New Year's Resolutions for Instructors in 2022

As 2021 is drawing to a close, I’ve been thinking more and more about what lies ahead for the coming year. Life outside the house continues to be uncertain, so many people have decided to focus on upskilling and career progression this year in order to improve their work-at-home situations. I asked a number of friends and colleagues about their goals for this year, and what advice they would give to instructors. Here are some of their suggestions for new year’s resolutions for 2022.

Resolution 1: Clearly, online learning is here to stay. Focus on learning more about which tools and apps can integrate with your school’s LMS to get students more engaged with the learning process. --LK

Resolution 2: Start attending more conferences to keep up with new trends in teaching. They all seem to be virtual again, so that opens up a lot of options without having to travel! Maybe even try to push yourself to present; many of us have learned a lot over the past couple of years and have ideas to share. –KD

Resolution 3: A lot of my friends have been moving into instructional design since the pandemic started. I don’t want to leave the classroom, but I think taking a few ID courses can help improve teaching even if you don’t plan to make a switch. –LC

Resolution 4: It’s important to learn more about creating good learning outcomes. I really like curriculum development, and course alignment is a key element to this. There’s so much available online, so take a little time to do some reading on the topic. – JG

Resolution 5: There are lots of great authoring tools out there. Try learning one of them to help improve your online instruction. I decided to start learning to use Articulate Storyline and Rise. It’s amazing how much they are helping me take my teaching to the next level! – SS

Resolution 6: Collaborate more! We’ve all been thrown into this situation at the same time. We have a lot to learn from each other. Set up a biweekly or monthly meet-up with friends and coworkers to share what you’ve learned and help support each other through the learning process. –JH

Resolution 7: Write an article for a blog or online magazine. Nothing helps you learn more than writing about a topic and sharing it with others. Choose something that interests you and start researching. Guaranteed, if you find it useful and helpful, someone else will too. --EG

Resolution 8: Accessibility matters a lot. Remember that online learning is for everybody. Watch some videos or take a course on how to make your courses more accessible. –CA

Resolution 9: The new education buzzword I’m hearing everywhere is “micro-credentials”. You can learn about using and creating micro-credentials by doing your own research or taking a short course. There are lots available through LinkedIn Learning or the various colleges and universities. – DS

Resolution 10: Go easy on yourself! I know it sounds silly to make this a resolution, but it’s been a really tough couple of years for everyone. It’s important to remember that we’re all doing the best we can. Keep learning and improving but remember to give yourself a break when you need one! – CD

What new year’s resolutions are you making for 2022, and what advice can you share with instructors for the coming year?