Too many online adjuncts?

That is fabulous! I think applications like that will help boost the effectiveness and the image of DL. Because of the prepackaged nature of your classes, you aren't spending much of your time doing prep-work, you can therefore invest more time into interacting with students via those applications. So is it possible that the changing nature of your online classes is a good thing? I've never taught an online class so my question might me naive.

 

I'm not a online adjust. But I've worked mainly from home for many years and I can totally relate to that. I feel like I'm chained to the computer. I appreciate the flexiblity it allows for my family; however, I am literally working morning, noon and night to meet all deadlines, and take care of the family stuff in-between.

I've also noticed that companies seem to think that working from home is such a great benefit that they don't have to pay, especially once the economy went south.

 

This is especially true because, no matter how bad the pay is, it's a work from home job and there will always be plenty of people willing to do it. So the employer has got the upper hand.

 

At the beginning not so much. My first courses as an online adjunct paid higher and required less education. I remembered that Devry and Cardean paid me to flight to their office and get paid training. Cardean paid me $2800 for my first course plus a supplement for training back in 2002.

In 2010, most schools require a minimum of a PhD and do not pay for training. I just took a non paid training with TUI, I got offer a course after this for a much lower rate than Cardean, I couldn't take the course due to a schedule conflict so the school never called me back.
Schools know that the PhD is just a paper requirement as courses are prepackaged but students want to take a course with a PhD instructor, PhDs are a dime a dozen due to the massive production due to massive online PhD factories. Schools are just trying to make as much money as they can as they know that the business of selling PhDs won;t last long.

 

I am an adjunct with Devry and went through training with them last summer. I was paid for the online training course, but only after I successfully completed my first course with them. The other places where I am an adjunct do not pay for training at all.

 

That's pretty cynical. (might be true too!) Why do you say the market for DL PhD's won't last long?

 

I agree. I don't think the doctorate is going to lose its appeal. Maybe academia is flooded, but there is plenty to do in other settings. A trained scholar can be useful to many organizations.

 

May be a trained scholar, but are online PhDs given by for profits really training scholars? Think about it:

-None of them require publications at peer reviewed journals for graduation
-They are replacing dissertations with more friendly "doctoral projects"
-They are designed to be completed in 3 to 4 years while you work full time and support a family (Contrary to the full time 5 year programs)


I know that many don't agree with my view, but online doctoral programs were created as "cash cows" and not really to "train scholars".

 

The demand for online education is high mainly because it was hard to get a doctorate degree. Doctoral degrees were valuable because only few were able to get them, the demand will continue as long as the market is willing to pay for the extra education. Once the number of doctoral graduates increases due to the massive production of online doctorates, the market will not longer be willing to pay for the extra education and that will make online doctorates from virtual schools go out of business.
There is the view that the PhD or DBA will replace the MBA, I don't see this as regular businesses don't really see the value of research skills in the work place or at least not willing to pay extra for this.

 

A lot of the traditional doctoral process is a time waster and has more to do with academic culture than rigor. Duties like being a teaching assistant help universities and prepare future professors but aren't necessarily great prep for anything else. Teaching a 101 course, for example, doesn't necessarily add much to an education (unless one plans to teach).

A traditional dissertation isn't the only useful capstone experience. If the doctoral student learns how to conduct research to solve problems or answer important questions then they have learned something useful. For practitioners the applied project may be a lot more useful than the traditional goal of adding to the body of knowledge. There are a lot of traditional dissertations that add knowledge of interest to no one and that have no practical application. Someone like a EdD, PsyD or DBA might be better off applying their education to a problem instead of creating new research.

 

But wasn't this the purpose of the MBA in the first place? Why you would need another degree for this?. The reality is that schools need more products to keep milking the cows so the DBA, online PhD, EdD come as way to keep getting money from you.
A good MBA should give you enough tools to be able to solve business problems, good old fashion MBAs were two year programs that required research projects that were applied to business, wouldn't be more cost effective to get a good MBA from a school that teaches how to solve business problems rather than having to pay a lot more money and time just to get a DBA that tries to teach the same thing? Or is it that the watering down of MBAs has generated a need for another degree?

 

A good MBA might be enough for most managers and business leaders. The MBA is usually a generalist degree, while there might be a need for some hardcore data collection and analysis. It seems like an experienced MBA might continue his/her education to do consulting, business intelligence or provide knowledge beyond the abilities of an MBA's training. It also seems reasonable for practioners to move beyond the master's level for reasons other than an academic position.

 

That's a good point. But aren't regionally accredited PhD programs required by the accrediting bodies to include a dissertation? I know that the dissertation in the program I'm in has a reputation of being quite a bear to get through. Isn't it only the non RA schools that are dropping the dis on PhD's? The EdD and DBA are a different story, of course.

Also, getting a PhD is still quite difficult even though it's no longer logistically impossible. A RA PhD is a huge amount of work. I'm putting in 30 to 40 hours a week. I don't know which RA PhD programs are being shortened, but mine is a 4.5 year program. It's also quite expensive to get a PhD. I can see that there will be many more PhD's going into the market now and in the future, but I can't imagine that it will become as flooded as you suggest due to the difficulty and the expense.

 

LOL. I'm sure you are correct!

 

Oh, you're not entirely alone...

 

Not at all.

From having two or three members of the fam with brick and mortar T1 and T2 doctorates, I get shelled every day with the same argument, especially as I near completion of the MBA. The pressure to go to one of the "better" schools and stay clear of the Capella and UoPs of the world is pretty high.

The online doctorate is going to appeal to a certain market and the B&M doctorate is going to appeal to a certain market. The problem lies in understanding what each program is going to be able to do for you after you get it, before you make the decision of what market you're in.

The same argument can be said for the RA vs. DETC argument and any other educational quality argument. Know what you want before you take on the cost and effort and make the right decision up front, you'll be happy with your end result. Fool yourself ahead of time and you reap what you sow.

 

Well said.

 

Agreed, but it cuts two ways. A top tier doctorate can keep you tied to a school and limit your career opportunities until graduation, when you might learn that no one will pay you to write journal articles or lecture fulltime. It seems like taking on any doctorate is risky.

 

It depends on what you want to do with your doctorate. If you are looking for full-time university employment, then it is a very risky venture. Getting a university job is even more difficult than getting a regular job in the current economic climate. The regular job market will hopefully improve soon, I'm not so sure about the university job market.

 

Which is better? A DL doctorate or no doctorate at all. For some people, that is the only choice to be made.