guyanaboy

I recently posted on another forum asking about some advice and I feel that I was treated very badly by some of the regular members on there.

I told them that I would like to eventually teach at the CC level and am currently working on completely my online MA degree with an eye towards furthering my studies at the PhD level. Currently, I teach at a CC outside of the United States and because of financial constraints, it does not seem likely that I will be able to attend a regular B & M university to do my PhD.

My question to all members for all member is... am I simply delusional in thinking that CC in the United States of America will recognize online degrees when it comes to hiring instructors? The other forum make it seem that the only people who get jobs at CC's are people who have done their PhD's in a regular B & M setting and somehow I find that difficult to believe. While I know my chances will be greatly improved if I attend a regular B & M institution, financially it seems impossible for me to do...

Is there anyone who can please shed some honest light on this... If online degrees do not lead to employment, why are people taking them other than for personal reasons? There must be some people out there who work at CC's in the United States who have received their MA's from regionally accredited online institutions? No ?

Batllo

You are in competition for teaching jobs with students who got their degrees from American B&M Universities. How do you think you compare to them with your online MA? Online universities are a business, they want your money.

tbradford

An online education can be just as good as a B&M one in many subjects, however there is still a stigma attached to this type of degree, especially in the academic world. For regular jobs, online is generally fine, if it is accredited. It is also usually okay for coursework up to the master's level in some subjects.

However, for academic positions you will probably need to go to a B&M school. Also regardless of what you plan to do with it, I would not go for a PhD online. Regardless of how good you think the program is, it will be a waste of your money because it will not be respected in the academic world.

Also, if you can get into a regular PhD program in the U.S., it will probably be cheaper to attend than an online one. Online ones generally charge you, whereas B&M PhD programs generally pay you a stipend and waive tuition.

penntransferme

It depends on the school. A standard B&M that offers online degrees as well lends itself to a lot more credibility than solely online schools. If you're going to be an instructor, faculty mentoring, research, and classroom experience are important. You might not be able to get that as easily with an online Ph.D. program.

MHC2011

The community college I attended doesn't hire faculty from on-line programs because they simply don't have the classroom experience, never mind the rightfully sketchy stigma attached to most on-line programs. How can someone expect to teach students if they aren't used to student interaction? Also, graduate programs are where you learn to teach through working as a TA or graduate assistant, so students with on-line backgrounds are at a complete disadvantage there in the applicant pool.