online instructor who works too much! (Score 1)

I am an online instructor for the University of San Diego, and teach courses for teachers who need to get a certificate for working with English language learners. The great majority of these teachers find that taking courses online is the only way to be able to fit teaching, prep, family and sleep into their busy lives.

I cannot speak for all online instructors, but I spend about 4 hours a night keeping up with one class of 30 students. This time is spent responding to discussion replies, answering e-mail sent directly to me, keeping track of course participation, and grading assignments. This is not to mention the weeks of preparation that goes into setting up a course and refining it for each future version - I have a class starting Monday that I have taught 4 times, and it is taking me nearly a week of work to get it ready for this version.

I send back detailed comments with each assignment, which is extremely time-consuming but well-appreciated. I have heard from students that other instructors (even within this program) do not do this, so I understand the frustration of learners who do not get this important feedback.

As far as interaction online, I have found that participants in my online courses (for the most part) use the added time to compose much more thoughtful replies to discussions than those that might be blurted out in a class discussion. I also have much more interaction with each student than I had with my own instructor in any of my face-to-face Master's classes. Research the school, class, and instructor that you are considering and give learning online a fair shot as a great alternative for people who just can't get to a traditional classroom but really want (or need!) to learn!