Barriers to Successful Staffing

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The responsibilities of the virtual teacher traverse far beyond instruction and assessment. Virtual instructors are responsible for creating a social environment, maintaining clear communications, and providing technical expertise.

The following is an inventory of elements that online instructors state diminishes their considerations for teaching as a virtual instructor.

**Job Security**

While recently because of the Covid19 pandemic, we have seen a surge in online instruction, historically and traditionally, individuals are hesitant to apply for online instruction positions for fear of job security. One study exploring the concerns of online K-12 teachers asserted while positions centered in a traditional classroom are thought of as generally secure, online instruction still fosters concerns with regards to viability and long term job sustainability. It appears even among teachers, online instruction is viewed as a volatile and perhaps easily absorbed in the event of budget cuts.

**Time managemen**t

Individuals that are hesitant to apply for an online teaching position cite time management challenges that are associated with the complexities of online instruction. Online instructors have to provide social contact, facilitate engagement opportunities that would naturally happen in a classroom, promote persistence and mentoring while functioning as the student’s primary technical support.

**Responsibility**

Surveyed were online instructors cited the lack of control over their content as a hinders their satisfaction and desire to teach online. Online instructors need to be able to customize assignment to meet the audience needs. Instructors of online courses do not want to simply be graders.

Additionally, online courses that adopt an open entry open exit methodology often leads to students waiting until the end of the course to complete all course work. This can lead to fosters it difficult for faculty to manage student progress. Classes configured in this manner make it difficult for faculty to manage time and expectations of students and balance other responsibilities as faculty.

**Instructional**

  Related to responsibility, online teachers cite concerns with being an online teacher because of little to no technological training as well as the and the inability to make modification to adopted curriculum technology. Teachers do not wish to apply for online positions of they have to use preselected vendor lesson plans that do not allow for adaptation. Additionally, online instructors cite that these pre-packed curriculum programs are often stale, contain broken links or lack relevance and authenticity.

**Student Experiences**

Qualified teachers are deterred from teaching online because of the student experience related to enrollment and placement issues. Schools are often not aligned with state requirements and advisement and prerequisite and placement testing is often not applied.

**Relational**

Online teachers feel more like monitors rather than mentors at times. The mired of challenges that face students such as long term illness, learning disabilities, and socio-economic difficulties, brands the instructor more of a monitor rather than a mentor. Individual education plans can be very difficult to monitor and ensure compliance. More time is spent on these administrative functions than teaching.

**Interaction**

Difficulties and challenges associated with communication between parents, and students is heightened in a virtual environment. Some students prefer to be anonymous and chose not to engage. This adds extra burden for a caring teacher to try and make contact with the encourage persistent with a student that does not wish to be bothered.

**Main**

1. ↑ Higley, M. (2016, January 2). Staffing A K12 Online Course. Retrieved from eLearning Industry: https://elearningindustry.com/staffing-a-k12-online-course
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Farmer, T., & West, R. (2019). Exploring the concerns of online K-12 teachers. *Journal of Online Learning Research*, 97-118.