Ask Dr. Diane: How Do I Become an Online Professor?
Today’s Question: One of my goals is to teach for an online university. Is a Masters enough or do I need a PhD? What can I do to enhance my chances? Do I need teaching experience or does work experience with education qualify me?
These are all very good questions. A lot of these questions are answered in a book by Dr. Danielle Babb called Make Money Teaching Online. http://www.amazon.com/Make-Money-Teaching-Online-Credibility/dp/0470100877/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1. Dr. Dani gives some great advice. She was on my doctoral committee and she really knows her business. I highly recommend getting a copy of her book.
There are some schools that allow you to teach with a Masters. Some schools do prefer a PhD – especially for teaching higher level courses. I think the best site to find online teaching jobs is www.higheredjobs.com. Your best bet to enhance your chances of getting accepted is to apply for actual jobs that are listed on sites like Higheredjobs as well as through other sites like www.monster.com. I have seen the University of Phoenix on Monster but not on Higheredjobs – so it is important to look at several sites to find all of the jobs out there. It is good to have online teaching experience but not all schools require it. They like to see that you have real world working experience which is helpful when you are participating and sharing in the classroom.