With the prevalence of online education, it is imperative to understand the time investment required to teach online. Presentation examines time investment required for online teaching as a function of experience and role; a breakdown of time investment per instructional task is provided with recommendations for supporting faculty effectiveness.
As the number of faculty teaching online continues to grow, it is imperative to understand the time investment required to effectively facilitate this mode of learning. Not only does an awareness of instructional time requirements provide essential information to the university to inform scheduling, course size and instructor workload considerations, but recognizing how online faculty spend their time provides valuable data to help novice faculty plan their instructional time and allows faculty support programming to more effectively tailor services with respect to actual (not theoretical) instructional needs.
While a number of studies have compared the time commitment required for online versus face-to-face teaching (Cavanhaugh, 2005; Christianson, 2002; Mandernach, Forrest, Babuzke & Manaker, 2009; Mupinga & Maughan, 2008; Orellana, 2006; Rockwell, Schauer, Fritz & Marx, 1999; Sheridan, 2006; Sword, 2012; Tomei, 2004; Van de Vord & Pogue, 2012), there is less information available on what online instructors do with their instructional time. Specifically, to gain a better understanding of the time investment required for online teaching, it is important to understand the distribution of time across the various activities involved in effective online instruction.
Within this framework, Mandernach, Hudson and Wise (2013) asked faculty teaching online to reflect upon their time investment in each aspect of online course facilitation. In this research, faculty were asked to make holistic reflections on their time investment into various aspects of online teaching. In this study, time estimates were not directly tied to a specific course, context or teaching experience, rather faculty responses to the survey were a holistic reflection on where faculty believe they are most likely to spend their time. While this information provides a starting point to understand instructional workload in the online classroom, reflective assessments of time investment may be misaligned with actual behavioral data (Jacobs, 1998). The current study provides data on the actual behavioral investment of online instructional time.
Findings are presented with respect to professional development and institutional considerations. Faculty workload requirements will be discussed with respect to faculty role (adjunct or fulltime) as well as the implications of the Affordable Care Act. Discussion will examine what institutions can do to more effectively support adjunct faculty teaching online as a function of their workload requirements.