Dr. J's Blog

Are you teaching online classes or plan to in the near future? Do you have a set of practices you follow to prepare yourself for teaching, to become highly effective?

Educators have discovered online teaching can be exciting, rewarding, frustrating, demanding, and challenging all at the same time. The opportunities for new online instructional positions are becoming fewer now because of the number of instructors who are interested in teaching and the process of acquiring an adjunct position has become very competitive. For example, it is not uncommon for someone who is highly experienced and educated to find it challenging to obtain new assignments.

What should you do while you wait for your first (or next) online teaching opportunity? The best answer is to...

Are you teaching online classes and interested in an instructional strategy which could help strengthen your relationships with students, while also influencing their level of performance, motivation, and engagement?

The online classroom does not change the basic principles of adult learning; but the format of learning has changed when it is enabled by technology. However, the online classroom may change the nature of the student's involvement. A student's need for self-motivation and taking responsibility for their involvement in class may be greater with an online class.

The online student's engagement in the class is usually encouraged through the use of discussion boards and asynchronous interactions with his or her instructor. Performance in an online...

Are you teaching business courses or plan to teach business courses soon? Whether you are teaching business courses in a traditional classroom or online, you need specific tools and strategies to become effective with your instructional practice. This is why Dr. Johnson has written his book, Getting Down to Business: A Handbook for Adjunct/Part-Time Faculty Who Teach Business.

Regardless of the business discipline in which you teach, Getting Down to Business supports and enhances the instructional practices of teaching faculty. Dr. J shares tips, tools, techniques and adult learning theories to help new and experienced faculty effectively facilitate classes, engage with their course materials in more meaningful ways, and design business courses that integrate...

Have you considered the importance of an online professional profile for your career search and career goals?

Looking for a new job, and developing long-term career prospects, is vastly different than it was even a few years ago –  and one of the most important driving factors is the increased reliance upon online application forms and professional social networking websites. Consider the process of applying for a job as it used to be and how it is now. It seems that the time when you would print out a resume copy and mail it to a potential employer is long gone, or is at least a very rare occurrence, and that is largely due to the use of electronic submissions and the potential to apply for some positions by email.

Along with these changes in the method of...