There are over eighteen million students attending community
colleges, four-year colleges, state universities and for-profit online
post-secondary academic institutions today, and more and more of those
college students require an online college instructor to lead their
classes. Distance education technology has matured to the point that it
would be hard to imagine a school that is not offering online college
classes to its new and returning students.
In fact, it is almost
guaranteed that the lower cost of offering online college classes will
force colleges and universities to move as many of their undergraduate
classes online as possible in the next few years. The migration from
traditional, on-ground education to digitally-accessed education
represents a major shift in how a college education will be earned, and
it concurrently represents a major shift in how almost anyone with a
graduate degree in a core area of academic study such as English, math,
history, psychology or Information Technology can find ample
opportunities to earn a very nice living by teaching in multiple part
time online teaching positions. It should go without saying that the
first step to landing an online teaching position is to become familiar
with the needs of the over five thousand institutions of higher
learning.
First and foremost, the schools are almost literally
being overrun with new and returning college students who have become
unemployed or know with relative certainty that they stand a very good
chance of becoming unemployed. These students want to improve their
chances of earning a decent living again when the recession lifts, and
they plan on making that happen by attending college in order to earn a
degree or by attending a community college in order to acquire technical
training. In either case, it is absolutely necessary that they take a
certain number of core college classes.
The person with a graduate
degree in these core areas of study can certainly take advantage of the
growing need for instructors who can use a computer hooked to the
Internet to teach college students taking these requisite courses. This
growing need for education professionals with technology and academic
skill sets is creating a very definite career path for those seeking to
become an online college instructor.
Online College Instructor Income Potential
Obviously,
each school will have its own formula for deciding how much to pay an
online adjunct instructor to teach a course and anyone who teaches
online for any length of time will realize that there isn't any arguing
the point with the school's administrators. The only real option for an
online adjunct teaching math or English, and it is these two core
academic subjects that will have the vast majority of new and returning
students, is to decide if a school that pays fifteen hundred dollars to
teach an online college class for fifteen weeks is a better deal than a
school that pays two thousand two hundred dollars to teach the same
course for eight weeks.
Much of the evaluation process for one or
another school depends on the demands of the course. Eventually, the
alert online adjunct instructor will learn to teach at multiple
accredited online degree programs at once so that if one academic
institution becomes too demanding it can be replaced by another school
that is more profitable for the adjunct. In general, it is possible to
make fifty to sixty thousand dollars a year through online adjunct
faculty employment, and there are those online instructors who
laser-focused time management skills and cutting edge technology
abilities that can earn in the six-figure range, but they do not sleep
at lot. Online teaching can be lucrative in a variety of ways not
directly related to the actual teaching.
For example, online
adjunct instruction does not require a personal vehicle and there are no
public transportation, streetcars and buses, necessary to manage the
online classes. The best way to quantify this economic aspect of online
instruction is to add up how much money is spent driving a car to and
from the various college campuses every day. If a college instructor
teaches at several traditional institutions that are some distance from
each other a pretty penny of the money earned from teaching is eaten up
in sheer transportation costs. An online faculty member only needs a
computer and an Internet connection to function in the classroom.
Today,
a perfectly serviceable laptop can be had for less than four hundred
dollars and almost any coffee shop of public library has free wireless
Internet service. Now compare that cost of teaching online with the
almost endless expense of owning and maintaining an automobile that is
sure to break down from all the miles put on it driving from one campus
to the next. Another economic benefit to being an online college adjunct
is that of geographic mobility. This mobility is of paramount
importance since it can transcend geography, which means the adjunct can
move about the globe freely and still earn a living wage. This
geographic mobility could become very important if and when the area I
which the adjunct lives become too expensive or is prone to natural
disasters like hurricanes or earthquakes. Thus, the income potential of
online adjunct faculty employment should be measure in more than just
the payment for teaching an online college class.
Online College Instructor Application Strategy
While
it is true that teaching online college classes for a distance learning
online college requires a minimum of a graduate degree, it is also true
that one needs to be hired to teach online in order to start earning
money from it. Therefore, an application strategy is quite important to
the overall process, and the application strategy is one that will be
ongoing since the number of community colleges and other post-secondary
institutions offering online classes will only grow over time.
First,
gather all the documentation you will need during the application
process. This includes a cover letter that contains an expressed intent
to teach online undergraduate classes since it is these classes that
have the most students in them. Along with the cover letter, a resume,
not a vita, is a necessary element of the process. A third and very
important element is scanned in unofficial copies of all graduate
transcripts. All three of these application elements should be kept in a
handy place on the computer's desktop since they need to be in motion,
so to speak, at all times.
The academic job boards are always a
good place to search for possible online college course to teach, but it
is a better idea to apply directly to each of the over five thousand
academic institutions that have web sites on the Internet. Just keep
submitting applications to teach online as an adjunct and sooner or
later a positive response will be generated by the effort to make
contact. Keep in mind that the schools have a lot more students than
teachers who can master the digital classroom and teach college
materials in a professional manner. Sooner or later, it will become
easier to see the outstanding opportunities that being an online college
instructor for multiple colleges online offers those with graduate
degrees in need of a decent living.
Michael Greene has taught as an online college instructor
for the last five years. He unreservedly recommends online college
teaching jobs
[http://onlinefacultyposition.com/online-faculty-position-needs-graduate-degree]
to everyone with a graduate degree needing to earn a decent living and
work toward a brighter future during these difficult economic times.
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