there is no slack, to have a finished project be perfect. This is my nature—I'm enthusiastic about these types of team efforts, but again and again I find others are willing to not give 100% because they know I always will. Often, this results in my doing the bulk of the work, yet with all on our committee or in our group getting equal credit. I write nice e-mails thanking and congratulating all on a team effort well done, but beneath the surface I'm angry that some folks just take me for granted, knowing if they don't do all of their assigned task I'll make sure it's completed. What should I do?
Your situation is one not peculiar to distance learning, of course, but the environment of distance learning can easily foster such a scenario in that there are no physical get-togethers, no working lunches, no face-to-face strategizing sessions. Thus, as a deadline draws near and a project is not complete there is often a silent void that is usually filled by at least one person in the group. The more this person takes over so a project can be completed in a quality manner and on time the more that person will be used for that role. It's a human nature type of thing.
So, what to do? It depends. First, if you are in an authoritative position you can certainly use your title to get others involved. But beyond that—when all in your group are equal or you are somewhat lower in the hierarchy—the best you can do is know what your efforts are doing for the school, for the students. Complaining will not do much to help you, and it might even hurt in class assignments. The next time you are asked to be part of a group project in an online environment at your school take your same friendly attitude, but be a bit more specific in going over who is responsible for what part of the project. (And, yes, people in your position have been known to purposefully ease up on a project, knowing without their full effort the end result won't be stellar, believing his or her worth will finally be noticed. But it's not a good thing to do—such an approach can backfire in numerous ways.) The bottom line: it's who you are to give as much as you do to a project—take your joy from what you help to accomplish.
Remember: The more we read, watch, and listen on how to realize our goals of creating the perfect cole slaw, barbequed ribs, and strawberry mousse the closer we will come to achieving it—yet doing it on our own will slow down or stall the pace.
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