Online Adjunct Instructor Earns Money

In many instances the question of earning money as an online adjunct instructor comes up in presumably polite society as a sort of joke shared by those who simply believe they know better despite no immediate experience on the subject. The primary issue seems to be that it really isn’t possible to earn a living by teaching online college classes. Here’s the truth: it is very possible to earn a sustainable living by being an online adjunct instructor for a variety of accredited online degree programs. There are some trade offs, certainly, and there are some sidelong glances that have to be endured, those sidelong glances that come from those who simply can’t imagine there is anything to do online in terms of academic achievement, but the reality is that distance education technology has evolved to the point that online bachelor degrees and online masters degrees can be earned by a college student with a personal computer and those with a desire to employ their earned graduate degrees can earn money teaching those same college students.

The first step necessary to finding online college classes to teach is to locate post secondary institutions. Since every school has a website now, it is easy to visit those websites and locate the link to the page that allows you to apply for an online adjunct instructor position. Once you pick out the link that leads to the page that will accept your academic credentials, it is a simple matter of applying, finding another school, applying again, and continuing to apply for online adjunct instructor positions until you land one or more. It might be helpful to examine the following examples of community colleges’ application links.

Grand Rapids Community College
143 Bostwick Avenue, NE
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504
Tele: (616) 234-GRCC

On the front page of Grand Rapids Community College’s website is a link named “Jobs”, and it takes you to page that has links to Adjunct Pat Rates and a “How To Apply” page with detailed instructions for prospective online adjunct instructors.

In order to earn a living by teaching online for multiple online college degree programs, it is very important to continually apply to these schools. The reason it is so important to have a structured search strategy is that circumstances in higher education are changing on a daily basis as state budgets shrink and unemployment grows to higher levels. Eventually, each online college program that you teach for on an adjunct basis should be evaluated in light of the pay scale and work load of other online bachelor degree programs. It is very important for an online adjunct instructor to constantly evaluate each of the online universities since online adjunct employment is really academic entrepreneurism. That means the burden of choosing the best paying online bachelor degree programs, aa online programs and online masters degree programs to work for is entire up to you the instructor. However, with the right sort of due diligence and laser-focused attention to entrepreneurial details, it is more than possible to be one of the online adjunct instructor earns money club members.

Online Adjunct Instructor Is A Real Job

A lot of people like the idea of a real job that can be done from a laptop accessing the Internet anywhere in the world, but it is actually possible to do so an online adjunct instructor teaching new and returning college students taking online college classes. Assuming that someone has a graduate degree in English, history or math, perhaps, psychology, and a fairly high level of technical expertise with computers and Internet navigation, he or she can teach at as many as five or six different online college degree programs. These different academic institutions can be a mix of for-profit schools, community colleges, state-funded colleges and universities and private post-secondary institutions. Further, it is very possible and quite common to have two online college classes to teach for each academic institution. Thus, an aggressive intellectual with razor-sharp time management skills and excellent technical abilities could conceivably teach as many as eight to ten online college courses at a time. Understandably, this many classes would require ten and twelve hour stretches in from of a computer monitor, but it can be done with the right motivation. That motivation just might be the money that results from such a great amount of online teaching work.

With the current economic landscape in turmoil, money is pretty good source of motivation. With that in mind, a quick look at the economics of being an online adjunct instructor reveals that there is money in not spending money, and that multiple income streams from online education courses, for example, or online nursing programs can certainly add up to a spendable sum. Instructing students enrolled in an online teaching masters degree program doesn’t have to cost the online adjunct a cent in physical transportation to a traditional campus. On the contrary, what with the availability of free access to the Internet in a majority of public places such as coffee shops, hotel and public libraries, a cheap laptop with minimal software serves as both college classroom and personal vehicle. In this instance, the money saved by not spending cash on all the necessary things entailed with using a vehicle is money you keep as an additional income stream by teaching online business courses, for example, or for an online bachelor degree program.

While each online college class may not pay what seems to be a lot for the level of expertise and education required to be hired by an accredited online degree program, when teaching for several online programs the income starts to mount in a serious way. For example, if an online school pays one thousand eight hundred dollars for one online college course that runs six weeks, and there are any number of classes online that are only six weeks long, and an online adjunct is teaching two such classes, then the income would be thirty six hundred dollars for the five weeks teaching online. That’s six hundred dollars a week in income from just two on line college courses, and it would not take but a moment to calculate how much four or six such courses would pay each week. With this kind of economic potential, especially when it can be earned from a laptop accessing free Internet at a coffee shop, there is a lot of motivation to become an online adjunct instructor.

