Teach Online and Travel: How Technology Devices Work Together for Efficient Work Management

Now that you have chosen all the technology hardware and software for your travel office, it is time to learn a few strategies to effectively and efficiently manage online teaching time while you're traveling. Back Up Storage The most important aspect of working online is keeping all your files backed up in web-based storage. Online teachers absolutely must have online, encrypted back up storage for files and photos. There are quite a few to choose from and it is a good idea to peruse reviews and comparisons of all these online storage sites. My online back up automatically backs up new files once a day and if I want to do a back-up more often, it is easy to do that with just the click of a button. There are many to choose from and most are relatively inexpensive. Do be sure to choose a back-up system that allows for unlimited files, especially if you have a lot of multimedia files. Some people use CD back up or external hard drives. Unfortunately, CDs can be broken or otherwise corrupted and thumb drives get lost or destroyed in water (such as in the washing machine). Email All in One Place My preference is web-based email sothat I can access all my email from any computer, tablet, smartphone, or other devices. A good strategy that will save a lot of time every day is to set up all school email accounts for pop access to a primary account. When I replying to school emails, it isessential to have the capability for choosing the account to show as the return address. For example, if I haveemail from a student at XYZ college, then I reply right from my primary account and choose the XYZ college account to show in my reply email. Alerts Set up your smartphone for email alerts from all of the schools' accounts. Don't set up your primary account with alerts or you will be interrupted constantly all day long with alerts. If you need to know when emails from a school accounts arrive, set up alerts on each school account. Then go to your primary account to access all new emails from all accounts and reply to emails from one account. When I am on the road, I have my tablet and smartphone within easy reach. If I have to respond to an email, I do that easily on either device. When driving, I ignore alerts until I stop for fuel or a dog walk. Then I can answer any emails that just cannot wait. If I am in the passenger side, I can respond to emails right away. Work Anywhere, Anytime On our last vacation trip, a tire blew out and shredded on the fifth wheel. The first place we could pull over off the interstate was on the shoulder ofan exit ramp. We knew it would takea couple of hours for the tow truck to arrive to replace the tire, so we put out the awning, outdoor mat, and a couple of chairs. There we were on the shoulder of the exit ramp, and I just turned on the smartphone hotspot and got out my tablet and did some work for an hour or so. I accessed class discussions and answered emails. With a traveling office, online teachers are able to work from anywhere, in any situation. Technology devices work together seamlessly to provide internet accessto allow for working in email or online classes. Only one or two devices are necessary to get work done. Some people prefer laptops or tablets; other people can do all their work on a smartphone. Do some experimenting to find out which combination of technology hardwareand software works best for you in efficiently teaching online while on the road. Happy teaching and traveling!