Earn your doctorate online and be an online adjunct? Might be tough.

You are obviously a huge exception to this idea. If people could do half as well as you have, they would be very happy. But you have more going for you than just a degree, you have brought solid experience to the table along with your degree and, from what Dr. P says, very strong teaching skills. You weren't a newbie even when you first started.

 

I don't know of anyone in their right mind who would attempt to pursue a doctorate with the end-goal of becoming a part-time professor.

 

I must be crazy then...

 

Not so crazy if the person was doing it mostly for the accomplishment, had another successful job and was wanting to do the part-time thing just to earn side money to offset the cost of the tuition. Some people, including me, are achievement junkies.

The problem is even that modest goal is becoming unattainable for most people. The jobs are going away.

People like Randell1234 and many of our other distinguished members have been teaching online for a long time and I suspect that the few remaining jobs will go to people like them. I don't buy into the idea that schools will hire newbies just because they are cheaper or that they will try to find doctorate holders that will work for free.

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Then you are right at home with us!

 

Dr Babb sells the idea of becoming a part time teacher at many institutions as a full time career (Resources for Online Educators, Business Owners & Real Estate).

I have read her book and other similar ones, it seems that hundreds of people are looking for an online adjunct career and do a PhD for this reason.

Just last month in the house hunter international show there was a way looking to move to Europe that was a full time online adjunct.

I am not saying that people only do online PhDs to become online adjuncts but there is a significant amount of people that do otherwise people like Dr Babb wouldnt be in business.

I really don't see much use for a low tier doctorate in business other than being able to teach. I dont see many ads calling for people with doctorates in business and the few they do call for people with PhDs from top schools.

I know quite a few people that make careers as online teachers with online PhDs, when I used to go to the Devry and Waldens conferences, many declare themselves as professional online adjuncts. The money might not be that great but many love the idea of being able to travel and have flexibility in their lives.

Schools like Devry, Walden, Trident, etc give priority to people with PhDs. Many people with PhDs that work at Devry have degrees from online schools:
Check the Devry roster below:
http://www.devry.edu/assets/pdf/online-options/online_faculty_list.pdf
Kaplan:
http://www.kaplanuniversity.edu/Kaplan_University_Faculty_Roster_Business.pdf

We can argue that all these people working at Kaplan and Devry with degrees from Capella, NCU, UoP, etc did not get their PhDs because they wanted to work there but the reality is that many work there for a reason.

 

This is exactly why I am planning to get my doctorate. I already have a good job which pays me much more than I ever thought I would be making at 33, and I already have two masters degrees working on number three. Its a personal accomplishment to get the doctorate, and im sure I will be able to find some part time teaching job somewhere to eventually offset the cost of tuition eventually. If not oh well, still will be making a great accomplishment that very few people dare to attempt.

 

It depends, the schools that pay well are not hiring as people don't leave these jobs but schools like Trident are always looking as they pay $50 bucks per student.
Another always looking is Kaplan.
There are always jobs for online adjuncts but it will get to a point where just doesn't make sense to work for less than minimum wage for a PhD.
If a person really wants to work from home, you can always work as customer service, tech support, ebay business, web programmer and other many careers that pay much more than working for Trident and don't require a PhD. An Indian telemarketer probably makes more money than an adjunct at Trident.

 

Okay, so it shifted from people who pursue the doctorate so they can adjunct teach to....huh? That it's something they can do if they have a doctorate? Isn't that sort of stating the obvious?

By the way, if the higher education market has shrunk, it sure isn't by much. Certainly not enough to expect things to have changed much. (Remember, even with the numbers we do have, there are both winners and losers in the equation. Some schools are increasing enrollments.)

If you're in a doctorate, you're going to complete it. If you are contemplating one, your market is 4-6 years in the future. What will that look like? Well, in the long run have we ever seen a retrenchment in what David Hapgood called Diplomaism? No, in the 41 years since he wrote that book, things have only gotten more so.

Finally, if you're thinking about doing a doctorate primarily to teach as an adjunct, find a better reason. It's a tough thing to do. I chose to do my first one because I wanted to develop an expertise in this field. It's what I accomplished. I don't know how marketable it is--I've never really tried to find out, except some work with UoP. But have a reason better than the fact you'd like a part-time job. Please.

 

BTW, Babb is a Ph.D. from Capella (2004). She has no academic background in higher education, nontraditional or otherwise. Her dissertation title:

"Factors influencing use of virtual private networks over traditional wide area networks by decision-making technology managers"

She did write this book in 2007 (alluded to above):

"Make Money Teaching Online: How to Land Your First Academic Job, Build Credibility, and Earn a Six-Figure Salary"

Very soon after the award of her doctorate. Not a lot of time to gain valued experience, but she claims she teaches 80 courses per year for a dozen schools (or did claim when she wrote the book). Her co-author, a DBA from Capella, didn't do a related dissertation, either.

Babb seems to be in the business of being Babb. Nice work if you can get it.

 

Call me ignorant, but are you searching dissertations by the use of an academic library? If so, which one are you using? Is there a certain library that stores all dissertations from all PhD awarded students?

 

If you know the name of a dissertation author, then you can search for the dissertation at ProQuest Dissertation Express. Try it for Babb, Danielle.

 

The ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.

 

Does the old style paper and print Dissertation Abstracts International still exist?

 

Damn, CalDog is one step ahead of me by one minute. lol

 

Yes, but it's now part of ProQuest, which offers a wide variety of archived content in addition to dissertations.

 

Trident raised the pay to $100 a student and they set the limit of $9K per year for adjuncts.

 

Babb's dissertation was only 92 pages???

 

Because I was asked this question, permit me to agree. This is the source I used.

 

Thanks CalDog... It worked perfectly.