I just typed “online adjunct instructor” into Glassdoor.com and got a very interesting, specific number: $57,613. Interesting because, as a career online adjunct instructor myself, the fact that this number can be calculated at all is baffling, given how much variability there is not only among adjuncts themselves, but also among schools. Also, is this the average yearly pay for someone who teaches as an online adjunct at one school? If so, this number (in my experience) is a little on the high side; or at least can be, depending on how many courses that school offers in a year. If this number represents someone who is teaching at three schools, able to offset a famine at one institution with a feast at the others, then 57k may not be too far off.

On the other hand, 57k is too low an estimate for someone with a solid reputation who has made a full time career out of teaching online at many schools. Over time, it certainly is possible to earn an even more comfortable living in this line of work. So $57,613 as an average, then, is not super representative. When you line up all the salaries possible across every online adjunct (those who teach for one small school and those who teach for many and larger universities), $57k may be somewhere in the middle (right of center probably) with many folks making much less and some making much more.

The problem with estimating how much money you’ll make teaching college courses online is that the nature of adjunct work is piecemeal, per-contract. When there is a course to teach, you are asked to teach it and you get paid for it. When there isn’t, you aren’t and you don’t. The work – and therefore the pay – is unpredictable. Online adjuncts often navigate this volatility by teaching at multiple schools or by sustaining a “day job” in their industry.

So, how much money does an adjunct make teaching online? The answer is: It depends.

Salary, or better said, the course contract rate, can vary greatly from school to school; it’s not apples to apples. Below, I will compare the known weekly rate at four institutions. Since each of these school has different term-lengths (5-week, 8-week, 10-week quarter, and 14-week semester), comparing across weekly rate seemed more illustrative than a “per course” comparison:

And this simple chart doesn’t capture subtler but very important aspects of the course load – like whether or not the course is prepared and ready-to-go or how many students are in the class. But, more on that below.

The next questions you might ask are – “If these are the average going rates per class, per school, then how many classes can you teach at a time at a school? How many will you be promised per year? How stable are the teaching positions? I’d like to be able to estimate how much I might make per year if I teach for this school.” Online adjuncting isn’t much different from on-ground adjuncting in this regard – you aren’t promised anything, really, and you might not get a straight answer to these specific questions – not because anyone is being cagey, but because schools don’t know the answers until they see how enrollments shake out. However, the question that schools are comfortable answering (and one you’ll want to have in your back pocket for when you are interviewed!) is how many you are allowed to teach in a year. They are likely to tell you that answer as they can read it straight out of the faculty handbook/policy manual.

Because there is so much diversity and unpredictability in salary in the online adjunct world you have to be prepared to do some research, math, and critical thinking when determining the fairness and acceptability of an amount. You might be doing a lot of work for that $4600 or you may have the time of your life teaching a small, short class for $1500. When considering pay, you will want to consider the following:

The length of the term. A pay rate will sit differently with you depending on whether you are teaching in 5-week, 8-week, or semester-long terms. If a number looks low, you might be appeased to know the class is only 5-weeks (vs. 14), and vice versa. For this reason, it is not advised that you look only at contract rate per course. You’ll want to look at the per week rate or otherwise factor the length of the contract.

Typical course size. This one, in my experience, is the most important factor to consider. As a student-centered instructor, I aim to provide every student with individualized attention throughout a term. Large course sizes (>30), therefore, are much more time consuming than average-sized or smaller ones. Because I’ve taught many a large online class in my day, whenever I teach a course for a school that caps their enrollment at 25 or so but that continues to pay a standard or above standard rate, I’m thrilled! Not only do I get more time to pay attention to each individual learner, but the dollars per hour ratio packs more of a punch.

Is the class plug-in-play, or does it need to be developed? If the class is ready to go for you (pre-designed), that takes out a lot of that prep time and you might be willing to take a slightly lower-than-average pay rate in this instance. If, on the other hand, the class is going to take a lot of prep work beforehand (you are developing it from the ground up, having to write the assignments, create the exams, decide on a textbook, create the discussion prompts, etc.) you might look at that seemingly “average” or “better than average” pay rate with a more critical eye.

