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Entry Level Job Profile — Teacher, Collegiate Level

Compensation — Again, this varies widely from region to region and to a certain extent depends on the size of the school. Median annual earnings for full-time college and university faculty in 1998 were $46,630.^xi

Education — At a college or university, education credentials are very important. For a full-time position, a minimum of a Masters degree is required. For part-time instruction, a Bachelors degree should be sufficient. To move up through the ranks of most four-year institutions, a Ph.D. is required. Here a degree in education is not as important. Your degree can be in an IT field. However, taking some education courses as electives would be a plus. Certification is not required…your degrees are your credentials in this case.

Responsibilities — General tasks are as follows:

Planning lessons, researching and developing educational materials for classroom instruction.
Live instruction in the classroom — The number of courses you must teach each semester is different at various institutions. Three to five courses a semester are the norm.
Assessment of student learning through questioning, testing, research papers and special projects.
Engage in scholarly research — Maybe you and your students will develop the next popular programming language. At certain institutions, research is a part of your required workload.
Write articles on noteworthy topics in your field for publication in professional journals — You need to disseminate the findings of your research. At four-year institutions, there is a saying, "Publish or perish." You may need to be regularly published (i.e. increasing the body of scholarly knowledge) in order to be considered for tenure.
Make presentations at educational organization meetings (usually to an audience of your peers) — This is another way to share your research findings.
Participation in curriculum development and the textbook selection process — Instructors are expected to keep up with changes in the field and recommend new courses to add to the curriculum as circumstances dictate. Perhaps you may even write a textbook to be used in one of your courses.

Skills — What makes an effective college professor? Since these are adult learners (and young adults), your skill set is somewhat different than a K-12 teacher. I look for these traits when I’m hiring:

Organization skills — One of the biggest complaints I receive from students about poor teachers is a lack of organization. Students appreciate a structured, logical approach to learning.
Flexibility — Discipline in the classroom (such as attendance and submitting assignments on time) must be maintained in an adult learning situation. However, adult learners have other issues in their life to deal with besides school. Employment commitments and family obligations often conflict with getting your homework done on time. Instructors need to be firm, but flexible when dealing with these external issues. Students still need to be held accountable for their work, but reasonable exceptions will need to be made from time to time.
Unbiased and fair — Students are extremely sensitive about grades (especially when mom and dad are footing the tuition bill) and you need to be impartial at all times when assigning work and grading assignments. Assignments should be developed that do not give certain students an unfair advantage over others (i.e. all programming assignments for a semester revolving around baseball may be difficult for those students who do not follow the game).
Ability to give career advice — Students seek career advice from their instructors constantly. You should be familiar with careers in your area of expertise and be prepared to advise students on the proper course of study to pursue to prepare for certain careers.
Mastery of student-centered learning — College students today prefer a student-centered experience as opposed to the traditional instructor-centered approach. In the instructor-centered approach, learning revolved around the instructor. This type of instruction was primarily characterized by a lecture-based curriculum with the "sage on the stage" at the front of the room. Modern students prefer a style that focuses on them rather than the instructor. The modern teacher becomes a "guide on the side" and takes a mentoring role towards education. Assignments are more individualized as students pursue the goals and objectives of the course in their own manner. Class discussions and student presentations take the place of some lecture time in the classroom.

Embraces continuous improvement — Effective teachers are constantly reassessing their teaching skills and course content. Creating timely and relevant projects for students, integrating new technologies into the classroom, identifying guest lecturers where appropriate and promoting discussions of current events all make classes more engaging.

Sense of humor — As noted above in K-12 section.
Enthusiasm — Droning on in a monotone is not going to engage the students. Adult learners are especially intolerant of dull presentations. "Live wires" keep a class motivated and thinking.
Able to teach problem solving — Students don’t need to memorize information. In the digital age, with the profusion of information at our fingertips, it would be impossible to remember everything about a given topic anyway. Teaching students how to logically approach problems, perform research and interpret information is more important than memorizing a book full of facts. An old saying applies here, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Teachers need to produce fishermen, not beggars.

Experimenting With This Profession — Many colleges and universities depend heavily upon part-time instructors to teach a large percentage of their courses. This is especially true in IT since high salaries are luring instructors away from schools and into industry. Therefore, even without a masters degree (and sometimes without a bachelors degree), you should be able to land a job teaching a class or two at a local college. Trying the profession before you plunge into a masters degree program is a worthwhile investment of time. Actually teaching a class is the only way to find out if you will truly enjoy the teaching experience.