On-Line PhD Program in English

Kirby · Jul 1, 2009

I wasn't sure where to post this question, but I saw this area had "Education" included in its title.

I am looking to obtain my PhD in English for the purpose of teaching at a state university or community college. Last year I was looking at places to attend. Unfortunately, my husband and I were in a motorcycle accident. We both sustained traumatic brain injuries. His is much worse than mine. Needless to say, leaving to obtain a PhD is out of the question now, but returning to my current job also isn't possible. That's when my attention turned to on-line PhDs.

One place I found was Old Dominion University. It's a brick and mortar school that offers an on-line PhD in English. There are is a summer residency requirement of four weeks.

My question, is anyone familiar with obtaining PhDs on-line for the purpose of higher education teaching? Also, the PhD has a language requirement. Besides a foreign language, there is the option for showing competency in computer languages. Is anyone familiar with the latter option?

Thank you.

Deleted member 42 · Jul 1, 2009

Kirby said:
I wasn't sure where to post this question, but I saw this area had "Education" included in its title.

I am looking to obtain my PhD in English for the purpose of teaching at a state university or community college.

It's not a good program. The accreditation is not standard, for one thing, and for another, you're not going to get a job teaching without experience teaching.

Moreover, the market is glutted with English Ph.Ds and Rhet-comp Ph.Ds. from exceedingly well respected programs. My friends with Ph.D.s from ivy league schools and ten years of experience teaching are not finding tenure-track jobs. Local community colleges are getting hundreds of applicants for a single course at the lecturer level—and for which they're offering flat-fees around 2k for the semester, and no benefits.

I would strongly urge you to consider another career choice.

Kirby · Jul 1, 2009

Thank you for your response. I do have teaching experience at the university level and nearly 20 years of experience in the field I would like to teach. With an MA, I'm finding some jobs, but not many.

veinglory · Jul 1, 2009

A non-accredited PhD will not be an asset IMHO.

Deleted member 42 · Jul 1, 2009

Kirby said:
Thank you for your response. I do have teaching experience at the university level and nearly 20 years of experience in the field I would like to teach. With an MA, I'm finding some jobs, but not many.

The Ph.D. isn't going to help enough to make up for the cost. It really isn't.

Look at the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Higher Education.

English departments are being advised to cut grad enrollment; employment for grads just keeps dropping.

Gray Rose · Jul 2, 2009

I second Medievalist. An English Ph.D is not necessarily an asset those days, and an on-line Ph.D from a non-accredited program is not going to be helpful - and you have an additional hurdle of being limited geographically. Check out chronicle.com/forums for advice from academics - I found it a very helpful place to ask for advice.

Best of luck to you,
Rose

Prawn · Jul 3, 2009

The only place where this sort of PhD might be helpful would be in the public schools.
P

dawinsor · Jul 5, 2009

Kirby--One thing you could do is phone or email any programs you're interested in, asking them what happens to their PhD grads. Do they get jobs that use their degree? What percent of them do? Where do they wind up? Any legitimate program should have that information and be willing to give it to you.

Fallen · Jul 10, 2009

Kirby said:
there is the option for showing competency in computer languages. Is anyone familiar with the latter option?

Thank you.

You have an MA already...? Doesn't that give you an inkling of what it means by incorporating computer-based language into a Phd? I know English Lang/Linguistics investigates the in's and out's of corpora analysis (i.e. tagging a corpus for grammatical analysis) so you can't be shy of a computer. Perhaps in delves more into the research side of that. Either way, it all sounds a little dubious to me...

dawinsor · Jul 11, 2009

I've taught in programs where a computer language was an option. Usually you have to concoct an argument about why it would be useful for what you want to do and then prove your skill with some task they set.

Kirby · Jul 11, 2009

Thank you, everyone, for your help. I really do appreciate it.

On-Line PhD Program in English

Kirby

Destined to serve and roam.

Deleted member 42

Kirby

Destined to serve and roam.

veinglory

volitare nequeo

Deleted member 42

Gray Rose

Beware of the Thorns!

Prawn

Writing is finite,revising infinite

dawinsor

Dorothy A. Winsor

Fallen

Stood at the coalface

dawinsor

Dorothy A. Winsor

Kirby

Destined to serve and roam.