Degree differential and seniority. Some schools will pay a bit more to someone with a doctoral degree than to someone with a master’s or they may offer increases in pay the longer you stay on.

Pay per enrollment. Some schools pay “per head,” or per student enrolled in your course (or per student who is still enrolled in your course after the final withdrawal date). This makes it hard to predict your income. Some schools will offer bonuses if you agree to teach an overenrolled class. Some will over-enroll and not offer any particular bonus.

Size of school. Large universities tend to pay a bit more than smaller schools, particularly smaller online schools who do not have a brick-and-mortar campus to boost them.

In sum, there is no easy answer to the question: How much money does an adjunct make teaching online? You can make nothing (if the school doesn’t have any courses for you to teach in a year) or you can make six figures (if you teach for a variety of schools and have pieced together a full time+ course load). The real answer is somewhere in between depending on a wide variety of factors. Hopefully the chart and considerations are helpful to you as you weigh the relative fairness or acceptability of an online teaching job pay rate.

Should you have your curriculum vita (CV, also known as the “academic resume”) reviewed prior to applying for online teaching jobs?

Yes!

If a school asks for nothing else, they will ask for your CV. Curriculum vita, roughly translated, means “life’s work;” it is a document that shows how you, over the course of your adult life, have developed your expertise enough to render you a qualified instructor. It is the story of how your accomplishments, work history, publications, education, and awards coalesce into an expert prepared to teach in the higher education environment.

In other words, the CV a very important document. To put a finer point on it, let’s review five reasons why you will want to have your online teaching CV reviewed.

Online teaching is a niche. There is a ton of information out there on how to write a CV. However, there aren’t as many resources available for writing an online teaching CV. If you are specifically looking for online teaching opportunities, you will want to make sure your application documents speak to that audience. A reviewer with these insights could be particularly beneficial.

The online teaching CV doesn’t deviate too much from an on-ground teaching CV, but the differences are important. We review some of these in our OnRamp: A Practical Guide to Landing an Online Teaching Job course. In general, an online teaching CV should paint you as a student-centered instructor who knows how to engage students in a distance learning environment, and as someone who can speak to and empathize with working adult students. Additionally, there are ways to emphasize your readiness to teach online even if you have no online teaching experience. Having someone review your CV to make sure these points come across loud and clear can be very helpful.

Checking the boxes and finding the errors. While a selection committee wants to read your story as told by your CV, they are also looking to check some boxes. Those boxes are the job requirements listed in their job posting. A reviewer can help you make sure your CV checks those boxes and does so obviously and convincingly. They can also help you compensate for requirements you may not exactly have, but kind of do. They can make suggestions for professional development you might pursue in order to check a box.

Reviewers dot your i’s and cross your t’s. They can help you avoid common mistakes that people make on their CVs. They also will check for typos, unclear language, obnoxious formatting, and overuse of acronyms. If they’ve heard anything on your CV before (meaning it’s not necessarily wholly original) they can help you craft that into something that more authentically represents you.

This whole exchange is valuable in and of itself. This “thinking out loud” about your background with another person helps generate ideas that can strengthen your CV while also churning your gears in such a way as to inspire the rest of your application and your interview strategy.

Confidence boost. Successfully landing an online teaching job or developing a career as an online instructor is possible, but it can be a difficult journey. Rejections, unfortunately, are common. Often, you never get any helpful feedback about why you were not chosen. Questions arise…am I just not what they are looking for? Or is it something about my CV that is holding me back? If you have spent a good amount of effort, did thorough research, and got your CV reviewed by one or more knowledgeable people, you can check something off your worry list. “Nope, I know my CV is strong. So, it’s not that.” That can give you at least one answer in a game where there are few. This can boost your confidence when it comes to trying again, even if only a only a little bit. It is the trying again that will get you closer to landing a position.

Reviewed, not done.  The word “review” here is important. There are services out there who will actually create your CV for you. Which is definitely an option. However, there is a great deal of value to doing some research, understanding what a CV is and what it should include, and taking a stab at it yourself. And then having it reviewed. Why?

