Teaching online courses with a Masters?

Greetings,

I'm curious if anyone knows any schools that hire online-only instructors who have (thus far) only earned a Masters degree? I have found most require a terminal degree, with a few exceptions such as Ashford and The Chicago School. Any others?

 

It's possible but they would probably hire someone with a doctorate over a master's degree holder.

 

This depends a lot on the field. If you are in Accounting, Finance or Engineering, maybe a Masters degree is enough. If you are interested in teaching History, Social Science and Humanities, I believe the PhD is the norm.

 

In another thread there is a discussion of the proposed changes to the term "instructor" as it applies to the accreditation of online degree programs. The proposed changes would allow for someone less qualified to be "the instructor" of a course. In the world of competitive employment this could result in hiring someone on the Masters level (as opposed to the Doctoral level) as an instructor. Why would anyone do this? Simple. Because you could pay them less.

 

Many schools have the same pay level for Master or Doctor level faculty. However, some schools would accept a Master's level instructor for a Bachelor course but only a Doctor for a Master's level.

The reality is that back in the 90s before internet schools were popular, most people would not have a doctorate so it was quite feasible to get a teaching gig with a masters. Today, with so many internet programs available plus online cheap options from India Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, etc, it is not easy to compete with a Masters degree.

If the OP has no budget for a PhD from an American school, the best is to get one from a credible school in South Africa like UNISA. If time is a concern, some of the Latin options like UCN can be completed with 5K and in few years. Again, UCN, UNISA or alike are not going to give you a Harvard tenure track job or even a tenure track at all but they work for professional adjuncts. Some American options are more affordable also but the reality is that a professional adjunct would need to get one at some point just remain employed. As adjuncts, we rely on contract renewals so remaining competitive is key and a PhD is part of the equation but with low salaries, one needs to be creative and use the options around so get one with low budget.

 

I remember well that my undergrad physics instructor in the early 1970s was a full professor at a school whose engineering programs were ABET accredited yet his highest degree was a Master's. Degree inflation is a real phenomenon and it's a problem. As I understand the actual standard, a Master's is sufficient to teach all undergrad courses in the subject matter. As it is, though, community colleges like Master's level instructors but four-year institutions hire mostly Ph.D.s and then pay them poorly. They do this because they can.

 

In some Universities, post doctoral programs with degrees such as DSc and DLitt are becoming popular. I wouldn't be surprised if in 20 years from now we start seeing programs that would try to differentiate people even more. I have a friend in Poland with a super saturated academic market, he needs a DSc (Post Doctoral) just to get a job.