Interested in online teaching

Discussion in 'Online & DL Teaching' started by lurker, Oct 9, 2006.

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  1. lurker

    lurker New Member

    I was interested in doing some PT online instruction, but do not have formal teaching experience.

    My background is a wide variety of IT areas, and I do have a Masters in IT Management. Checked U of P online, but it doesn't appear they're hiring for IT professors right now.

    Any other suggestions on where to look?
     
  2. Jason D. Baker

    Jason D. Baker New Member

    A couple good resources are:

    The Chronicle of Higher Education Jobs

    HigherEdJobs.com

    The Virtual University Gazette Newsletter

    And, of course, the web sites of the universities themselves often list online adjunct positions in their human resources section.

    Jason

    ---
    Baker's Guide to Christian Distance Education
     
  3. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Don't want to be a downer, but IT teachers are right now in low demand. I have been teaching online for a while and at least two of the online schools that I used to teach haven't called me in years due to their low enrollments in IT.

    If you want to teach, I would suggest to switch into a more in demand field like accounting or just wait for IT to pick up again.
     
  4. dwright_97

    dwright_97 New Member

  5. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    That's been my goal for a long time. I can retire from law enforcement in 7 years and 350 days (but who is counting???) and a doctorate will allow me to pursue that kind of a part-time lifestyle. ;)
     
  6. dwright_97

    dwright_97 New Member

    Why wait for a doctorate?

    Why wait for the doctorate? If you have 18 graduate hours in an area, you can teach it. When you are done with the PhD, the ideal is to have both teaching experience AND the doctorate! That will get you into multiple institutions and you can drop the ones you don't like working for at that time!
     
  7. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    Re: Why wait for a doctorate?

    I already teach a little bit at our local community college (not DL) and I just turned down a job offer to teach at a four year college because of:
    1) time constraints
    2) unpredictable cop-shifts
    3) need to focus on finishing a doctorate.

    If I can complete a doctorate, then I'm sure that opportunities will unfold, sort of like the parting of the Red Sea. LOL :D
     
  8. dwright_97

    dwright_97 New Member

    Re: Re: Why wait for a doctorate?

    Yep you're right - opportunities unfold big time once the doctorate is done. If you have experience now that is great. I hear you, I'd turn down a full time job right now too.. if you want to diversify like I have done and my co-author has done without putting all your eggs in one basket then you have no choice really but to turn them down..
     
  9. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Re: Why wait for a doctorate?


    There is no need for a PhD if you want to teach at the undegraduate level. I believe that this would a be good idea for "retired" professionals already getting some kind of income from a retirament plan.


    If you work at Devry as an online adjunct you can teach up to 30 credits per year but normally you will be teaching a lot less than this, a course at Devry pays about 2K to 3K so let's say you teach 5 a year that is 10-15K a year. Let;s say you work for another 2 or 3 schools so you are looking for a 20-45K a year income if you are lucky. If this is on top of a retirament plan then it makes sense, but as a full time position this makes no sense, don't forget that you don't get benefits, job security or stable loads.

    It makes sense also if you are a consultant and want to combine your practice with online teaching but as a full time career would make sense only if you live in Argentina or Ecuador when you can live a decent life with 30K a year.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 10, 2006
  10. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    Re: Re: Interested in online teaching

    Don't agree - I am teaching IT for two schools.
     
  11. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    I am able to teach IT and management classes at two schools and plan to get my PhD (in the next 3 years) with hopes that I can work only teaching at several schools and make a decent living. Right now I am averaging about 25K per year teaching part-time.

    One suggestion was to switch to a more in demand field like accounting to get work. I would assume, and I could be wrong, that just having grad 18 credits in a field will not land you a job but the experience plus the 18 credits will.

    Once I get my PhD, could I just rack up 18 credits in certain areas (accounting, Psychology, Criminal Justice, Human Resources Management, etc,) and expect / count on landing a job teaching that field without much or any practicial experience?
     
  12. dwright_97

    dwright_97 New Member

    You could change entire fields; or just review your transcripts so that you are showing 18 grad hours in the areas in demand. Im curious though what the stats are pertaining to IT. Im still seeing very strong demand; it's what I teach primarily.
     
  13. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Re: Re: Re: Interested in online teaching

    I also make a living teaching IT. However, the enrollemets in IT are really slow nowadays so there is a lot less work available in the field .
     
  14. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Randell,

    My DBA is in IT but due to the slow down in IT, I have been teaching operations management recently.

    I also had the idea to finish a certificate in accounting to get 18 credits requirement but I'm getting a lot of work in operations.

    I teach and also do consulting and make a living out of this. Online teaching pays very little but it adds up to your yearly pay.

    I'm able to make around 80K a year between teaching and consulting. This is not a lot of money but I also have the freedom to do what I like and work from home.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 12, 2006
  15. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    I also primarily teach IT, but it is a lot slower than it used to. Just to give you an idea, I used to teach 2 sections of computer network at one online school every two months and now I can hardly get one section every 6 months.

    I have been teaching a lot of courses in general business like project management, marketing, operations in order to get more work.
     
  16. novemberdude

    novemberdude New Member

    RFValve,

    If you don't mind my asking how do you market yourself for consulting work? Is it through contacts you built up in a previous career or targeting companies in a specific industry and calling them or what?

    Personally I think 80k a year is great considering that you've achieved a lifestyle that you're happy with. Congratulations.

     
  17. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Hi,

    I have been working as an IT trainer and distance education consultant for almost 4 years. How do I market myself? I contact Universities and private institutions and offer them my services, some of them call me back and some of them not. My initial contact is normally by using an email and then a phone call if they are interested.

    Online teaching helps you to put credibility for your distance education consulting. I mainly design distance education courses with the help of WebCT, First Class, Dreamweaver, etc.

    E-learning is big now so if you know the tools and have some experience you get calls.

    Teaching at Universities adds up to your pay check but they should not be the main source of income otherwise you would starve.
     
  18. Oherra

    Oherra New Member

    Checking the websites already mentioned here is a good start. The thing I wanted to mention is that you have to keep applying. I was able to secure a position at my local community college as an on campus adjunct while I was completing my masters. Finding online work was considerably more difficult.

    I started applying for online teaching positions as soon as I completed my masters degree. It was almost a year and 6 months later before I got any interest from any of the big online schools. I actually started teaching online for the local community college first and just recently got hired by a large online school. I probably submitted an application and resume to them 3 or 4 times before I received any contact.

    Every time I saw an opening I just kept trying.
     
  19. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    Re: Re: Interested in online teaching

    I agree - it took me about 18 months to get my first online gig. I must have applied to a dozen schools several times.
     
  20. Prof Olon

    Prof Olon New Member

    Online Adjunct

    I applied at 29 online programs before I landed a total of 2, and only one of them is a keeper. It was about 10 months from initial application to first assignment start.

    The resources listed first in this thread are some essentials. Another good spot is the Yahoo! group called onlineadjuncts.
     

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