Online Teaching Blog

Whether teaching online or face-to-face, the importance of creating a strong rapport with students is clear. Yet, those of us teaching online may be at a disadvantage. The remote, asynchronous nature of the online classroom creates a natural psychological distance between us and our students (Falloon, 2011; Moore, 1997). But, addressing this disconnect may be as simple as personalizing our online teaching presence. The personalization principle (Clark & Mayer, 2011) highlights that by presenting content in a student-friendly, conversational, personalized tone, online instructors can simultaneously increase student learning and engagement.

Having worked in online education for over 15 years and working with thousands of clients while maintaining the confidence and anonymity of deans and administrators, I have learned a lot about why candidates don’t get that interview or get the job they were a perfect fit for. In this article, my goal is to share with you this candid feedback – even when it hurts to hear (or just shouldn’t be that way!)

Teaching online is exciting but can leave you with many questions. Deciding to adopt the adjunctpreneur^® lifestyle and teaching online is very rewarding but can leave you with many questions. You aren't sure you can meet the expectations of hiring managers for your desired position. Do you have the education, skills and expertise to be considered a good fit at an institution and get hired?

When I began to teach online, I already taught for five years at local community colleges. Though I had taught before, it did not prepare me for online teaching. I have learned that teaching online is different from teaching on the ground in many ways!

The five surprising lessons that I have learned as an online instructor are:

Social media is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Well, maybe not. There can be benefits to using social media, but there can be pitfalls too. Especially if you share too much information and are not cautious about what you share. Posting about your puppy may be fine, even if your employer sees this, but posting that you got the great raise may not be so good.

From stay at home parents to busy professionals looking for side work; from faculty who want to solely teach to retiree’s looking for extra meaningful work, the path to getting your first teaching job can seem daunting. In this article, we lay out the specific steps and tools and resources to help you achieve your goal.

You did it. You worked hard, earned your masters, had a wonderful career. Then, you had a family and nothing has been the same since. You took a leave – for the short term or long term – from your day job to raise your family. For many of us, nothing is more rewarding than making this decision and being a stay at home parent. That doesn’t mean you don’t crave grown-up conversations and look outside for meaningful work. When you do, you find employers inflexible, wanting hours that don’t fit with your kids school or extra curricular activities. Not to mention the money you would earn may not even cover child care. Who wants to take steps back in a job when you were responsible for a department or had another professional job?