What is work?
This was an agenda item of one of our recent faculty meetings. As online course enrollment continues to grow, no doubt fueled by the recent spike in gas prices, we online teaching faculty are finding the lines of work blurring more often into evenings and weekends since that is when many of our graduate students are working on courses. Is this time considered work? What happens when you take a vacation day, yet you still spend time online teaching a class? Is this considered work? Should your vacation time be adjusted?
The topic of workload and online education has existed since the first online course was launched, and to my knowledge, it continues to challenge institutions. Adjuncts are often called in to fill the role of online faculty. Hard feelings can arise. Classroom educators seem to think it must be easy to stay home and teach in your pajamas. Online educators feel that others don’t appreciate the after-hours time and energy that goes into communicating with individual students, and often feel challenged to compete in the rank, promotion, and tenure race.
I love teaching online and relish the flexibility and challenge it affords. However, as I approach tenure, I am a bit nervous. Will the committee understand what I do when I teach? Will my qualitative research on computer-assisted education be valued? Or will I be compared side by side with basic scientists who deliver scheduled lectures and conduct bench lab research? I know I am not alone in these doubts, even though I have had very good support at my University.
We in online education have some distance to go to reach full legitimacy, yet we will be in more demand in the coming years. Innovative ideas, creative workloads, and administrative support will be key…not to mention some real vacation time. How are you handling online workloads in your institution?
