Don’t Teach While Traveling by Jeremiah A. Gilbert
My college typically has two summer sessions, one in June and the other in July. For years, I would teach one session and travel during the other. At first, this was because I taught in-person classes that needed me to be present. However, I still followed this pattern even when I switched to teaching online sections in the summer. Then, one year, I thought, “Why not teach while traveling?" I'd only need to find Wi-Fi, and that's everywhere, I reasoned. Why hadn’t I thought of this before?
My wife was attending a conference in Athens, Greece, the year I had this revelation. As it began just after the end of my spring term, I tagged along. I was teaching five-week online courses for an art institute at the time and had one class end as we boarded our flight, and another start the Monday after her conference. I figured I could spend the weekend while she was away prepping the course, which wouldn't take long as it was the same course I’d just finished.
Between the first course ending and the second one beginning, I received word that the institute had decided to completely revise the course that was starting on Monday. This would mean a complete overhaul, requiring far more time that I had assumed.
The Wi-Fi at our hotel was not very good, but there was a coffee shop only a few feet away with a strong connection, so I planted myself there for several hours over the weekend to completely redesign the class. Not just week one, but all five weeks. On the plus side, by Monday every employee in the coffee shop knew my name and knew I wanted to order one of their blended Greek yogurt drinks. My wife was surprised when I took her there Monday morning and was immediately greeted with, “Hello, Jeremy!”
Thankfully, I still had some time to sightsee while my wife was at her conference, just not as much as I had planned. I was able to get everything updated for the course and uploaded before the Monday start when we'd also be catching a plane to Zurich. We had added a tour of Greece to follow my wife’s conference, and when that trip was delayed by a week, we decided to pop over to Switzerland to fill in the gap. Only our hotel doesn’t seem to have an Internet connection, or insulation for that matter, as our neighbors’ endless nightly conversations would prove.
Fortunately, Wi-Fi is abundant in Zurich, though you probably can't afford the meal accompanying the connection. Even fast food is expensive there. A Swiss friend tells us this is to discourage people from eating junk food. Noble thought, but that doesn't leave many options when every restaurant and café is expensive, and I just need to use their Wi-Fi.
I somehow managed to get through my first week of class, which included message boards that needed to be replied to. Luckily, unlike my college, the art institute had low enrollment caps in their online courses, so it is not too difficult to see to every student each day. Besides the unexpected course overhaul, so far, so good.
On our return to Athens, our delayed tour begins with a week going around the mainland, followed by a week sailing the Greek Isles. During our mainland tour, every hotel has Wi-Fi, and none of our days are too long, so I can pop in and keep up with my coursework. Given the time difference, I'm replying to most students the following day but within the 48-hour response time I promised. Then we join the ship for the sailing portion of our trip, and it all starts going wrong.
Wi-Fi on cruise ships is expensive, so I won’t be connecting from our stateroom. However, we’re disembarking daily to a different island or two, and I’m told everywhere has Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, a few problems arise with this scenario.
First, I have to take my laptop with me on shore excursions. When I first began traveling, I joyously kept all of my electronics at home except for my camera and phone, which I only used for its alarm. Those days are long gone, so I bring a padded case for my laptop and grab the backpack that has space for it.
Second problem: I need to sightsee and do work, which quickly eats up the few hours we have at each port. My wife and I decided to split the time, using the first half seeing some sites and the second half looking for Wi-Fi. This led to a third problem: While everyone claims to have Wi-Fi, it doesn’t always work. I discovered this during our first port-of-call after ordering a drink and finding a nice shaded table. Unable to connect, I paid for my drink and quickly found another café, this time testing the connection before finding a table and ordering another drink.
As it turns out, one of the women on our tour was also taking an online class, so she and I would soon pair up, looking for a quiet café with good Wi-Fi. We would be buried in our laptops while my wife and her friend enjoyed themselves. Have students completed their discussion posts by the deadline? Check. How about responding meaningfully to at least two other students? Check. Now, on to grading their homework.
I continue like this for the week, and then our tour is over, and we're flying to London to spend some time with my wife's mother before heading off to the Balkans for a few weeks. My art institute class will be over by then, but I'll need some of our London time to finish prepping for my next class. This one is for my college and is starting in July.
Once in London, a new problem arises. My wife’s mother spends half her time in London and the other half in Beijing, where her mother and several siblings reside. As such, she uses a pay-as-you-go Wi-Fi connection to avoid paying for it while she's away. This setup comes with data restrictions, and I don't want to use it all up prepping for my class. So, I head to another coffee shop, this one a little further away than my nearby Athens one.
The staff doesn't learn my name this time and there are unfortunately no Greek yogurt drinks on the menu. I do notice the same woman sitting at the same table each day I’m there with her laptop. I wonder what class she's teaching or taking.
Luckily, this class started while still in London, so from my coffee shop, I could send out the welcome letter, answer the slew of initial emails that always come the day an online class starts, and send students looking to add the class the code needed. This class doesn't have a discussion board, and most assignments are graded automatically.
However, I still want to be on daily to answer questions and ensure there are no technical difficulties. During this time, I discovered the site my college uses for online classes is down for maintenance for six hours each day, starting at 8 a.m. London time. As that’s midnight back home, I’d never noticed. How could they be using a site that’s down for maintenance 25% of the time? I guess I'll be tending to my class in the late afternoons while here and in the Balkans.
Is it possible to teach while traveling? Yes, if you don’t mind the added stress of needing to find reliable Wi-Fi everywhere you go and spending a few hours after a day of sightseeing doing some work. One night, while staying at a farm in Albania, I had to bring my laptop along to dinner as this was the only area with an internet connection. While others were enjoying the peaceful evening after their meal, I was answering questions and grading assignments.
As I’d rather spend my downtime while traveling decompressing and maybe editing some photos, I learned my lesson, and this was the first and only time I spent teaching while traveling.
