Launching An Academic Career By Enjoying More Academic Freedom Through Online Learning
Topics: life mastery, self development, self improvement, phd, online education, learning, professor
Who has academic freedom? Few graduate students would be able to recognize any application of the concept of academic freedom while they struggle to meet the many requirements for earning degrees that are an essential credential for entry into the hallowed groves of academia.
For a typical Ph.D. student, studies begin with two years of mostly mandatory classes on subjects that often have no relevance to the student’s interests. Somewhere along the line, many graduate students will be pressed into extensive teaching duty, even if they have no plans to teach those subjects after graduation. Finally the student shifts to developing a dissertation that will advance knowledge.
Even there, freedom may be limited if an advisor pushes strongly for a certain agenda, research that boosts the advisor’s career, or a focus on matters tangential to the student’s subject.
This experience sounds more like indentured servitude than academic freedom, doesn’t it? The only difference between indentured servitude and graduate school is that at many universities you pay a stiff price for the privilege of doing all of this academic make-work.
Following this prescribed path is fine if you are just out of college, are in no hurry, and don’t have very many responsibilities. Increasingly, older students with heavy family responsibilities are seeking graduate degrees to enter teaching.
Let’s look at the challenges facing those potential graduate students:
1. What if you already have a great full-time job? Too bad, many top schools only want full-time students.
2. What if you would like to only learn what interests you? Well, that choice may be available after you graduate and have tenure, some 15 to 20 years from now.
3. What if you hate classroom learning? You’ll escape it except for teaching after a mere 2 years of misery.
Is there a choice that eliminates those limitations and provides academic freedom for those who want to become academics? That was a question that very much interested Mr. Tom Karp.
Mr. Karp avidly explored his options at both traditional and online universities. In the process, he was attracted to an online school, Rushmore University, that offered him an appealing combination of part-time study, low cost, and flexible choices for employing his preferred learning methods which emphasize “double-loop learning” (reading a lot, testing the learning in practice, reflecting on the results, writing or publishing about the learning, and then repeating the process).
As Mr. Karp related to me, “I have never learned anything from a lecture in my life.” Since Rushmore has no lectures, he was optimistic about his chances to learn by following his intensive style.
While at Rushmore, Mr. Karp was pleased to find that he had even more flexibility in his studies than he expected. As a result, he was able to explore, in depth, the subjects that had always interested him, build a research base of knowledge in his field, receive helpful follow-up from excellent advisors/professors, and publish papers based on his academic studies. In essence, he was already operating as though he had earned his doctorate while studying for it. That’s step one of enjoying academic freedom.
Step two in gaining academic freedom is to become a professor. How did Dr. Karp’s search for a professorship go?
Upon graduation from Rushmore, Dr. Karp was evaluated and found worthy by an academic committee which considered his strong credentials and his merits as demonstrated through research, authorship, previous academic experience and work experience. Following this evaluation, he accepted a position as an associate professor at Oslo School of Management in Norway where he lectures and researches in the fields of leadership, change management, and innovation/entrepreneurship. He also started the change maker education program, The KaosPilots. In addition, Dr. Karp accepted a position as an associate professor at Rushmore and guest professor positions at several other institutions.
He combines this academic career and freedom with consulting/advisory work and work at Emergence, a leadership development center newly that he and his partners started.
This success proved that while a degree from a prestigious university can certainly help with an academic career ultimately it’s the quality of the prior work done by a faculty candidate, as well as personal traits, skills, and capabilities, that will determine a professorial candidate’s career choices.
What are the lessons for you? An academic career can be launched at various stages in life by those who are willing to work hard and do excellent original work. For those who have little time and money to pursue this education, online universities can be an exceptionally valuable option for those who want to create a highly individual path to learning with few limitations set on them.
Donald W. Mitchell is a professor at Rushmore University. For more information about ways to engage in fruitful lifelong learning at Rushmore, visit
Previous Articles Highlighter:
Why You Want To Get Into The Hobby Of Building Radio Controlled Cars Slowly (1)
If you are one of these people, it is wise to consider carefully the fact that you start out with no experience in the subject. You can't go from knowing nothing to competing with the best overnight.
