How does one go about becoming an online professor?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by little fauss, Sep 14, 2005.

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  1. little fauss

    little fauss New Member

    The title pretty much says it all. Just wanted to know what strategies you online instructors have, what areas might be in particular need of instruction (I'm qualified to teach paralegal, business law, probably some criminology courses).

    My corporation, whom I discussed in a previous thread under the title "My Corporation's Horror Story" has recently laid me (and just about everyone else in my level of lower-level management/overhead) off. No surprise there, I told you all it was likely coming. So, with but a few months cushion before I must start tapping into the 401K (which has thankfully vested), I'd like to know if you know of many online teaching opportunities that I might pursue to cushion the financial fall while I try to find out what to do from this point onward.
    __________________________________________________

    My CV at-a-glace:

    JD - University of Arizona
    MBA - University of Massachusetts (taking 15th and 16th credits this semester--40% through program)

    10 years member of Bar: nothing spectacular, no flashy cases

    2+ years teaching as an adjunct at small university and CC; I'm teaching my 9th college course this semester. I get great evals--just about the best on campus--from students, and could get my Asst Dean to vouch for this, think I could make it translate into online studies as well.
    __________________________________________________

    Well, what do you all think? Where do I start?
     
  2. -kevin-

    -kevin- Resident Redneck

  3. little fauss

    little fauss New Member

  4. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    I'm sorry, little fauss, but I gotta ask:

    Having earned your J.D. at a good regional school in an OUSTANDING city with a good bit of legal employment opportunity...

    Why in Hades did you ever LEAVE??!??
     
  5. little fauss

    little fauss New Member

    "Hades" is the operative word there. At least with regard to climate. Does that answer your question?

    Not to say that the Minnesotan deep freeze was much better. Now we get the worst of all worlds--though not nearly as extreme as either of the above--in the Land of Oz.
     
  6. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Well...I live in Las Cruces, about 30 miles NW of El Paso...our summer temps are usually within a couple of degrees of Tucson.

    Since we're at 3,500 feet, humidity is less of a problem but the older I get, the better the heat feels!
     
  7. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Wow! 51! That's old!
     
  8. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    1. Contact one or two schools for whom you'd like to teach. Develop a relationship with one or more. Build a construct that would involve your entry and development.

    2. Send out a s***load of resumes and see what sticks.

    3. Go to schools' websites and fill out their online forms. I know UoP, APUS, and StrayerU have them; there must be others.
     
  9. Jack Tracey

    Jack Tracey New Member

  10. bing

    bing New Member

    Having had my share of Southern Arizona for 4 years I can say "Hades" is the word. Whew! I recall 30 days of 115 degree heat once. But..."It's a dry heat". Right. That hot and it might as well be Summer in Illinois. It did cool off in October, though. It started heating back up in February. I think they had the State Fair in October. No one could sit on a ride if it was in July.

    Roaches as big as your hand, black widows you had to swipe down from the carport each morning, brown recluses galore, and driving with oven mitts on. It was tough for cold weather people like us. We had a great time there but the heat got to us. The landscape was beautiful in it's own way(brown). The desert bloomed and was gorgeous. The food was great. You have never seen such magnificient moons or sunsets. LOVED November, December, and January there. The snow is for us, though.

    They had really cheap tuition at Pima Community College. I took a few business courses there and then some courses at the base(Park College and Chapman).

     
  11. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Yabbut you don't have to shovel sunlight!

    I am originally from the Puget Sound area and until VERY recently considered myself to be an exile here in the Land of Enchantment.

    I'm beginning to think, though, that through three wives and multiple jobs, I COULD have gone home if I really wanted to...I think I've turned into a desert rat.

    Besides, now, when I'm in a room full of nothing but white people speaking only English, I start to get really nervous...:D

    Las Cruces does cool off in the evenings a little better than Tucson does due, I think, to the altitude. But the Sonoran Desert is far more beautiful than our Chihuahuan Desert could ever be.
     
  12. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    You're welcome to email me your CV for me to try to get before our online campus's Dean of Academics. Not sure if will do any good, but it can't hurt -- we have an Associate's in Paralegal program here and I know JDs teach in it.

    I tried PMing you this, but your box is full -- hopefully with offers. :)

    -=Steve=-

    [email protected]
    [email protected]
     
  13. mourningdove

    mourningdove New Member

    Persistence and networking are the keys. It can be discouraging. I do not have any hot leads but I am very busy. A Yahoo group (onlineadjuncts) is a support group for us online folks. Since you are a lawyer finding online paralegal programs might be a good start. I know Kaplan has one. Good luck.
     
  14. little fauss

    little fauss New Member

    Re: Re: How does one go about becoming an online professor?

    Thanks, Steve, I sent you the CV.

    And thanks, mourningdove, I'll keep hammering away.

    Mike aka Little Fauss
     

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