1) Doing it yourself orients your thinking. The process of preparing your CV can teach you a lot about yourself. If the adage “it’s the journey, not the destination” holds true, then it would stand to reason that creating your own CV will help you develop this skill as well as remind you of all the wonderful achievements and accomplishments you’ve made over your career. Yes, get a reviewer to help you think of things you may not have considered, but go through the process first. It will add a layer of depth to this whole job-hunt experience that can pay dividends later (i.e. preparing you for interview questions, give you some grist for the mill for your cover letter and Statement of Teaching Philosophy, etc.).

2) There are more options out there for reviewers. There are services who will review the draft of your CV for you. But, if there are people in your life who you know would be helpful reviewers, they may do so for you as a favor. Or you can get a lot of people in your academic/professional circle to review your CV for you (if two heads are better than one, then three or four heads are better than two!). Your graduate school mentor, an online instructor who you connected with, your current chair or supervisor, etc. Your options are wide open, and your feedback will be richer and more diverse as a result.

Help for the “unique situation.” Aspiring online instructors have many questions that pertain to their specific and unique situations. Some examples include:

“I see that schools often require teaching experience. I have taught professional development courses and have trained employees for years as part of my industry job, even online. How do I represent myself as an experienced online teacher even though I have never worked in higher education before?”

“I have a Masters degree and I am ABD for my doctorate. How do I represent those years I spent in my doctoral program without representing myself as a graduate?”

“I have a Masters in English but my doctorate is in Organizational Leadership. I have a lot of experience teaching composition courses but I’m lite on business leadership industry experience. If I want to teach more business courses (vs. English) how do I present myself in my CV?”

Everyone’s situation is different and can present interesting challenges to the traditional flow, headings, or organization of a CV. Talking through these things with a reviewer and brainstorming their solutions can be very helpful, and ultimately lead to a better representation of “you” on this important document.

So, should you have your CV reviewed? Certainly. Who should review it? Take stock of the people in your network – your academic heroes, people you know who are already teaching online, even close friends who have their finger on the pulse of what selection committees look for in a candidate. Giving them a link or print out of the job listing you are applying to will be very helpful, as will sharing this article with them. Engage in conversation about what online programs appear to be looking for and how well your CV captures that essence. You can also shop services who provide CV reviews for you.

AdjunctWorld offers an asynchronous, online, 4-week, instructor-led course titled OnRamp: A Practical Guide to Landing an Online Teaching Job. This course offers instruction on online teaching CVs as well as a personalized CV review. It covers all elements of your application (i.e. cover letter, Statement of Teaching Philosophy, interview strategy, etc.) and provides helpful information on the online teaching job landscape. Leave class with all of your questions about finding online teaching work answered. See our Course Description and FAQs Page for more details.

If a hiring school asks for anything, they will ask for a curriculum vita (CV) – the “academic resume” – as part of your application package. Therefore, it’s a very important document and one that should be crafted with care. It helps to look at examples, to seek the guidance of academic mentors, and to get feedback from peers. An internet search will offer a great deal of advice as well. If you are on the path toward landing an online adjunct teaching job and are brushing the dust off or your CV (or creating it), you might want to consider this brief list of five mistakes to avoid when creating your online teaching CV.

Your education section is too far down in the document. If you read enough online teaching job listings, you’ll note that the most common requirement is a specific education level, either a master’s degree or a doctorate. This is not a preference, especially for accredited schools. It is mandatory. The bare minimum requirement for many accredited schools is a master’s degree (in anything) plus eighteen graduate semester credit hours in the field in which you are applying to teach. Some stipulate higher requirements. Given that this is the first level of screening a school needs to do, your education section must be on the front page of your CV, preferably first (or at least after your contact information and very brief personal objective statement). Don’t make hiring managers, screeners, or deans/chairs scroll to the fifth page to see if you meet the minimum education requirements for the position.

Listing your dissertation as a publication. If you are seeking an online adjunct teaching position (a part time, course-by-course job), then chances are the school won’t require you to have a long list of scholarly publications, invited talks/presentations, or edited book chapters. Some might prefer it, and some might require it, but publications are not nearly as common of a requirement for adjunct positions as they are for full time, tenure-track, research faculty jobs. But! If you have some, you should definitely list them on your CV!

