MaryCatherine Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 I know we have quite a few college professors here, but do any of you teach online? If so, could you tell me what that looks like as far as number of hours, the actual "what exactly do you do?" and a general pay scale. Is the student interaction meaningful? Does the university tell you what/how to teach or do you have some autonomy? I'll probably come up with some more questions.... Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 I've taught online courses at two different cc's. The requirements will vary by the college. I teach as an adjunct now and pay for an online course is the same as pay for the in-class course. Academic freedom is also the same: in my case, very little. The department selects the text and the basic syllabus is standard, so I have the freedom to make some changes to what I want the students to do and how I run the course, but the content is pretty fixed. (As it should be... I teach math.) I have rarely seen "meaningful" student interaction. I've taught using an online component for a number of years. I think I've only had 1 or 2 semesters where students used the online discussion board effectively. Those were both traditional classes. Unfortunately, my experience with online courses has been that they're populated by students who are generally trying to do the least amount of work. An online course (especially in math) will likely require MORE time and energy than a traditional course from the students to master the material. I'll keep teaching online when the courses are offered to me, because the pay is nice for the effort I expend. I use CourseCompass as the software (Pearson publishing). I like it a lot, although there was a steep learning curve at first. It takes me a while to set up the course before the semester begins. Once things are set up, I really probably only spend an hour or so a week running the course. YMMV - especially depending on your discipline & how active your students are. Class size is capped at about 20 students, so even if everyone emailed me regularly (they don't), it wouldn't take a ton of extra time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryCatherine Posted January 30, 2011 Author Share Posted January 30, 2011 Thank you. Any other points of view? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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