Online Teaching Blog

The Waiting is the Annoying Part.

Any day now, I expect to receive a letter from a school I have a ten-year relationship with. The contents of the form letter will indicate that I am no longer employed with said school; I know it is coming, but the waiting is the annoying part. I would rather be teaching classes instead of waiting for the ax to fall. The school’s policy, however, is that if you do not teach a class in a calendar year, you are out. My last class with them ended late last year and, given the prior frequency of my schedule and the lack thereof this year, likely there is no reasonable expectation of getting a class before that window closes.

Changing technology in online platforms distract faculty and students from the prime directive—teaching and learning, yet these so-called bells and whistles—most often referred to as upgrades—are continuously being added into the online Learning Management System (LMS) as part of each schools’ commitment to offer the most updated platform. A recent survey paired with current research revealed that too much rapid and ongoing change in technology is creating havoc for both students and professors alike. Most university administrators are sensitive to this matter and work with users involved to make changes and transitions easier to manage; however, responses from the survey instrument constructed and administered by these writers indicate that faculty members spend excessive amounts of time helping students simply learn the technology than teaching the topic content of the course. Further, responses showed that both faculty and students prefer change not occur as frequently so that subject matter teaching and learning synergy might be restored as the primary tenet in higher education.

I recently came across the life lessons of the Chinese bamboo tree story. The story teaches about patience, faith, growth and development. As I reflected on this story, I felt we, as adjuncts, can learn a few lessons from this story to help us stay the course as we seek to transition to full time adjunctpreneurs© and make that money teaching online.

Success in the online learning environment can take on a trial and error approach, especially for novice faculty or those mainly familiar with a face to face teaching environment. While some face to face strategies carry over, facilitating an online class demands a separate set of skills and may require more attention from the professor. Some professors find themselves suffering from negative reviews and not fully understanding the reasons while others may be apprehensive about transitioning to teaching online.

 

Three years ago, I wrote an article titled, “Detection of plagiarism while assessing online student work,” in which tips and tools for detecting plagiarism were identified and discussed. Since that time, students have continued to attempt to circumvent innovations in plagiarism detection and the industry known as “The Cheating Economy” has grown exponentially. This article, Plagiarism Detection in the Era of the Cheating Economy, will outline some of the more recent techniques used by students to avoid detection of plagiarism.

As part of designing a course or presenting a subject, a key principle to have effective and successful course outcomes is to understand who the audience is, so that as the instructor, relevant, engaging and relatable content, materials, and activities are included. However, as instructors, there is limited information about our students (our audience) beforehand unless we taught them previously. Students enroll in classes either because it is mandatory, or that it is somewhat interesting, or that it was a random choice chosen as a filler subject. Consequently, prior to meeting students, instructors are unaware of exactly who students are, what excites them, their learning styles, or any of their interests.

After spending time in the online teaching job market myself and now helping others find positions, I wanted to share what I find are the 8 biggest mistakes I see online professors make when searching for an online teaching job.

Searching for online teaching jobs takes time, effort and dedication. Many say that looking for a job is a full-time job in itself! You need the right tools and application materials as well as the commitment to doing the leg work. My goal here is to help you avoid some of the mistakes I made in my own search and that I see clients make in their efforts! Here are the 8 biggest mistakes I see online professors make when searching for an online teaching job!

Introduction

There is a common phrase penned by Margaret Wolf Hungerford; beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This phrase was published in the book Molly Bawn in 1878. It means what is appealing to some may be unattractive to others. This can also apply to humor in online teaching. What makes one laugh can make another cringe or have no emotional response at all. The art of making a person laugh is just that--an art.

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I love politics. I love reading about it; I love talking about; I love teaching it. In our hyper-partisan world today, though, it can be hard for instructors to teach it without worrying about accusations of bias, or getting into political arguments with students. Given that American Government and other Political Science courses are quite popular as online courses at US universities, instructors need to approach the topic with some idea of how to teach it with integrity.

The great promise of online higher education was that it would expand access to people who could otherwise not access it. Higher education, once reserved for the children of the elite, came into mainstream access in the United States with the passage of the GI Bill in the mid-1900s. Globally, though, higher education remains a possibility for only the smallest number of people. At the same time, we know that education creates more stable societies, improves economic opportunities for individuals, and provides skilled employees for companies and organizations. With the advent of online education in the late 20th Century, the hope for greater reach of university instruction seemed like a sure solution of the problems with its limited reach.