I often get asked what I do as an online teacher.
The simple answer is that it varies every day and every week just like a face-to-face teacher. I have a weekly plan that I may share in a future post but for now let me give you an idea of my daily schedule.
In designing an interactive to represent my day, I was inspired by A Day in the Life of an Instructional Designer by Jackie Van Nice. She uses a chart to break her day down into time slots and includes color coding based on task type.
I wanted to use a clock but since my work cycle is longer than a typical 12 hour clock, my husband (luckily from a military family) suggested a 24 hour military clock.
First I collected data and logged what I do each day for a week. I found that my activities are grouped into timely chunks and the tasks are fairly standard for each.
Next, I sketched out several versions of the clock and what it might look like. I created a few beta tests in Storyline and played around with design. I generally like clean layouts and fresh color choices so I used a simple and transparent color palette.
Below is the final interactive. Click on each bookmark to see the activities I logged during each time slot:
A note on location - I am lucky to be able to work from home. There I am most creative, efficient and productive. Working from home allows me to set my own schedule, design my workflow to meet the needs of my students . I can drop everything to go meet a student at a Starbucks 20 miles away at a moment’s notice.
This flexibility also means that I tend to work WAY more hours than I used to as a face-to-face teacher. My weekends are usually filled with leftover tasks from the week before. My nights often go longer than 9pm so I can stay caught up.
I do love my job, though, and the flexibility of working from home is worth the time above and beyond a 40 hour work week.