I remember when working remotely and online education received negative connotations. Today, it is safe to say that this has changed. I have worked remotely since 2011, and it has been a great journey for me. However, with my workforce development background, I understand remote work is not for everyone, just as the traditional work environment wasn’t best for me. 

You might ask what prompted me to write this post. Honestly, I am worried about the number of people working remotely ill-prepared. I am even more concerned with Professors on ground converting to the online format with no training or guidance. This is a concern because people who have been working remotely for years have worked hard to fight the stigma associated with working from home and also teaching at the university level online. We have developed processes, protocols, best practices through networking with each other to make things work effectively and efficiently for students, customers, management, and other stakeholders of our affiliate organizations. Therefore, it is concerning to see people moving into the remote work environment without any guidance.

While I do agree it is the best way to go given the current situation due to Coronavirus, I do have concerns about the overall impact this may have on the remote workforce in the future. At the time of this blog post, we are seeing organizations and the government promote working remotely for the time being. This is no different for colleges and universities around the world. Many schools are canceling face-to-face classes in hopes of protecting staff, faculty, and students. 

I feel obligated to communicate a few tips that helped me transition from working on-ground in higher education to remotely teaching along with critical roles in Faculty and Academic Affairs.

Utilize your LMS is much as possible.
When teaching online it is essential to utilize your learning management system to its fullest potential. Most universities are using one of the major platforms to host classes such as blackboard, canvas, and even Moodle. Ensuring that all of your material is set up correctly in your learning management systems tool will help you as problems may arise. I recognize that on-ground professors and instructors are used to passing the syllabus out on the first day, collecting homework in class along with other traditional methods of teaching. I highly suggest having your syllabus ready on your LMS, incorporating discussions online, having students turn in their work through the LMS, and complete all grading and notes inside of the LMS. This step will save you headaches as you get to the end of the term. 

Incorporate Live Video into teaching.
Since traditional professors and instructors are not used to teaching online, and their students may not be accustomed to an online format. It can be beneficial to put everyone at ease by introducing live sessions for your online course. I have personally utilized Zoom.us, MS Teams and WebEx in my online courses. These programs will allow you to have a live lecture and discussion with your students. You may consider recording your session so that students have the information to refer to at a later time.

You can also record your videos in advance and have them available for students, instead of a live session. This may be a better option for you if you are teaching multiple sections of the same course as it will save you real-time and help nontraditional students. 

Whatever you decide, make sure that you are ADA compliant and utilize captions for students that may need it. 

Keep everything simple and short.
With online learning, there is room for distraction, and the best way to help students succeed is to have content that is short and concise for the learning experience. For educators that are used to teaching on-ground, you may be accustomed to developing a slideshow with content for 50-minute or 1-hour 20-minute lectures. I promise you that your online course will be more useful for you and your students if you split up those lectures into shorter mini-lectures. In the online environment, students do not sit at their computers for 50 minutes three times a week. They tend to check in more often to do their work. The shorter lecture videos often provide students with opportunities to take a break from online learning and step away while coming back to pick up right where they left off. You will also find that students will appreciate shorter lecture videos as it helps them find the content that they need to review later for papers, quizzes, and exams. I tried to keep my videos to be around 5 to 10 minutes long. However, I suggest not going over 15 minutes. Another advantage is that you will be able to record, edit, and upload your videos faster.

Keep it simple with technology.
I am sure most of you are experiencing more students in your classroom. Well, the same is valid with online courses. My highest in a single session was 40. Remember, you do not have a tech person to assist you with the outside technology you can use in your course room. Therefore, technology, although impressive, can create issues and pain points for your students.

Remember, if your students wanted to be in an online course, they probably would have already. Since you are forced to take your course online, you must consider your tools and its complexity for your students. My recommendation is to always go with systems, processes, and technology that will make it easier for your students, not harder. The same goes for you as the instructor to create your content. If you are not used to creating online content. You should use simple tools to get the job done, such as Google Drive for documentation and storage, and screen-sharing programs such as Screencast-O-Matic, to name a few.

Utilize the Pomodoro technique for Working from home
When you work remotely, your time can get away from you, and distractions will increase. There is a technique that is as simple as using a timer or a phone app for 25-minute work sessions. Once your timer expires, you can take a five-minute break to move around, Grab a Snack, Or anything else you need to do other than Look at a screen. After you have completed four cycles of working and 25-minute sessions, your break can increase to 10, 15, 20, or 25 minutes. You can continue the work sessions until you complete the task. This technique comes in very handy when creating course content, grading student papers, and assignments. You can check out my full review of the Pomodoro technique here. 