You Can Be An Online Adjunct Instructor

You can be an online adjunct instructor for more than one post secondary academic institution at a time. For many people with earned graduate degrees who have never taught at a community college, college or university, this many come as news. However, it is true, and having multiple positions as an online adjunct can produce a considerable income throughout the year. Every day more and more online instructors are needed to teach overflowing online college courses leading to nursing degrees online and an online doctoral degree. More and more new and returning college students means there is a genuine need for an adjunct instructor with an earned masters degree or Ph.D to teach the online class. However, it is important to understand that first you must apply for the online teaching employment opportunities before beginning to earn money from them.

The application process for online teaching openings is fairly easy. The most difficult part by far has to do with navigating the various application interfaces. It should be assumed that each school will have its own requirements in terms of how your academic qualifications are submitted to the school. In some cases it will only require a simple e-mail containing your resume listing your academic achievements and a cover letter stating your desire to teach online in an online bachelor degree program. In other cases, a multi-part online form must be filled out and submitted in order to apply to teach in an online masters degree program.

In any event, the first task is to find the application page of a school that offers its students masters degrees online, aa degree online or has an online bachelor degree program. Here is a distinct example of this application page on a school’s web site:

Independence Community College
1057 W. College Avenue
Independence, Kansas
Tele: (620) 331-4100
Tele: (800) 842-6063

The application link in the example of Independence Community College is named “Employment” and it leads to a page that lists the details of the application procedure. At the bottom of the page, actually the second half of the page, there is a notice specifically addressed to those who are interested in online college faculty positions.

Further, a telephone number is provided for those interested in adjunct positions: (620) 332-5420. Additionally, an e-mail is listed in this section, jobs@indycc.edu, that can accommodate a resume or letter of interest.

As with any other effort to earn a living, landing an online adjunct faculty position requires concentration and determined effort. The bright note in all of this is that the online adjunct instructor can scale his or her effort to the extent that at some point one school can be replaced with another college or university if the next one pay a little more or requires less work. In this economy it is extremely important to understand that the traditional academic path is practically nonexistent now, and the trend is towards part time online teaching positions that will allow intellectuals with an earned graduate degree at least a chance to earn a living from a laptop by teaching college students taking online college courses.

Online Adjunct Instructor Making A Living

Making a living as an online adjunct instructor isn’t all that difficult with a little determination and an earned graduate degree. The first step to landing online adjunct teaching positions with multiple online degree programs, all of which need an online adjunct instructor to lead the class, is to start looking up online programs. Once the online programs have been found, and every post secondary school has a website now, it is simply a matter of submitting your application materials. Of course, the application materials will highlight that you are interested in teaching online college classes. The massive influx of new and returning college students seeking to improve their chances of being hired for a good job once the economy improves a bit by having further training or an actual online bachelor degree or online masters degree in hand is creating a growing need for qualified online adjunct to teach the students. Further, since the majority of college students are located in the first year courses, a graduate degree in history, English, math or psychology will be most in demand by the online bachelor degree programs.

Applying for a position as an online adjunct instructor requires finding the application link to a post secondary academic institution’s application page. For example, here is one from North Idaho College:

North Idaho College
1000 West Garden Avenue
Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814
Tele: (208) 769-300
Fax: (208) 769-7786
Human Resources: (208) 769-3304

On the front page of this school’s web site is an “Employment” link. Clicking on that link leads to a “Welcome to North Idaho College’s Employment Home Page” announcement, and just under that announcement are specific instructions on how to navigate the application page for this community college.

It is important to understand that the application process will, in all probability, be different for each community college, state college and university and for profit school. The initial task will be to find a search and application strategy that will allow you to submit as many applications as possible every day. However, applying to online universities for online adjunct positions is a numbers game in many cases. That means you will have to submit a larger amount of applications in order to receive a positive response and, hopefully, an invitation to participate in the training program held by the school. Keep in mind that in almost every case you will be required to successfully participate in a training program before being placed in an online classroom.

In the end, it is quite possible to earn a living as an online adjunct instructor by acquiring several online professor positions with several accredited online degree programs. The key to finding these positions is to locate the application page and submit your academic credentials, and to always repeat the application process with the same school until you receive a positive response inviting you to participate in the training program. With an earned graduate degree and a desire to focus on making applications to online universities, it is entirely possible to earn a nice living by teaching online college courses.