I recommend Brian Robison's How to Teach Online website. Brian has done a wonderful job of explaining how an adjunct instructor, online professor, or virtual schoolteacher can compete effectively for the many online teaching opportunities available across the country and around the world.
Sign up for Brian's E-Learning Tips newsletter. He's very clever, has great insights, and is good writer. Brian has created a series of highly informative articles, many backed up by a training video, that will walk you through the process of finding and keeping online teaching jobs.
You'll learn how to juggle multiple jobs with different online campuses. He'll help you understand time management and the necessity of getting organized before you are swamped with responsibilities. your time as you dig in to find enough online work to make a reasonable living. He talks sense about writing resumes and CVs, sending applications, and professionalizing your email. He also has rock solid advice on how to keep re-applying for e-jobs in a way that will keep an HR manager interested. Consider his advice when you're told a school is not hiring.
To develop a full time job as an Adjunct Instructor you must pro-actively work to grow your employment base beyond a single institution. It's not wise to have all of your eggs in one basket. Most adjuncts create a full-time online job by teaching courses for a number of schools.
Most of this is just good common sense that Brian will explain to you in upbeat clear prose. It helps to get advice from an online pro who thinks deeply about the job search realities of being an online adjunct instructor. He'll show you how to search for jobs and cope with the confusing and sometimes frustrating pursuit of online employment.
As I explained in my article, Finding E-Learning Jobs, you must develop your subject matter expertise, grow your professional network, and polish your online teaching skills. Once you're prepared to teach online you'll need determination and a solid plan to find the right jobs.
Think about how to organize yourself to become a successful online teacher.
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Listen to Brian. He's a sharp guy and he's talking sense! Read More about Finding E-Learning Jobs! Here are more articles about strategies for finding online work, and the kinds of preparation and paperwork you should be working on:
September 19 – November 18, 2011, 2011 Register Now!
This course provides you with real hands on experience. You'll learn how to create a sense of online community as you facilitate discussions with your peers. This is an opportunity to practice online teaching skills in a caring, personalized and supportive environment.
Course activities include hands-on practice using synchronous and asynchronous communication technologies.
You will actively: facilitate, explore questioning skills, conflict resolution, netiquette, and collaborative learning through problem solving scenarios, simulations, and online discussions.
You will investigate time management strategies and pitfalls to avoid when designing and facilitating online class activities and explore various assessment tools to analyze and evaluate student participation in online discussions.
Don't miss this chance! Register Today!
EDUC 761 Creating Collaborative Communities in E-Learning
3 graduate credits
Totally online - no travel to campus required
No extra fees or surcharges for out of state or international participants.
Kay and I first met when we were going to school together (online) earning our masters degrees in online teaching and learning. She has been a vital part of my personal learning network ever since. In many ways an adjunct professor is like a rōnin samurai. We have to keep our skills sharp to survive in a challenging landscape.
Since so many readers of this blog are seeking to advance their online teaching careers I want to share a blog post Kay did recently on the realities and strategies of working online. Kay is wise and highly skilled.
In all fairness... I do have a dream job!
"...It works because I've made it work. I've curated a full time job by piecing together courses from several institutions, freelance-style, within an educational industry that has yet to figure out what its going to be when it grows up and become technologically self-aware."
I find it ironic that a virtual school symposium has no online attendance options. However, if you're in the Midwest and involved in K-12 Online Education, this is the conference to attend. (To be fair iNacol does sponsor a number of Webinars every year.)
The conference is organized by iNACOL ( The International Association for K-12 Online Learning). I've been a member of iNacol since 2005. It has become the foremost professional organization for Virtual Schooling in the world.
I always recommend joining iNacol to the K-12 educators in our E-Learning and Online Teaching Graduate Certificate Program. To build a career in E-Learning you need to create a professional network. Getting involved with iNacol is an important part of building your connections.
K-12 Virtual School?
These YouTube videos provide an overview of what is happening now in virtual schools across the country. They were created by Edutopia, another networking center that will reward any virtual teacher who pays attention with resources and connections worth having!
