I am looking for online teaching opportunities and hoping to start at least gaining some experiences in online teaching, and eventually able to teach online in a full time basis. However, while searching on the web for a bit, I found that most of these position requires teaching experiences, and a lot of them also wants a PhD level although not necessary. It is a chicken and egg situation. I have a BMath degree in computer science from a traditional unversity years along, and a MS degree in organization management from an online unversity (capella). I haven't decided if I should pursue a doctoral degree yet, cost is a big issue here. How do I get my foot in the door? Is a doctoral degree useful in this regards?
Good question, Cleung. I would like to know as well. I have seen many questions, but no definable answer as of yet.
We talked about this recently in a thread. I mean, just a couple of days ago. Basically, you have to apply for everything you see. Even apply for local community college adjuncting positions. No, they are not online. Yes, they get you some experience. If you can play that on site experience into online courses for the same school, so much the better. There are so many applicants for every open adjunct position, that it is hard to get your foot in the door. So do whatever it takes. I got an onsite adjunct position, driving about 60 miles - one way - three times per week. I basically spent from early morning to around noon at the school, then drove back home for my regular job. I had a work schedule that allowed that. You might only be able to teach night classes, etc. But do whatever you can to get some experience, no matter where it is. As you do so, keep applying to every online position you can find. It might be at community colleges (you can probably get put into plenty of faculty pools - don't expect to hear from those guys. I have never heard from one yet). It might be at some of the for profit schools (EDMC, Kaplan, UOP, etc.). Doesn't matter. Apply to them all. Keep applying until you get something. It might be a week, it might be a year or more. I have applied to probably 250 or more schools. Most of that was withing the first six months of getting my Masters. Since then, I have been busy enough that I only apply to the schools that interest me. I am then able to drop schools that pay less, have more stringent requirements, etc. (I mean crazy draconian measures, not just that they expect you to do your job. Some schools require lots of meaningless "extra" stuff, so those are usually the first to go for me). There is no quick fix. It is just a matter of tenacity. Keep at it until you get something. There is no "special" way to do it, in my experience.
How to get online teaching experience Another thread also discussed this issue. The fact is you can get online teaching experience AND get paid for it. You'll develop your own class too so that means instructional design and technology experience. Believe me it counts on a CV (I did this when I first got started over ten years ago and it made a huge difference). Here are some places to check out: How to get online teaching experience
A strategy some are now doing is creating courses through Udemy, which allows anyone to create their own courses, and then putting the Udemy course creation and teaching experience on CV's.