While working as an online instructor is a good fit for my life and my personality, it is not a profession that is suited to everyone. Many schools require instructors to at least check-in seven days a week, there are few holidays, and the deadlines are quite rigid.
In order to be successful working from home as an online instructor, one must possess some of the common traits present in those with Type-A personalities. The instructor must showcase a great deal of self-motivation and have a sense of time urgency in order to return papers and assignments to students within the deadlines required. For many, teaching online is an additional job on top of a full-time position or full-time parenting duties. Because of these issues it is even more important that the employee is able to manage their time effectively and efficiently.
While there are numerous benefits to teaching in the online modality, the stress from the various deadlines, changing expectations from within the college/university, emotional response to student issues, as well as the extra lines on one’s to-do list can all cause a great deal of stress for online instructors.
I personally utilize numerous different stress-management strategies as an online instructor to help me to not only be the best instructor I can be, but also to maintain a sense of structure and control within my position.
- Exercise
One of the main ways that I reduce stress is daily exercise. I strive to exercise for at least an hour 5 days per week. I do not always meet this goal, and I have to be out the door at 5:30 am in order to make this a reality, but I still find that it is worth it. On days when I am able to take a yoga class in the early morning or even do an at-home exercise DVD before my children are up in the morning I find I am not only significantly less stressed but also significantly more productive throughout the day.
- To-Do Lists
Because of my Type-A Personality and my time urgent tendencies, it is very important for me to feel like I am in control, especially when it comes to my workload. In order to maintain this sense of control, I keep copious to-do lists on yellow legal pads. I have a legal pad for home, a legal pad for work, a legal pad for Christmas shopping, a legal pad for everything!
Everyone has to figure out what personally works best for them as far as to-do lists are concerned. Some of my friends are able to keep digital to-do lists within Outlook or Google Calendar. Others use an elaborate Post-It note system. No matter how one choses to formulate their to-do list, I think keeping these lists has a significant impact on stress reduction.
Being able to break down my work-day into time chunks and crossing off tasks as I complete them helps me to feel the sense of control I need while completing tasks that are weighing on me and causing stress.
To be continued…. Controlling Stress for Online Instructors {Part 2}
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.
