Taking a day off once a week

This is a topic I posted in the Teach Online blog last year but is even more relevant today as so many online faculty are teaching at online schools.

I've always wondered why online faculty are expected to work 7 days a week. On-campus faculty don't work 7 days week. Why is teaching online a 7-day a week job? For most of us it has certainly turned out that way. Of all the schools I've taught for over the years (and the ones I still teach for), only two do not require 7-day a week availability. Those two state to online students that faculty will answer questions (in the class or via email) within 48 hours during the business week, NOT counting weekends and holidays. The rest of the schools tell students that online faculty WILL respond within 24-48 hours to any email or class questions.
 
I'd really like to NOT work on Saturday or Sunday and want at least ONE day free when the rest of the family has a day off. Well ... a day free except for answering emails and any questions in the class Q&A forum. But then isn't that "working"? Answering emails and class questions can take a good couple of hours sometimes, especially when there's a major assignment coming up.

For me, either Saturday or Sunday works as long as I let my students know which day I will not be available.  Of the two weekend days, Saturday would probably work best because most students don't even start working on their assignments until Sundays so they don't even know what questions to ask until the day the assignments are due. Working a few hours on Sundays is okay because in many classes, I can get an early jump start on grading assignments because SOME students do turn in work early.

In another post, I'll cover taking vacation while teaching online. For more strategies for working in a day off each week, check out
Online Teaching forAdjunct Faculty: How to Manage Workload, Students, and Multiple Schools 

How to Manage Workload, Students, and Multiple Schools

The result of recent trends in schools' cutting classes for adjunct faculty is that most adjunct faculty must now teach one to three classes at each of several schools. Gone are the days when we could teach at just one or two schools and have enough classes to make a decent salary. I remember teaching at only two schools and making between $50K and $65K per year, with a maximum of 8-10 classes, many of which were multiple sections of the same class, and all of which I had taught for several years.

Those days are over now for adjunct faculty. Adjunct faculty are now teaching for 10 or more schools and are applying constantly for new openings, hoping to get just one more class or, if they're lucky, two more classes. Often this seems like "feast or famine" where we have too few classes or, in some cases, it all hits the fan and we end up teaching for 10 or more schools with a total of 15 or more classes. We can't really decline teaching offers because there is no guarantee that the next term we'll be offered any classes from any given school and we have to keep classes in reserve at all schools to make up the difference when some of our schools inexplicably cut our classes for one or more terms. Adjunct teaching has never been secure, but it's far more insecure now than in previous years.

So if you find yourself teaching at multiple schools, just one or two classes at each, to maintain a decent salary, check out these time management strategies for managing workload at multiple schools.

How to Manage Workload, Students, and Multiple Schools

Scheduling Due Dates

Whenever possible, I have my grading days spread out over the whole week. My grad courses have Sunday due dates. My undergrad courses have Friday due dates. Another school has Tuesday due dates.

This means my grading is spread out over the week and not concentrated on just Monday and Tuesday. In the classes where I design the assignments and set the schedule, I alternate major project due dates so that no two classes have a project due in the same week.

Doing this takes a bit of upfront planning but I have to tell you that it sure does cut down on weekly grading time. And the best part is that since I'm never in a rush to get grading done, I can spend more quality time on assessment of students' work and provide meaningful and personalized feedback.

I handle this in pre-designed courses by following the strategies in my Communities of Practice ebook. On the school-mandated due date, I have students turn in a draft in a peer review forum. Then after two days of peer-review, they submit their work for a grade. 

How can you schedule due dates in your classes to streamline grading time?

5 Practices to Streamline Teaching Tasks

My best strategies when teaching multiple classes at multiple schools:

DOCUMENT -- keep a copy of everything you write on graded papers and in discussions, announcements, and emails.

ORGANIZE efficiently – set up folders and sub-folders (and sometimes even sub-sub-folders) and files for everything for every class.

MACROS – use a macro program to type text automatically for things you seem to write on papers all the time. Check out how in my ebook Grading Made Fast and Easy.

TYPE FAST –I type over 100 wpm with about 90% accuracy. If I'm dog-tired my typing speed is still fast but the accuracy decreases by the hour :) Take a keyboarding class online or at a community college or high school near you.

SPEED READ – I've been speed reading since I was kid and this is NOT good for the amazon. com card but is GREAT for online discussions and long essay assignments. If you're going to be teaching online then you're going to be reading LOTS of stuff and reading fast is a necessity.

What are your best strategies?