Get Online College Teaching Experience By Volunteering To Teach

Here are some good reasons to become an online college teacher:

Exemplary Job Growth Potential

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, state that job growth for postsecondary teachers is good, increasing at a much faster than average rate for all careers. Experts have made this prediction because of the large number of faculty members expected to be retiring.

Good Earning Potential

In 2007, the salary for postsecondary teachers in the middle fifty percent earnings bracket was between $56,590 and $82,490, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Is There A Demand For Online Teachers?

Due to the downturn of the economy, online learning is in demand. Branson School, an online high school located in central Colorado is currently experiencing a high demand and enrollment in online adult education training courses. As more companies initiate layoffs, online colleges have seen a substantial increase in enrollments. Many people who have been recently laid off believe that a degree will help them in a very competitive job market. The talent pool in the workforce is high and any advantage that workers can obtain is highly suggested. Just having experience just is not enough.

Many new students feel that online classes give them the chance to improve their resumes and make themselves more marketable without the need to commit to the demanding schedules found on traditional campuses

Learn All About Becoming An Online College Teacher

What Are the Steps in Becoming an Online Instructors

STEP 1: Understand What You Are Getting Into

Consider the following

• You should have a computer that is at least a Pentium III with at least 64 MB of RAM
• You are comfortable with your basic PC skills
• You should be able to create and manipulate documents (formatting, copying, pasting, attaching and retrieving them)?
• You have a desire to learn new software applications
• You should have taken an online course

STEP 2: GET TO KNOW IMPORTANT PEOPLE.

• Your local community college may have a number of affordable online courses. Take advantage of these and connect with fellow classmates and instructors.
• Join professional social networking sites such as LInked In or PartnerUp and get connected with people who have online education background.

STEP 3: MASTER THE SOFTWARE YOU WILL NEED TO DELIVER YOUR COURSE.

• Online courses are delivered to a computer screen by means of one or more authoring software products. Choose what fits your needs and works most efficiently.
• Decide how you plan to develop and deliver your course. Click here to find out more information on how to become an onlline college instructor.

Volunteer To Teach In Your Field of Expertise

One can turn any subject into an interesting online course. If you probe the internet, you will find scores of courses that center on everything from knitting to nuclear physics. I think the trick is to teach something that drives your passion, and you would not mind sharing with others.

Here some suggestion on how to set up to volunteer your time to teach a college course online:

• Sign up to teach with Free University
• This resource will help you discover how to combine your knowledge and what you wish to gain by creating and establishing an online course. No matter what age of student, subject you want to teach, or size of the class, you will find resources and information to bring your class online. Click here.
• Signing up for Free University provides you easy access to students.

Choose A Free Online Course To Teach

Quite a few prominate universities offer free courses such as MIT, Harvard, Stanford, and Cornell. Exemplary faculty freely places their course material, syllabi. and reading lists on their schools free course web page to share with everyone. Simply go to these sources, download the material, and set up your course.

If you have taken online courses, you may have noticed, a main web page, with a message board function, your instructors contact information, a place where you can upload your assignments/files, and updates. This is not nessesary at first. You can set up your course as one page. Purchase a low cost yearly plan from a reputable Webpage Service Provider such as Go Daddy, Yahoo, or Register

All of these services have great and informative tutorials to assist you creating your web course

Course Description Section- Describe your course or expertise thorougly.

Expectations- List your expectations of your students

Outcomes- List the things that the student will learn as a result of the course

Reading List- List books, publications, and webpages that are nessesary for the course

Assignments & Due Dates- Create a list of various assignments and due dates.

Contact Information- List your phone number and e-mail address.

Here is an excellent example from MIT Free Courseware of how an online course is structured.

Now that you are set up to volunteer teach, you need students. Here some recruiting and promotion suggestions:

• Enter appropriate online chat rooms through Google and Yahoo and announce your courses.
• Post certain courses on Craiglists classes section, aned state within the ad that the course will require no charge.
• Go to every free online advertising source and advertise your free courses.
• Create low cost flyers, and go to your local unemployment and job training center and post flyers
• Go to local coffee houses and post flyers.
• Go to your local Employment Development Department (EDD) office and post flyers. Unfortunately because of our economic downturn, lines are long at all EDDs, Your free course will be a welcome relief to many, and you will be providing essential skills to enable people to perhaps land a job,

The Importance of Volunteering

Whether you're looking for something more meaningful in your life to gaining valuable work skills, volunteering is a great way to connect with people, find enjoyment, and become part of a community. Another important aspect to becoming a volunteer college professor is that you will be sharing your knowledge with someone who will immediately utilize it. The majority of people who will need your help will more than likely be laid-off workers, underskilled laborers, and individuals with obsolete skills

Volunteering can restore a sense of lost fulfillment to your life, introduce you to new friends, and help you learn new skills. For individuals who are unemployed, volunteering can revive your spirit, keep your skills fresh, and introduce you to people who may end up being a job lead.