PhD and adjunct position question-

I am pursuing my PhD in Business and really want an online adjunct position for the extra money. If I take classes faster than my tuition assistance will pay (money out of pocket), will the out of pocket investment pay off? Am I almost guaranteed an online adjunct position with a PhD in Business?

 

Guaranteed? Of course not. But having one--even one from a nontraditional school--can make you a much more attractive candidate. Regional accrediting agencies put a lot of pressure on schools like the University of Phoenix to have as many doctoral-qualified faculty as possible, especially in graduate-level classes.

You don't have to wait, however. Many schools will want you sooner, and some may have programs where you can get a discount on your doctoral studies. (UoP has one for adjuncts taking their doctorates from certain schools, but it doesn't kick in right away.)

Cost/benefit ratio? Hard to tell. As I said, you might want to see if you can begin teaching sooner, or even now. I doubt there is a financial benefit to speeding up--the costs of going to school are much higher than the renumeration for adjunct teaching over similar periods of time.

 

Randell,

I have been teaching online for the past 3 years with my master's degree so a PhD should give your good chance to land something.

University of Phoenix is always looking and a master's degree is the main requirement so you should be able to teach there as we speak. On the other hand, adjunct online positions are low paying so you would need a day job to survive.

 

Re: Re: PhD and adjunct position question-

I have to wait two years from the date I earned my masters to teach for UoP. I do plan to keep my day job since I love what I do and I make a great living.

 

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My advice would be to get some adjunct work at a local university under your belt. However, don't let it detract from your Ph.D. studies; that's first priority! Getting online adjunct work is fine, too, but consider that that experience is going to look as good on your cv.

Dave

 

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I have applied for about 10 online adjunct positions and no one hs contacted me.

 

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Randell,

The main issue is that your degrees are very recent. Online schools normally look for someone with many years of post MBA experience. My advice is to concentrate in your PhD and you will get online contracts sooner or later.

You also need to have patience, it took me about one year of sending resumes to land my first contract.

On the other hand, online schools are facing tough times. I have received many contract cancellations this year due to low enrollments. Many students feel that online MBAs or degrees are not worth the price during times of recession.

 

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Interesting... It would be interesting to discuss offline what schools are having trouble. I know of two online schools whose MBA programs are running at capacity and one unaccredited school that is also in a similar situation.

Dave

 

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While it sounds corny, my advice is keep the Ph.D. as your top priority and for adjunct positions follow the advice of Dori in "Finding Nemo", "just keep swimming, swimming, swimming... just keep swimming, swimming, swimming..."

Dave

 

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Would there be any fallout from adjunct teaching at an unaccredited online school, then applying to teach at an RA institution?

 

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Dave,

It wouldn't be nice from me to mention the schools as it might hurt their reputation or image. I also would like to say that I teach Management Information Systems and this falls in the IT field that has been hit since last year due to the weak IT economy.

It might be possible that some fields like accounting or finance are still booming but it is not the case of IT.

 

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Why? I see teaching at an unaccredited institution like training for a company or corporation. As long as the institution is legit and it is not a scam then it should be OK.

 

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Makes sense. Thanks. Yes, I understand your reservation and that is why I suggested discussing it privately.

Best,

Dave

 

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Yes, and if there was any anticipated negative effect, then just leave the mention of the school off the c.v. or resume.

Dave

 

RFValve, Dave - Thanks for the response!

Randell1234 - I've applied for a few teaching positions locally, and as with your experience, no call backs. 9 years after completing the MBA and a couple of corporate management positions still wasn't enough to generate interest.

I too was beginning to look at the possibilities of online teaching before you started this thread. The advice of focusing on completing the Ph.D. first, followed by teaching sounds like sage advice. Especially for someone like myself with a 50 hour work week. Thanks!

Rick H.

 

Randell,

Over the past month or so, I've applied for about 25 online adjunct positions, and I'm finally getting some "nibbles." Actually got an offer this week, and I plan to accept it.

I've applied to many different types of schools:
-exclusively online, "corporate" schools
-primarily brick-and-morter schools that offer a large number of online courses (applied in reponse to ads and perpetual postings, and also sent a few unsolicited applications)
-community colleges that offer online courses

I would suggest applying to a variety of types of schools, to help you find the best fit.

In your situation, though, I would definitely concentrate on finishing the PhD first. The tuition at Northcentral is fairly expensive, and most adjunct positions wouldn't pay much more (and often even less) than what you would pay to take one class. Your BS and MS degrees are both very recent, and that would present a challenge for getting a teaching position. Working full time plus studying for a PhD would be enough to keep most people sufficiently busy.

If you don't already have teaching experience, you might see if you can participate in giving training at your day job, or if you can teach non-credit adult ed classes locally. This would give some experience for when you are ready to apply again.

I would definitely not teach at any school where you would be embarrased to attend as a student. Applications for government work (including publicly funded colleges and universitites that might have online teaching jobs) often require you to list ALL jobs you've had. If you would be ashamed to list the job, don't teach there. However, I think it would be fine to teach at a school with national accreditation (DETC, for example), or at one of the few unaccredited schools of widely recognized quality.

Good luck,

Alex

 

Alex,

I do have teaching experience. At my "day job", I am a corporate/field trainer and I have worked as a substitute for a tech school.

I guess I need to just keep trying.

 

Randell,

If you took any courses at a B&M community college or if you know any of the administration at one, you might do well to try there. I was able to secure an (on-campus) adjunct position because I had taken courses at OTC and was favorably remembered by the administration. I am hoping the on campus experience will make me a better candidate for an online position once my masters is complete.

Jason