I had a wonderful conversation with our campus Distance Learning administrator yesterday.  We share a number of EdTech interests that most recently has included AI.  The conversation turned to how crazy busy she has been – not just this summer – but for the last several years. 

It has been relentless in terms of the big issues to address.  This past year, we served together on an accessibility taskforce to address the new regulations.  It was great that they were postponed BUT we had to assume the deadline was real and it required some heavy lifting to get it done on time.  And the Canvas cyberattack during your last week of spring classes really piled on what she had to deal with.  Not to mention program-related efforts to update online teaching standards, explore microcredential solutions, and work to structure quality improvements to our online classes.  All of that is layered on top of the normal online program workload in support of half of our campus enrollment. 

As you know, I have been connecting with you every week for a long time now.  This adventure started in November 2015 – I’ve mused in the past that I have a knack to commit to projects that just keep going. I did the first ITC National Distance Learning Survey in 2004 – had Ian Coronado and I just reported out the 21^st survey results at the recent ITC conference (the results will be shared with all members – Ian has developed a wonderful infographic! And this weekly endeavor is like a Timex watch – it just keeps ticking!  

One of my absolute joys is seeing so many of you at the annual conference. And you have been so kind to indicate your commitment to reading the weekly tomes. I appreciate any feedback, and I feel that the weekly communication has pulled us closer together over the past 10+ years.   I’ve been told that especially career and job related topics seemingly are so well-timed and resonate just when you needed to know that you weren’t alone. I get it. I’m a recovering administrator and have dealt with an abundance of crazy over time. I’ve been lucky over the years and enjoyed the many administrators I worked with. But enrollment downturns and budget cuts are brutal.  As the need to consolidate vacant positions accelerates, remaining administrative positions transform into an amalgamation of responsibilities – and workload.  For me, it hit after the 2008 recession. My dream administrative job became overwhelming.  At ITC board meetings, I often updated what my job entailed – it kept changing and represented such an eclectic combination of responsibilities. The list would not fit on a business card, and I indicated my title had become the “dean of stuff”. 

The 2025 Fall term has raced by, AND you have never felt so overwhelmed with work, right? You are not alone. I hear from a surprising number of you. For some, it is the unexpected uptick in workload after a promotion. The surprising "7 days a week" attitude as you move up the administrative ladder is common. But the most common complaint is that the workload continues to increase – more online sections to serve more online students – and the need to train and support more online faculty, with no additional budget or staffing. Sadly, that too is VERY common.

We are, after all, unicorns. The administrative and staff roles of a Distance Learning program are still rather undefined. We don't really fit in the organizational chart either. We seemingly support everyone in academics and work with everyone in administration. We are NOT a silo operation; quite the contrary, we are everything, everywhere, all at once.

We’ve discussed before the profound impact of The Pandemic on our community college online programs. I’ve had numerous conversations with administrators, designers and faculty – all have shared the trauma of the rapid full shift to online, the lack of staff and training to facilitate this, and the overwhelming day-after-day workload this represented. 

We are now “years” away from The Pandemic, but a variety of stress points are still present in our online programs. Specifically, the shift to fully online led to an increase in the number of faculty that wanted to teach online (it also increased the number of students as well). This fostered greater demand BUT our programs have not experienced increases in staffing, and especially have not been able to increase the number of instructional designers needed to address chronic issues with our online classes. Chronic issues????  Yes, for most of use, our online classes lack consistency, often are not compliance checked (ADA), are woefully lacking the benefits of professional design, and many of our faculty lack the training needed to create a learning experience that is engaging and embraces the unique needs of learning online. As a result, we have actually witnessed a decline in online student learning experience and completions.