Online Teaching Blog

For many online faculty, morale is high. Professors look at the bright side of their jobs - the flexibility, ability to work from home, be a full time care-taker while earning an income, and make a substantial difference in the lives of others. And of course, the ongoing running joke in our forum that cats are better co-workers than most cubicle-mates and pajamas for daytime are perfectly acceptable attire. But for others, low morale can take a toll on job satisfaction, and cause schools to lose good faculty. Unsatisfied faculty may still perform high out of duty to students and fear, but managing in this way isn't setting the best tone for your college.

In the Make a Living Teaching Online group, I asked 6500 educators how they combat loneliness and feelings of isolation associated from working at home without peer interaction with the promise of posting an article to help others who may suffer from isolation or loneliness working remotely but without ideas or tools to cope. Here are some of the ideas; you can read through the entire thread in the group. (All respondents agreed to have their idea and name attributed; some paraphrased with context!)

Whether teaching online or face-to-face, the importance of creating a strong rapport with students is clear. Yet, those of us teaching online may be at a disadvantage. The remote, asynchronous nature of the online classroom creates a natural psychological distance between us and our students (Falloon, 2011; Moore, 1997). But, addressing this disconnect may be as simple as personalizing our online teaching presence. The personalization principle (Clark & Mayer, 2011) highlights that by presenting content in a student-friendly, conversational, personalized tone, online instructors can simultaneously increase student learning and engagement.