Most online institutions will try almost anything to try and get you to attend. This is why it is so important for you to do your research and take your time in deciding what online institution you end up attending. Students often do not research the online faculty that teaches at a particular online institution. What kind of faculty are you looking for? Obviously, you should strive to be taught by faculty who have real world experience in their field, but does that particular online college or university have faculty that know how to teach online? There are obviously major differences between teaching in the traditional face to face classroom and online. Not all faculty who teach in the traditional face to face classroom are good online faculty and vice versa. Each online faculty has their own online teaching style. Many people ask me why I teach online and I thought I would share with you why in a blog post.

Here are the top 10 reasons why I teach online:

1. Diversity of Students. I have taught for years in the traditional college classroom and have often found the students to come from very similar racial, ethnic, religious, ages, and geographical backgrounds. Teaching online has exposed me to students of different races, ethnicities, religions, ages, and most of all geographical regions of the USA and even world!

2. Flexibility. I can sleep in every morning and take breaks at will. If there is a family emergency, it is easy for me to just get up and help and not have to call into work. I can also go on vacation and trips at will, just as long as I have my laptop and air card. I don’t have to get dressed for work or even shave (my wife always gives me hell for this! I think she is just jealous).

3. Social Media and Relevance. I can more easily communicate with my students via Facebook, Google+, Twitter, E-mail, Texting, SKYPE, LinkedIn and Instant Messenger. When I see very relevant online information that pertains to the classes I teach, I can share it with the class with a click of the mouse at any time!

4. Availability. I often find that I get in touch with my dean and other online campus administrators much faster online than I could when I taught on the traditional college campus.

5. Diversity of Classes and Institutions. I can teach a number of subjects for a number of institutions. For example, I teach 10-15 courses per quarter in Cultural Diversity, Critical Thinking, Strategies for Success, Problem Solving, Oceanography, World and Global Geography, Ecology, Contemporary World Culture, Marine Biology, and Society and Technology as well as faculty and student workshops. I also teach pre-law students, nursing students, people in the military, psychology majors, tech. students, criminology majors, associate degree students, bachelor degree students, and even graduate students. I could not do this on a traditional college campus.

6. Individual Attention. Each week I can influence hundreds of students and give them the individual attention they crave in order to be successful.

7. Learning. Sometimes I think that I am learning more than my students. I have students who are much older than me and have more life experience than I do and I really enjoy learning from them and interacting with them in the online learning environment. I am news and political junkie, but I find that listening to my students gives me a better perspective of what real people really care about and not just what I see on TV and in blogs.

8. Professional Development. Teaching online gives me access to many professional journals and online resources for free. I also get to interact, learn, and present too many of my fellow online faculty across the world. I also get to take many free weekly online workshops, classes, and webinars.

9. Creativity. I get to make fun and colorful PowerPoint Presentations and use fun and provocative online images and pictures. I can take ownership of my online courses because I created them. Just call me an online architect!

10. Damn it’s fun, new, and exciting! Enough said!

In conclusion, by asking an online faculty that teaches at a particular institution why they teach online may give you a better perspective on the type of institution they teach for online and the type of online institution you want to attend. Good online institutions will have very passionate and experienced online faculty.

Will you now ask to speak with online faculty at a particular online institution you plan on possibly attending? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter. Stay  tuned next week for another thought provoking blog post!