Resources that have assisted me in teaching online

• LMS: Blackboard, Moodle and Canvas
• Google Drive: Sheet, Document, Form 
• Communication: Slack, MS Teams, Zoom.us 
• Course Management: Asana 
• Video and Recording: OBS, Screencast-O-Matic, Zoom.us 

Final thoughts
I understand that teaching remotely is not for every educator. You find yourself in a tough position of moving your course(s) entirely online in a matter of days or weeks without much guidance. It is important to note that you have fellow educators who have worked remotely for many years and have developed best practices and strategies. Therefore, there is no harm in reaching out for advice or suggestions. Goodluck, and stay safe. 

GuideWAH's Newsletter: 
Do you want to know about new leads and tips first? Signup now for our newsletter. Our readers enjoy learning about resources, job leads and online events such as career fairs first. ​
GuideWAH's Podcast:
You asked and now we provides tricks and tips on finding flexible remote opportunities. 
GuideWAH's Remote Lifestyle Interviews:
We are proud to announce that after a long wait we are finally starting our blog series: Interviews with people working remotely. These will be people who are working remotely as employees or those that are business owners, and they do most of their work from a home office or as they travel. ​
Flexjobs:​
Find telecommuting jobs, part-time employment and freelance work to fit your schedule and lifestyle.  Flexjobs gives you access to thousands of flexible job listings in over 50 career categories. You don’t need to sift through hundreds of listings a day in hopes of finding something offering work from home that isn’t a scam. They’ve done the work for you.
Employment Options:
Employment Options is a certified National Social Security Administration (SSA) Employment resource. They have helped 1000’s of clients successfully return to work for over 20 years.  They also have virtual job fairs and webinar training sessions open to everyone.

With the Coronavirus impacting countries around the world, we see the impact that this is having on the remote workforce currently and implications for the future. For that reason, I felt obligated to write this post from the perspective of an educator and workforce development strategist.

As we see the virus continuing to spread across the world in various countries, we also see some employers taking extreme safety measures to protect people. We have seen companies across the globe ask their employees to do their tasks remotely, cancel travel, and separate themselves from the masses to prevent the spread of disease. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention has jumped on board with providing guidelines and protocols for businesses and promoting that they encourage people to work remotely to reduce the risk. At first, this may seem like this is excellent. However, we have to acknowledge that some organizations and people may not be ready to join the remote workforce. Those of us in the field already have to be concerned with how this will all play out for the future.

Some of you may be thinking that this is exciting. However, I have been in the remote workforce since 2011 and seen successful organizations and many that weren't. If you have listened to our blogs and our podcasts, you would understand that we stress that working remotely is not for everyone, and businesses and companies have to plan how to enter the remote workforce. Otherwise, this whole idea of having millions of people joining the remote workforce in a short time can backfire. A simple way to put this is acknowledging that flipping the switch to remote work is not always easy and straightforward. With my experience in workforce development, it takes strategy and process to do it effectively. Making the switch from working in an office to remote will present challenges for organizations if they have never done it before. 

We are merely seeing organizations moving 100% remote without any planning or a strategy in place. Moving an organization fully remote takes time, resources, and training to do this successfully. Employers have to think about The following scenarios before going remote such as:

• How will they communicate with their employees?
• How will they work together in collaboration?
• How will they know work is getting done?
• How will they maintain the company culture in the remote workforce?

Employers can develop a strategy and a plan for working remotely, but it is going to take time. They need to think about communication and how they will talk to each other verbally and non-verbally. For example, are they using Slack, MS Teams, Facebook Workplace for discussion, along with video conferencing such as Zoom.us? Also, how will they share information? Are they going to use Google Drive in terms of storing information shared in real-time so employees can collaborate and work together? Will they use a program such as Asana to ensure that things are getting done? Another concern that employers have to consider is security. How can they ensure that their intellectual properties are protected and that their employees are safe as they are working online?

Organizations need a plan. With the plan, you have a start and end. This way, employees know if this is going to be short-term as long as the virus is an issue or do they have a definite start and stop date. Employers also have to consider things such as flexible work schedules, since employees will be working at home or are they expecting everyone to work traditional hours?

As you can see, there is a lot to think about for employers when considering moving their organizations entirely remotely. Honestly, we have only begun to scratch the surface of this topic. We certainly need another few more blogs and posts to cover everything. Please stay tuned

Ready to make a difference? Apply Here: ​

Are you working remotely, want to learn what it is like to work remotely or hear from companies hiring? Well, this is an event you don't want to miss.  Remote Future Summit 2019 is an online conference designed to share tips about working remotely, enhancing the remote experience, and support those seeking opportunities. 

