Online Education, Employment, and Teaching

I'm excited that pursuing an online sociology degree at Fort Hays State University will give me the flexibility to finally complete my bachelor's. I have a few issues that I hope really aren't issues at all.

1. Has anyone found having an online degree to be a hinderance when it finally came to finding a job? Did you get the impression that a potential employer was looking down at the degree because it was obtained online? I know the degree won't specifically say online, but I'm in NJ and Fort Hays is in Kansas. A perceptive employer will figure it out.

2. At the bachelor level, is paying more for a college with a recognizable name worth it? Fort Hays is a decent school at a great price. As far as I know, it's not a ranked school, but it seems the quality of the education will be on par with the state university I was previously attending, minus the advantage of classroom interaction. I plan to eventually get my master's at a brick and mortar state university, so I figured I should spend less on the bachelor's. But if circumstances were to change and not allow me to get my master's, I still want to know the bachelor's from Fort Hays will be useful, and not jut a stepping stone to graduate courses.

2. I've come to understand that an online master's degree is looked down on when it comes to teaching college level courses. I'm not sure whether this is true or not, just what I've read on various forums. My concern though is with an online bachelor's and teaching middle school/high school. Would a bachelor's degree obtained online be frowned upon if I wanted to go into teaching?

Thanks

 

Aside from that strange photograph of the girl with the map painted on her face on their front page of their website, you are going to a good school that you should be proud of. What's up with that photo though? It is supposed to look academic, I suppose, but it turns out rather creepy. :smile:

In some fields, such as finance and academia, online degrees are frowned upon, but in a majority of fields, they are accepted. The key is the fact that Fort Hayes is a good, B&M school and it is regionally accredited, so only the really picky employers will be likely to care. I think that the same employers who care enough to figure out that your degree was earned online are likely to be the same ones who will not like it.

With your degree in sociology, what field are you planning to work in? Here's a link to a list of jobs for sociology majors Sociology Program - Jobs for Sociologists Out of those, I would say that only the banking or stockbroker positions might be negative about an online degree, but they may be OK too, you never know.

You are right here; an online degree will severely limit the kinds of university courses you can teach. A few, even someone on this board, have managed to get a tenure-track university job with an online degree, but the odds are heavily against that happening. I would venture to say that someone who holds a degree earned online would likely only be able to teach at an online school or possibly a few city colleges that are more open-minded than the average.

K-12 is a different story. I teach Jr. high and have had no trouble with the teaching credential and the master's in Ed Tech I have earned online. The state of California could not care less either way. For middle school or high school you should not have a problem. The real problem arises in the fact that the teaching industry is in a shambles; almost nobody can get a new teaching job in this environment and teachers are losing jobs. This is especially true in California, where I am, but I understand that the problem is fairly widespread. I hope that will change in a few years, but no one can know that for sure.