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[nikki214]

I am a current graduate student. I want a job teaching as an Adjunct On-line Instructor. What college or university will let me teach while in grad school? Are their any suggestions on jobs I can get as a grad student?

[grasshopper]

Where are you in your grad studies? MA? PhD? Still doing coursework, or ABD?

What discipline do you study?

Does your university offer TAships? Do you have any experience in the classroom?

[voxprincipalis]

(Pardon me for using the royal "we" here!)

Yes, we need a lot more info before we could be of use, I think. There may be ideas we could put forward but more details would be helpful, including what kind of teaching experience you already have and (as grasshopper asks) whether or not you are at a school where you could get "live" classroom teaching experience as well.

Also, I am unclear about how the poll will provide you with any meaningful data...?

But give us some more info and we'll see if we have anything to offer.

VP

[zharkov]

Go to the websites of the big "household name" online universities, and you'll almost always see a link for new faculty applications.  They typically hire those with master's degrees, PhDs are "nice" but not usually required.

[twofish]

Go to the websites of the big "household name" online universities, and you'll almost always see a link for new faculty applications.  They typically hire those with master's degrees, PhDs are "nice" but not usually required.

Last time I checked, University of Phoenix requires their adjuncts to have several years work experience, which excludes most grad students.  You might want to check with your local community college, as these tend to be begging for adjuncts.  The only issue there is that you need to make sure that you are talking to the right person, since I have found that some people in the local community college were under the mistaken impression that adjuncts were not available.

[goingcrazy]

Hello.  Presently, a lot of schools require you to have some type of classroom experience or distance education certification to teach online.  That does not mean that you will not find a job teaching online but you may have a difficult time finding one. 

Like any other job search if I were you I would just be persistent in looking for a position at college/university websites.  You never know when you may just end up in the right place at the right time!

[larryc]

What is "distance education certification?" I teach online, am putting together a program to offer graduate degrees online, yet I have never heard of this.  Are there nationally recognized certification programs for distance ed teachers?

[amlithist]

Also, have you ever taught online (NOT just iin the classroom)?  If not, be aware that it's not as easy as it might be cracked up to be.  I've taught many years in face to face classrooms and several online as well, and even then, it was a shock to me how labor- and time-intensive online classes could be.  It's a pretty steep learning curve in my experience and that of others I've talked with.

[zharkov]

What is "distance education certification?" I teach online, am putting together a program to offer graduate degrees online, yet I have never heard of this.  Are there nationally recognized certification programs for distance ed teachers?

I taught online for a couple of school, including Mr. Big, and they defined certification as passing their free online class in how to teach online and how to use the software. 

[twofish]

Also, have you ever taught online (NOT just iin the classroom)?  If not, be aware that it's not as easy as it might be cracked up to be.  I've taught many years in face to face classrooms and several online as well, and even then, it was a shock to me how labor- and time-intensive online classes could be.  It's a pretty steep learning curve in my experience and that of others I've talked with.

It's not easy at all.  Part of the dynamic is that in contrast to an f2f class where face time is limited, there are hundreds of e-mails and posts flying around.

The really nice thing about online classes is the lack of commute.  The compensation for University of Phoenix is about the same as an adjunct at the local community college, but you don't have to spend the hour or so to drive back and forth.

[snarky]

Could someone out there give me a ballpark estimate to the amount of time online teaching requires. I'm a graduate student with an M.S. in chemistry who will be ABD (also in chemistry) soon. I'd like to eventually score a tenure track job at a small college and I think an online adjunct position would help me learn some good skills for my future job. It would also be nice to have the cash!
Of course, my research adviser is my boss and would not be happy if a side job got in the way of my work in the lab. I'd like to know if I should look into this further, or if there is not way I could do this.

thanks!

[amlithist]

I teach Comp I and II, so I don't know how comparable this is for you in terms of workload, but I end up spending roughly double the amount of time on an online class as with a f2f in which I'm teaching the exact same content concurrently.  There's just a lot of logistical stuff that needs to be done online that you don't have f2f:  for instance, in my f2f Comp II, the student prints his paper out, hands it to me, I mark it, record the grade on my EZGrade Pro program, take it to the next class, hand it back.  In the online class, though, using Blackboard, I have to open the file (hoping like heck he remembered to use Word and not some other program that I have to convert before I can read it), save the file, reopen the file and use Word's editing feature to mark it, rename and save this new file, then upload it back to him.  It doesn't sound like much, but it all takes time, which is what we're talking about here.  (And this doesn't count the inevitable e-mails:  "I sent that paper to you!"  "I didn't get it."  "But I saved it to the Drop Box."  "The syllabus specifically points out that you can't just save it, you also have to send it!"  "So will you take it late, since it's Blackboard's fault?"  No.  It was your fault for not doing what you were told to do."  "But it's not my fault."  Ad nauseum.)

Then again, maybe it's just ME. . . but I don't think so!  :)

[twofish]

Could someone out there give me a ballpark estimate to the amount of time online teaching requires.

At UoP, I'd guess about 20-25 hours/week for about a month.  Most (80%) of that time is made up of grading papers and writing the required weekly feedback.

[drdirt55]

LarryC,

Distance learning certification can be what Zharkov wrote you, or it can be a certificate program from an accredited university.  I've even seen Masters degree in online/distance education out there.

[drdirt55]

Could someone out there give me a ballpark estimate to the amount of time online teaching requires. I'm a graduate student with an M.S. in chemistry who will be ABD (also in chemistry) soon. I'd like to eventually score a tenure track job at a small college and I think an online adjunct position would help me learn some good skills for my future job. It would also be nice to have the cash!
Of course, my research adviser is my boss and would not be happy if a side job got in the way of my work in the lab. I'd like to know if I should look into this further, or if there is not way I could do this.

I think teaching chemistry online will be difficult as the labs are not easily adapted to the online environment.  Some schools are developing exportable lab kits to work around this issue, but I suspect that you will be frustrated in a search for online adjuncts in chemistry.  Don't let me discourage you though, you may be an inovator and can solve this hurdle and then sell it.  You will need to go deep into the Google search to find some CC's that might offer a chemistry or biochemistry course online, so be prepared to dig deep.

Godd luck