I had a conversation with a couple of great people at Remote-How about the event and decided to become an ambassador. I am excited to share the details with you in hopes that you join me this year at the event. 
​
Remote-How are hosting the Remote Future Summit 2019
​Wednesday, May 15th - 17th. This event is free and open to the general public. 

Note: Before I jump into this heavy topic first let me say happy belated New Year to you all. I hope that you had a great holiday season. Also, please excuse my absence. I started many awesome projects that I will be sharing with you soon at GuideWAH. 

What Lessons Can We Take Away From The Government Shutdown 

First, let me say that the following article will not have anything to do with politics. However, there are lessons that we can all take away from the government shutdown that can impact our future. So let's jump in!  

The government shutdown served as an eye opener for many people in our country and those watching around the world.
Here are essential notes about the shutdown: 

• Longest government shutdown spanning from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019
• Nearly eight hundred thousand federal workers were forced to forgo their much-needed income for five whole weeks while Congress disagreed on appropriations of funds.
• Thousands of federal workers worked with no pay
• A business relying on government contracts as their primary income was hit just as hard if not more because there isn't payback for them 

So where does that leave almost a million workers without pay, families to feed, and bills to pay?

There is a perception that when you hold a government position, it is the ultimate job security. Government employees along with others have long believed in this false idea of job security for ages. However, if you know my background of working with job seekers since 2007, you would know I would tell you the opposite. A company that I served as a Career Expert said it best, "every job is temporary." Yes, there is no such thing as job security. This entire event along with the downturn in the economy in 2007 shatters the stereotype that a federal job or any job for that matter is secure. In this most recent event, unfortunately, it took the most recent government shutdown for employees to realize that they are not untouchable. However, it is not just government employees. Business owners that rely on government contracts felt the heat as well. Again, the big difference here is that contractors didn't receive back pay. 

The shutdown served as a reality check as people had to sell their belongings, find alternative work after hours, and live in uncertainty for five weeks. Many maxed out credit cards, sought out loans, and asked family members for help. Others had to rely on voluntary assistance from churches, food pantries, and donations to make it through the horrific experience.  Although the shutdown has come to an end and the workers received back pay, the impact of the loss that took place will not be forgotten. Credit scores, family heirlooms sold in desperate need, and loans from family or friends can't be resolved overnight; if ever.  

Here is a truth bomb. No matter how well we do our job, things inevitably change. For example, there are industry shifts, culture shifts; organizations lose funding and companies lose customers. Things happen that we can't control. What we have today can be gone tomorrow. Forget the politics of the shutdown, or who is right or wrong, because this site is not the place for that. The fact is that when we work for someone else, our future outlook is in the hands of another person. Depending on one source of income is a tremendous risk. If we are fired or laid off, our income can disappear overnight.

key Lessons 
If we work for someone else, we should always keep an open eye to the job market. We never know, if we aren't looking, when better opportunities exist. The best time to look for a job is when we are employed. When we aren't desperate, we can objectively evaluate an opportunity. We can weigh the pros and cons and make a thoughtful decision about how a new job might improve our professional and personal life. If we don't lose the position, we will already be in the game and won't have to start from scratch because we will know what is out there.

You should always have a side hustle going. Even if it is more of a hobby than a business, that's okay. If you lose your job, it's a lot easier to ramp up a small venture than it is to start something new. And even if you don't lose your job, your side hustle can help you develop skills, talents, and connections that can pay off. Sometimes a side hustle can turn into a real thriving business.

The biggest lesson learned from this experience that we as a nation had to witness, is that self-reliance is the most critical aspect of survival. To have security, one must have independence in the form of multiple streams of income. In the face of uncertainty, the best anecdote is being able to supply what we need for ourselves and our family. The cruel nature of such events happening in the future is enough to allow everyone to arm themselves with the necessary tools to survive.  Don’t wait for the next shutdown or something similar to ruin your livelihood. My biggest advice is to act now and secure a future of self-reliance and independence. 

​GuideWAH's Newsletter: 
Do you want to know about new leads and tips first? Signup now for our newsletter. Our readers enjoy learning about resources, job leads and online events such as career fairs first. 

GuideWAH's Podcast:
You asked and now we provides tricks and tips on finding flexible remote opportunities. 