Virtual School Symposium (Details)
The International Association for K-12 Online Learning's annual conference, the Virtual School Symposium (VSS 2011), is November 9 - 11, 2011 at the JW Marriott in Downtown Indianapolis. The theme of this year's Virtual School Symposium (VSS) is "Empowered to Perform: Online and Blended Learning Models."
Online and blended learning are important innovations in K-12 education. The VSS conference provides professional development for K-12 online and blended learning for more than 2,000 K-12 administrators, policy leaders and practitioners; important networking opportunities; access to expertise and analysis, trends and research; and thought-provoking sessions for leaders looking to help shape the future of education. Attendees will find solutions for college-readiness, credit recovery, core and advanced courses, as well as target personalized learning solutions and competency-based pathways for students across the K-12 grade-levels.
New Preconference Sessions Announced!
iNACOL is pleased to announce 15 preconference workshops on Wednesday, November 9, 2011. Participants can choose from a variety of half and full day sessions on important topics in the field of K-12 online and blended learning. Learn from experts, participate in engaging discussions, and gain a deeper understanding of these important topics.
iNACOL is pleased to announce two new VSS pre-conference sessions:
Blended/Hybrid Learning 101 - From Inception to Implementation lead by Michael Horn and Heather Staker from Innosight Institute.
Experts have noted that the majority of K-12 online learning in the United States is likely to happen in blended learning environments--and districts and charters are already responding and creating a variety of different models to personalize learning for students. This session will involve deep participant discussion to explore what blended learning looks like in the trenches. What is it? What are the different models of implementation? How do schools get started? How does one evaluate what tools--software and resources--to use when creating the model? Thought-provoking panels will include the experts, consultants and school personnel who are starting up and running blended learning programs.
Best Practices for Online Teachers with iNACOL/SREB’s National Online Teacher of the Year, Kristen Kipp
Award-winning National Online Teacher of the Year, Kristen Kipp, will lead this session designed for online teachers to share best practices from their online classrooms. Expert panels will include information on building community in the online learning environment and working with at-risk students online. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in round table discussions on current issues in online teaching including motivating students, differentiation, academic integrity, and assessment. All ideas will be grounded in the very best online teaching practices and research. Participants will leave with new ideas of how to improve and enrich the teaching in their program.
Many more! VSS half-day workshops and full-day preconference workshops on November 9 include:
• Administration and Management of Online Programs
• Colloquium on Researching and Evaluating Blended Learning
• Evaluation in K-12 Online Learning
• Google Workshop for Educators (Online Teacher Edition) (Full day)
• How to Start an Online Program Preconference Session (Full day)
• Issues of Diversity in Online Learning
• Learn Moodle! An Open Source Learning Management System
• New Learning Models – Mobile Learning, Game-Based Learning, and School Turnarounds
• Online Christian Education Association (OCEA) Symposium
• Online STEM Initiatives: A Hands-On Training Workshop (Full day)
• Open Educational Resources Workshop (Full day)
• Professional Development for Online and Blended Teachers: Identifying Successful Practices and Addressing Challenges
• Web 2.0 and Emerging Technologies for Online Learning
Full descriptions and registration for all of the preconference sessions are now available on our website at http://www.virtualschoolsyposium.org. Seating is limited for all sessions, so sign up soon!
Online and blended learning offers new delivery systems to maximize capacity -- doing more for students - even in times of economic distress. To learn more about online and blended models in K-12 education, the iNACOL annual conference provides access to experts and networking opportunities to learn more about new learning models, digital content innovations and technology tools for next generation learning.
iNACOL is the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, a non-profit 501(c)(3) membership association based in the Washington, DC area with more than 3,800 members. iNACOL is unique in that its members represent a diverse cross-section of K-12 education from school districts, charter schools, state education agencies, non-profit organizations, colleges, universities and research institutions, corporate entities and other content and technology providers (www.inacol.org).
To ensure proper delivery of our email messages to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), add info@inacol.org to your Address Book or Safe Sender List.
Here is another thoughtful and interesting project from Kathy Schrock. The graphic is interactive. Click the Google App image and you'll open the Google tool.
Just thinking about how these Technologies relate to the levels of Blooms Taxonomy is a step in the right direction. What is the right direction? How do we engage today's learners?
Answer: Use modern technology for enhanced critical thinking.
