Online educators have been implementing the work-at-home model long before the 2020 crisis. Some referred to it as “teaching in pajamas,” due to the nature of the job, which often meant for many, working at a full-time position during the day and teach as an adjunct during the evening hours. Those who are in a full-time position may still find themselves working day and night simply due to the needs of the students and the requirements of classroom management. I have been in both roles for the last 15 years, and my ability to balance a professional and personal life has emerged through time and practice.
While the roles may vary slightly from one online school to another, the requirements are generally the same. To be successful in this role, you must decide to allocate enough time to complete your tasks, even if it takes time away from your personal life. I’m not saying this to demean the position in any way, but because teaching is not a position where you can easily clock in and out or set strict schedules for completing daily tasks. There are certain tasks, such as comments and class discussions, where you can estimate time commitments to a certain extent. However, the time needed to engage with learners cannot be accurately estimated. From my personal perspective, I prefer to be available, highly engaged, responsible, and readily available to students, even if it means I am taking more time than it seems like I should be allocating for that particular day. In fact, I don’t even think of time as a factor every day. Instead, I developed strategies to help ensure that I am balancing time effectively.
What does your school require?
As a supplement, there are usually specific expiration dates that are contractual in nature. These due dates are related to comments and discussions in class. This can create a feeling of pressure each week, trying to meet required deadlines. What you want to be sure you know is the exact nature of your contractual requirements. There may be a Faculty Manual, a teaching contract or another type of similar document. I recommend that you review these documents, along with the school’s policies at the beginning of each term, to ensure that you are fully aware of your school’s requirements. There is often an unstated rule about those attachments not meeting the requirements and the inability to continue to receive new contracts or additional course assignments. More importantly, depending on the severity of the requirements that are not met, failure to meet a contractual requirement could result in termination.
Are you assuming too much?
I know of many adjuncts who teach for multiple institutions at the same time. As a faculty development specialist, I interacted with faculty who were teaching at five or six institutions at a time. I can’t imagine trying to balance so many classes, at multiple institutions, all at the same time. What would make this even more complex would be to also work full time; however, I did not ask for personal data. There is a common understanding in this industry that many part-time adjuncts make a living this way, teaching at multiple institutions, and I understand why. The competition for positions is now higher than ever. This was not the case when I started in 2005, as the number of positions far exceeded the number of available teachers. If you’re teaching multiple classes for multiple schools, you need to be especially careful about how you balance your personal and professional lives.
Then there is the completely opposite syndrome, those who intentionally take on too much and don’t care about the quality of the tasks they complete. A couple of years ago I had a contract with a specialized online school to create their first Teacher Development Center. Once I had it developed and launched, I started the online training. As part of this project, I created the first set of Faculty Standards and revised faculty classes. What I found was a common problem within the industry, teachers teaching for a paycheck. There were engagement posts with comments like “I agree” and comments for the written documents that included “Good job.” Unfortunately for the school, previously no standards existed and quality control was never measured.
How to define a balance between work and life
The tasks required for an online educator are not easily calculated, such as creating a time management plan. Therefore, when trying to set up personal and professional time, it may not be easy to establish which day or days to allocate for each. Another approach is required, and the following four strategies can help you adapt your unique position to find a sense of balance, which in turn will help you feel better prepared to complete your tasks, when called upon. No one can function effectively at a continuous pace. Everyone needs a break, and this plan will get you started.
Four Strategies Every Online Educator Needs to Achieve Work-Life Balance
These strategies are meant to help you find a sense of stability with your schedule. Start with the first strategy as it provides a statement of purpose for your entire plan and will create a vision for the balance you are seeking.
Strategy #1: Create a Professional Practice Philosophy Statement
As an online educator, you likely already have a personal philosophy statement developed. This statement is somewhat different. This is a statement that you are going to develop for yourself and yourself alone. It’s a reconciliation, so to speak, where you decide how much time you’re willing to spend on your career each week. It’s not meant to be shown to anyone, which means you won’t be judged on your answer. You decide, and you determine now, what your limits will be for this work each week. Developing this type of limit is important in establishing a balance statement.
Strategy #2: Create your schedule, one week at a time
Now that you have your Professional Practice Philosophy Statement and understand your professional time limit per week, you can create a schedule. What you will need next is a list of contractual or required teaching duties for the week. Take the list and plan it for the week. You can allocate more time for important tasks, like feedback, and split a task like that over multiple days. You may also need time for discussions during the week, along with classroom management. While this strategy may seem pretty obvious, simply completing it, with a set time limit, can be very productive from a mindset standpoint.
Strategy #3: Stick to the plan, when it’s a valid plan
Now that you have a plan in place, you will be more willing to stick to it. Now you are likely to complete the tasks on time as you know the deadlines set for you. More importantly, you understand why this plan was completed, and it was for your well-being, to make sure you have time left over each week for your personal life. Now I would also make a warning about this. If you decided to allocate only 10 hours, when the expectation is to spend 30 hours a week on your job as an assistant, then you have not created a realistic plan and you have done a disservice to both students and your school. Also, if there are valid reasons why you need to put in extra time on a specific day, then you need to consider why that extra time would be a good investment in your career. In other words, always weigh the benefits of going over your daily plan when there’s a legitimate reason.
Strategy #4: Learn to unplug when it’s time
This is perhaps one of the most challenging strategies for anyone who is an online educator, learning to disconnect from technology. Even if you turn off your computer or laptop, you may still be able to access your classroom and/or email from a mobile device, such as a phone. But at the end of a work day, you need your downtime. You have to allow yourself some time to rest and recharge, for the sake of your well-being and mental health. This also applies to personal time that you have designated in your time plan. I can’t claim that I’ve always allowed full days off in my weekly plan; however, I do at least allow blocks of time to stop and enjoy time with my family. Maybe I’ll take my spouse to a movie or take my family out for a meal. The point is that I understand why I am working, based on my own Professional Practice Philosophy Statement, and I know when I need to unplug. You need to do this too, so you can get back to the updated computer or laptop.
This is an art, not a science
Learning to balance your daily and weekly tasks is an art rather than an exact science, and it will take some time and practice. If you haven’t been a remote employee before, this will require a new mindset. The best advice I can offer is to make sure you have a designated space to do your teaching duties. I have my own home office, my command center, and when I walk into this office, I know I’m there to teach. It’s a place that allows me to easily focus on the task at hand because it’s free from distractions, and once I leave the office at the end of the day, I know it’s time to start my downtime. Was I able to become so well-disciplined right away? It took time and practice, as I had to learn to trust myself, instead of arriving at my workplace and then leaving at a particular time, knowing that my day was done.
When I started teaching online, I was reviewing my online classes all the time, then I gradually developed a rhythm. I now know how to use alerts and respond in a timely manner, and have an idea of how to manage the many responsibilities of an online class. Over time, you will also develop this kind of innate sense. The most important thing of all is that I keep in mind every day why I teach, which is more important to me than anything else. In a student-centered environment, an educator must be acutely aware of the needs of their students and ready for action. Therefore, my form of balance is unique, similar to the type of environment in which I teach. The more dedicated you are to the students you teach, the more likely you will also need to adapt the strategies I have described. Instead of creating a work-life balance, maybe create a Teacher-student balance. Always take care of your students and yourself.