If I want to be an online college instructor and I earn my master’s degree in education and technology, what college courses will I be qualified to teach once I’m finished?

You should be qualified to teach courses that are related to your course of study for your Master's degree. You actually have to be hired by a college/university as a professor to assure that your courses met the requirements of the specific program and to be able to issue credits to the students for their work.

Good places to start looking are the places that already offer online education. They can point you in the right direction.

I would guess that hiring requirements differ based on the college.

I have friends with masters degrees and years of experience that teach.

Also, there's an influx of STEM programs, so the education and technology degree could probably be more used at an elementary/high school level. Gain experience there and possibly jobs at the local community college level may open up.

Hey Stephanie,

Congratulations on what must be a BA in English writing! Even if it’s been a while, it was still a difficult yet valuable experience and a significant accomplishment. It’s also clear that you’ve done some self-examination and want to get reengaged yourself in preparation for teaching others. Can’t beat that!

I can’t answer your question directly but I believe I can help you through some of the wickets. First, I think you should turn around your last question and identify up front what you want to teach. You will only be in school a short time and the rest of your life teaching, so do your best to get yourself ready to teach something that you really love.

Next, do your best to determine where you want to teach. Maybe you want to stay in New York State or wherever you are now, but maybe if you could work it out, you’d like to take a sabbatical now and again to teach English as a second language internationally. My point is that while you’re in school, make sure you get certified or licensed to teach public or private in places where you want to be.

It took me a moment for the word “online” to sink in. That sounds like a hoot! I know some sites are associated with brick-and-mortar schools while others appear to be standalone businesses. Maybe you know already, but I assume there is some kind of academic association for online schools that controls minimum standards and accreditation of each school, which in turn may place standards on teachers. And this level seems very close to community colleges, so while you’re in school you could get yourself certified to teach in different types of online schools as well as community colleges in case you get bored.

I know a little about curriculum after being asked if I would prepare teaching materials for disciplines I had worked in, and then there was talk about my selling these materials to schools and others would teach them or I could teach them myself or maybe just make a series of videos for a semester’s worth of teaching days. I’m just suggesting that you check out the options to make sure you’re certified to do the parts that you want to do.

You mention a Master’s in education and technology, and I don’t know if that is a specific set of subjects or a curriculum that’s already defined, or if it’s wide open and you can define your own. But you’ve got education and technology and psychology listed which covers a lot of ground. I don’t know if you would get certified to teach certain subsets of these topics or if you would get free rein to design your own curriculum. Any way it goes, I’m just suggesting that if it’s scholastically divided up by subject or level of proficiency (i.e. 100, 200, 300 level classes), that you get yourself certified to teach what you want in the venue that you want in the location that you want with the administrators, teachers, and students that you want for as long as you want. And I wish you all the strength, patience, perseverance, insight, health, and family that you need. God bless.