Dr. J's Blog

Feeling stuck can occur at any time during someone's career. Most people want a reliable and steady job, one that provides a feeling of security and a sense of accomplishment. A job can serve a variety of purposes and that includes meeting a need for income or serving as part of a specific career plan and becoming a step towards meeting career goals.

Over time a job can become the basis for a stable career, one that allows for the development of new skills and provides new opportunities. While stability in a career is important, what happens when that job you value becomes stagnant and no longer feels interesting, or you find...

Class discussions can be very rewarding but also time-consuming for an instructor in any learning environment. This is especially true for educators when there is a large class-size, a complex course topic, the instructor is an adjunct and has many other responsibilities, or it is the first time an instructor has taught the course.

There are two possible options available when an instructor is faced with the demands of a discussion and the first is to go through the motions and meet the minimal requirements needed to facilitate the class. This can include talking at students and telling them what they need to know. The other...

As instructors know all too well, not every online class is going to function perfectly with every student performing at their very best. Instructors who are responsible for teaching online classes can experience several potential challenges at any given point in a class. For example, there may be technological issues with the online classroom platform, or challenges related to completing all of the required facilitation duties while managing a class and meeting the required expectations.

What can make online teaching even more challenging are uncooperative students, students who don't seem to review their feedback and are...

You may remember how you got started as an instructor but do you recall what inspires you to continue teaching? It is your responsibility to meet the requirements of your job but is that enough for you? The instructional duties of an educator requires advanced planning and the development of well-defined time management skills, especially if there are multiple projects or responsibilities to balance at the same time.

If you teach in a traditional classroom you have to plan for a class that typically meets on a specific day of the week and if you teach online it is expected this you...