For the first time since I started kindergarten twenty years ago, I am not enrolled in school. I have no new professors whose names I pray to pronounce correctly, no terrifying homework, no assignments that boggle my mind, and no lengthy lines outside the campus testing center. No, instead I am the new professor whose last name nobody can remember, who assigns terrifying homework and mind-boggling papers, but who stops short of sending students to the testing center. And I don’t have to go out and buy school supplies — the department provides them.
All in all, it’s a decent arrangement. I teach as an adjunct at a university that pays adjuncts relatively well, and I only teach three days a week. Those three days are long, mind you, but if I stay focused and grade in between teaching, I can leave everything in my office at the end of the day and focus on PhD applications, my writing, and other fun activities when I go home. But wait – I’m also teaching an online course. So where does that fit in?
So yes, online work might take more time than I’d prefer, but here’s the beautiful thing: I can control the time slots it does and doesn’t affect. For the next few days, I allot it no time at all.