Thread: Most popular online courses

Given the surge in online classes, I think getting training/education in teaching future online teachers how to design, develop, and assess online courses would be good.

I've no desire to teach online classes, but a couple summers ago I did take an online course in designing assessments for online classes. It was interesting . . . very different from what I expected, and very different from what I've seen or experienced in other online classes.

The highest demand areas for online teaching are in English and math. Those are required courses in all programs, from associates degrees through bachelors degrees, in all fields. Schools will always need Eng and math teachers. My 6 grad courses in Eng include Writing, Lit, Eng, and Communications. I've taught developmental Eng, Eng comp 1 and 2, technical writing, business writing, personal and business communications.

The pros of being able to teach Eng are that there are many different types of Eng courses and all students have to take them. The cons are the Eng is grading-intensive (you work longer hours for the same amount of pay). I don't teach Eng comp any more but I love my communications classes.

The Educational Technology that Jim is talking about would not get you very much work. Every school that hires online faculty also provides training in technology, teaching online, and designing online classes. They don't need people to teach that. And schools that train K12 teachers at the undergraduate level hire phds to teach or their course design types of online classes are electives and not usually in high demand.

Spend some time looking at online job opportunities and see what subject areas positions are listed the most often. Then determine what you can and would like to teach. THen go from there.

L