However, keep in mind that your dissertation or your master’s thesis is not a publication. To include it in a “Publications” section could be considered padding. Yes, even if it is listed in ProQuest and widely available through interlibrary loan, it is still not a publication. Some people eventually do go on to publish their theses/dissertations in peer-reviewed journals, and if you have you can certainly include that in this section. But unless it has been accepted into a peer-reviewed journal, it is not a publication. It is, however, an important academic accomplishment so you can include the title of your dissertation or thesis in your education section where you list that degree and school.

Don’t worry if excluding your dissertation or thesis from your publication section means you won’t have a publications section in your CV. Again, it’s nice to have, but not necessarily a deal breaker when it comes to adjunct teaching – where “real world experience” tends to take precedence over research and publications.

Do not pad your CV. For the most part, the CVs I see are too modest (which we will talk about next), but I have seen some that read as unintentionally padded. Examples of padding in a CV include:

• Listing every seminar you have ever attended. You should include certificate trainings, certification courses, and any meaty professional development course you took that you had to pass in order to achieve the course objective/goal. But, if you attended a day-long seminar or went to a continuing education course as part of your licensure or job requirement, this is not something that goes on your CV.

• “Research Interests.” In general (and we’ll talk more about this below) the CV is a document that shows, it doesn’t tell. It is a list of things you have done that represent how you have grown into the professional that you are. So, if you are going to include a research section, it should be a section representing research projects, labs, or experiments that you have been directly a part of. Do not just list areas you are interested in.

This is not to say that research interests are not important to convey. You might mention your research interests in a cover letter and your interests are always fair game to mention during an interview. And it might pop up in your teaching philosophy (briefly). It’s important to keep in mind that the CV is not the only opportunity you have to describe yourself.

• Professional organizations you don’t belong to. Or, maybe better said, professional organizations you don’t belong to anymore. Really avoid this because this is something that can easily be looked up. And a school who requires membership in professional organizations may do just that. If you don’t belong to any professional organizations, you do not need to include this section. But this may be a nod to go ahead and join so that you can legitimately include that membership in your CV.

Being too modest. If you have accomplished something important in your career or in academia, it belongs on your CV. I’ve heard people say things like, “I have taught as an on-ground adjunct for years, but I only taught one online class last year because of COVID. I don’t know if that counts as “online teaching experience.” Yes! Yes, it does! Why wouldn’t it? This is something that would be highlighted on a CV.

I’ve seen people who are ABD not include their work in that graduate program on their CV because they didn’t graduate. But, you took all those classes! Remembering that some schools will hire you if you have a Master’s (in anything) and 18+ graduate credit hours in the teaching discipline, then you certainly acquired 18+ graduate credit hours if you made it all the way through the course requirements of a doctoral program (perhaps this opens up a discipline area for you to teach). You should put this information on your CV – although you should be very clear that you have not earned the degree – you have just completed the course requirements. In other words, you should mention this learning experience, but forthrightly.

Telling and not showing. The purpose of a CV is to show, through your accomplishments and achievements, the story of how you have cultivated your expertise throughout your career. Everything in the CV should be something you have done. The CV, should not include subjective descriptions of your personality or lists of your abilities or skills. Yes, a school does want someone who is a team player, they want someone who is a good time manager, and they want someone who is “results oriented,” but the CV is not the appropriate time to list those. You could potentially share some of these attributes in your cover letter; however, the part of your application that will speak to these abilities will ultimately be your letters of recommendation. It is other people who are in the best position to describe you to those who are hiring.

There is a lot more to creating an effective online teaching CV than avoiding mistakes, but hopefully this article has helped orient you to what belongs – and doesn’t belong – on a curriculum vita. For more guidance on and a professional, thorough review of your CV (as well as your cover letter and Statement of Teaching Philosophy) consider our 4-week course, OnRamp: A Practical Guide to Landing an Online Teaching Job. In this course, we go step-by-step through your unique online teaching job application. The course also provides the information, resources, expertise, and community needed to make the whole process of finding online teaching work a lot less lonely, confusing, frustrating, and uncertain.