GuideWAH's Remote Lifestyle Interviews:
We are proud to announce that after a long wait we are finally starting our blog series: Interviews with people working remotely. These will be people who are working remotely as employees or those that are business owners, and they do most of their work from a home office or as they travel. ​

Flexjobs:​
Find telecommuting jobs, part-time employment and freelance work to fit your schedule and lifestyle.  Flexjobs gives you access to thousands of flexible job listings in over 50 career categories. You don’t need to sift through hundreds of listings a day in hopes of finding something offering work from home that isn’t a scam. They’ve done the work for you.

Employment Options:
Employment Options is a certified National Social Security Administration (SSA) Employment resource. They have helped 1000’s of clients successfully return to work for over 20 years.  They also have virtual job fairs and webinar trainings open to everyone.

It is that time of year, commencement season! Congratulations to all the graduates as you take the next journey. It is the time to celebrate and consider your next phase in life. If you determined that the remote lifestyle is for you, please keep reading. 

As someone who is in the upper age range of millennials, I understand that we distinctively think of the workplace uniquely. We value elements such as flexibility, independence, creative freedom and professional growth. Honestly, we are probably the generation that anticipates these elements from employers the most. 

I remember when I first graduated from college remote job opportunities were rare. Of course, I managed, but I was never entirely happy. Today, I am delighted with the work I do. I can enjoy the flexibility of my work and have the creative outlet I crave. 

If you are having a hard time locating entry-level positions that offer the flexibility element you desire, I am here to help. 

As a Workforce Development Strategist, I am fortunate to see all the incredible changes to the job market and expansion of the remote workforce. Here are a variety of jobs that can be remote and often have entry-level openings. 

1) Online English Teacher or Tutor 
In these roles, you will be working one-on-one or in groups with children or adults looking to master the English language. The requirements will vary depending on the company. However, a BS or BA degree and being a native English speaker can get you in the door. 

2) Online School Teacher 
This role will allow you to teach from your home office. Sometimes virtual school teaching openings will consider first-time teachers with direct student teaching experience. However, you will need certification in the hiring state. 

3) Online Writer 
If you are interested in writing and earned a degree in marketing, advertising or journalism, there are writing and editing positions that are remote. People in these roles develop content for blogs, websites, social media and magazines. It will be helpful to understand SEO and know the latest trends in digital marketing to be successful. 

I will continue to add to this list as we see more fitting entry-level roles for recent graduates. Congratulations to you all!

If this content has been helpful, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to RE-Academy. Even a small donation of $1.00 can help their mission. They are a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization whose purpose is to help empower people from underserved communities to achieve economic self-sufficiency by providing a network of support, professional coaching, development tools and a confidence boost to help them thrive in work and life. You can learn more here. 

​Are you looking for work from home opportunities? Well, this is an event you don't want to miss. Our partners at My Employment Options are hosting their yearly online job fair Thursday, April 19th. This event is open to the general public. 

Here are the details:
Who: My Employment Options
Date: Thursday, April 19th
Timeframe: 10 AM EST - 4 PM EST 
Cost: This event is completely free to participate
Where: This event takes place entirely online. 

Notes: 
You don’t have to be a current client of My Employment Options to attend. Please note there may be employers that only hire onsite workers or remote employees in particular states. You can sign up regardless of which state you reside. 

My experience with the event: 
This event is brilliant because it allows you, as a job seeker to network online in "chat" rooms with recruiters from leading national employers that hire for home or onsite jobs. 

​Next steps:
​You will need to register for the job fair on their website and test your technology to make sure all is working correctly. Lastly, be sure to mark your calendar for Thursday, April 19th and get ready to network with some great companies.

If you are an employer you can contact Lori Adler by email: 
ladler@myemploymentoptions.com ​

​Learn more about My Employment Options here. 

​GuideWAH's Newsletter: 
Do you want to know about new leads and tips first? Signup now for our newsletter. Our readers enjoy learning about resources, job leads and online events such as career fairs first. 

GuideWAH's Podcast:
You asked and now we provides tricks and tips on finding flexible remote opportunities. 

GuideWAH's Remote Lifestyle Interviews:
We are proud to announce that after a long wait we are finally starting our blog series: Interviews with people working remotely. These will be people who are working remotely as employees or those that are business owners, and they do most of their work from a home office or as they travel. ​

Flexjobs:​
Find telecommuting jobs, part-time employment and freelance work to fit your schedule and lifestyle.  Flexjobs gives you access to thousands of flexible job listings in over 50 career categories. You don’t need to sift through hundreds of listings a day in hopes of finding something offering work from home that isn’t a scam. They’ve done the work for you.

Employment Options:
Employment Options is a certified National Social Security Administration (SSA) Employment resource. They have helped 1000’s of clients successfully return to work for over 20 years.  They also have virtual job fairs and webinar trainings open to everyone.