E-Learning and Online Teaching Graduate Certificate Program - In 3-Dimensions
Click Enter Full Screen for Maximum Impact!
Augmented Reality
I was intrigued by a recent article in ISTE's Learning and Leading with Technology Journal (June/July 2011) called Abracadabra - It's Augmented Reality! by Raphael Raphael. I've been doing some light research on the field since it turned up in the Horizon 2011 Report as a technology that's just starting to work it's way into education. Educause predicts that 5 years from now AR may be a significant part of any online instructor's toolkit. From what I've seeing now I agree.
I was a classroom teacher for 25 years. I loved grabbing new tech and creating multidisciplinary units with the incredible team of teacher I worked with in middle school. AR tech is something I would have adopted in my 4-wall reality practice, and it naturally fits my current world as an online instructor.
CommonCraft has an excellent video overview to help you see what's coming with this new technology. They include provocative ideas about both mobile applications and desktop possibilities. I love the idea of a screen embedded in my glasses!
This really is something you have to see to believe.
To give you a better understanding of what AR looks like here are several videos. The potential for this technology in online teaching and learning (as well as blended and face to face classrooms) is astounding!
I'm going to add Augmented Reality to the list of suggestions I offer students for an independent research project we do during the first course, E-Learning for Educators, in the Graduate Certificate program.
One of the reasons I'm so deeply committed to online teaching and learning is that there's always something new on the horizon. While the fundamentals of teaching remain the same, the opportunities to engage with new ideas using evolving technology is never ending. I've never been bored teaching, but I have always yearned for away to move my mind into time and space beyond the traditional 4 walls of a classroom. It's a great time to be an e-learning instructor!
This Lego Kiosk Video shows AR working in the market place right now.
I was delighted by how easily and intuitively Zooburst works. I built my first attempt at AR in about 20 minutes. What you're seeing now is just a first step. I need to explore how to integrate the video aspect of this system into things as well. As it stands you have a 360 degree image, but not a lot of dynamic information. I'll be working on that!
The Zooburst system, which is promoted as a digital storytelling program, has a free account and a very reasonable premium edition already set up with teachers in mind. The digital story telling possibilities of this technology, combined with the additional video production possibilities make this a very appealing technology for online instruction. I'll be introducing Zooburst in my online writing class Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6-Traits this summer as well. Reading and writing teachers are always looking for high motivation activities to help their students become engaged while they become literate.
Here are some resources for investigation. Thanks to ISTE author Raphael Raphael for many of these links!
The courses at UW-Stout are open to learners from around the world. Over the years in addition to North America, I've worked with people from most of the countries of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. In addition to a large group from the Wisconsin, last semester we had participants from Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Vermont, New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia, Florida, California, and Alaska. From overseas there were teachers connecting from Korea, China, Taiwan, Okinawa, Dubai, Germany, Austria, and England.
Joining our classes means you are preparing to learn and make a living well beyond the boundaries of our home towns.
Teaching Tactics: Notes Become Grade Book Comments
I'll often write my responses into the grade comments area of the course management area as I read the posts. This helps me capture my thinking, without jumping into the discussion too early or too often.
D2L allows me to make preliminary notes in a grade field invisible to participants. This way I capture my thinking about each post as I read and work a bit on my comments for the week. I can then paste my reactions into the public discussion when I'm ready to wrap up the week.
Discussion Dynamics
You might ask, why not just post what you have to say in the discussion? An instructor already has a big voice in a class. I write my own classes, so my voice is present in both the content and the discussions. I don't want to dominate a conversation or cut it short. At the same time I want students to know I'm present, and attentive. Walking this fine line between either hijacking a conversation or disappearing as the discussion rushes by is one of the skills all online instructors must constantly practice.
Seasoned Faculty
All of the instructors in our program are highly experienced professionals with exceptional online teaching abilities. At the same we're all teachers and learners tuned to the needs of those just entering the field. Our goal is to help you learn both the theory and practical every day technology driven realities of working and teaching online.
How Dreams Become Goals
If you've ever dreamed of giving up the commute to the classroom for the freedom of e-learning, now's the time to turn your dreams into goals. Join us for a great semester of online teaching and learning!
