Many seem to immediately assume that working from home is a cakewalk, but it does require dedicated time and effort. Despite being at home, there is still work to accomplish and it requires focus and dedication to be an effective instructor online.
I’ve been teaching online, from home, for the last five and a half years. During that time, I have balanced the needs of my three young children with my career. Over the last year, I have transitioned from teaching part-time online to teaching full-time online as my children have grown older and began attending full-day school. While there are numerous positives to a career in online education, and it is a good fit for my life and my family, it isn’t perfect.
If you’re considering pursuing a career in online education, there are some negatives to consider:
1. Few Breaks/Vacations – As a part-time instructor, I typically had 5 to 7 days off during the year. Most online educators work weekends, meaning that the other 358-360 days of the year I was working in some capacity. My current full-time position is a bit better with paid Federal holidays, 10 vacation days, and 5 sick days per year. However, it isn’t the type of time off which traditional college educators are accustomed.
2. Little interaction with Colleagues – Teaching online means there is little interaction with colleagues. As a part-timer, I had very little interaction with others at any of my schools. As a full-timer, my contact is much more frequent via email and there are several conference calls each week. I have yet to meet my boss or my closest colleague in person – but we are hoping to attend a conference together for a few days in February to meet each other and present research regarding student engagement. Coming from a traditional school environment (i.e. lunch with my colleagues daily) this has been a big adjustment for me. I miss regular interaction with colleagues and the camaraderie.
3. Feels Thankless – Working in online education can feel like a thankless job. Of course, I will often have students who reach out thanking me for my help during a class or for guidance I have provided them throughout the course, but teaching online is very different from a traditional classroom. While no one was praising me daily in the traditional classroom either, I miss witnessing the light bulb moments that students’ experience. While I know I am still helping students and impacting their lives, it doesn’t have the same “feel good” feeling that I experienced in the traditional classroom.
4. Always Working – The biggest negative for me personally as an online educator is that I feel like I am always working. Just this week, I had a student call me at 1 in the morning with concerns about their final paper that was due at Midnight. Since the classroom is open 24 hours/7 days a week, there are always new questions, new issues, grading, and other tasks on my to-do list. With my office attached to my master bedroom and a smartphone linking me to my classes and email constantly, it often feels like I am always “on-call” and constantly working.
While there are negatives to being an online instructor, for me, the positives outweigh the negatives. Having the flexibility to be with my children, take and pick them up from school, and be in the house with them whenever they are home (even if I am working) is worth sacrificing in these areas for me at this point in my life. I would definitely suggest looking closely at your life and your personal values before leaving the traditional classroom for one online. While your immediate thought might be very positive, it’s important to remember that it isn’t all rosy.
About the Author
Jamie Weitl is a WAHM teaching for several online universities and raising three precocious little ones. In her spare time she enjoys writing, baking, and running. For more info, see my Google Plus Profile.