How To Become A Firefighter - Standing Out From The Competition (2)
2. Reading and verbal/listening comprehension questions 3. Questions on understanding and applying basic mathematics and science 4. Questions relating to tools and equipment 5. Questions about dealing with people 6.
In This Day And Age All Car Clubs Have A Website - Does Yours? (3)
Someone in the club might say well I didn't know about that meeting last week well it was on the blog on our website if you ever looked at our site you would know.
Some Hints On How To Make Money With Network Marketing (4)
Which company should you choose? Most network marketing companies are very good. They pretty much all work, you just have to work them. The things you need to make sure of are: do the services or products work, is the compensation worth the effort, and the timing of the company.
Prepaid Legal Services Home Based Business Opportunity Review (5)
The company pays an advanced commission on all sales, and an override for memberships generated in a downline. It can also be offered as a company benefit, which can be very lucrative.
Hydration Is Vital While Running (6)
Runners that train aggressively throughout the year are conscious about their present physical condition and the current hydration levels in their bodies. They have probably consumed water in sufficient quantities while training for the race but might prefer to ask trainers and friends to keep an eye out for them as they run along a course just to make sure that things are looking right.
Expired Domain Name Traffic (7)
The use of traffic as a tool for domain redirection has assisted many web sites to reach better search engine rankings and gain public recognition. A concerted pool of meaningful and beneficial traffic can help you build a stable expired domain name business.
Why Is Soccer So Good For Kids? (8)
Soccer offers a sense of self-esteem and well being children can develop as they see their accomplishments grow. Soccer involves both mental challenge and physical movement in a way that a videogame could never offer.
Are You Making Enough Money From Home Based Business? (9)
Do not let others and unimportant things to get on your way while accomplishing your goals which you have established for the work from home based online business. To Work from home you need to spend more time on different methods of advertising & marketing.
Creating The Best Little League Team (10)
He should have a strong and accurate arm. If you have the privilege of working with players of above average ability in these areas, you won't have many problems.
Newer Articles Highlighter:
Options Trading Lessons: Using Base Volatility (1)
As before, we take the difference in the prices of the spread. The result is $.02 ($1.32 - $1.30). Then, divide $.02 by our spread's Vega of .03 (remember that the Vega of the spread is equal to the difference between the Vega of the two individual options).
Simplify Your Work To Make Your Work Better (2)
Grab a piece of that process, and you'll be one of the last to see your job eliminated. Yet most of these order processes can be eliminated or automated.
Examples Of The 'Collar Strategy' In Options Trading (3)
Looking at the collar in the 'stagnant' scenario, the stock price would be unchanged thus neutral in terms of return. Therefore, the potential profit or loss would come strictly from the debit or credit of the two options.
Best Ezines - What Makes A Successful Ezine? (4)
By applying the above information you too can create one of the best ones available. Though the 'flavor of the week' product will still be shoved in your face you can chose to ignore it because you now know what really makes a successful ezine.
Use An Article Distribution Site To Promote Your New Business (5)
Why Use Article Distribution Sites? The main reason to use an article distribution site is because it works. Article distribution is much more effective at promoting a new online business than manually submitting an article for publication.
Managing Customer Complaints (6)
In a calm voice ask them what they recommend that you do to rectify the situation for them. Often if they don't have a solution they will be more willing to accept one of your previous suggestions.
Mortgage Rates Are All Over The Map Lately (7)
A sluggish economy exerts an upward pressure on mortgage interest rates. The public reserve bureau tries to avoid having interest rates go too high because that means that fewer people will buy, and so they will lower the interest rates to hopefully induce some buying.
Now Is A 'Good Time' To Insulate Homes (8)
He claimed that doing so can be "tedious" and is "not an easy job" due to the need for homeowners to take out all the items stored in such rooms before laying down the insulation.
The Advantages Of Starting A Home Business Franchise (9)
When deciding which one to buy into, consider things such as: how much control will I have over my business? What are my franchise fees going toward? What types of business decisions will be put to a vote and what ones will be made by the parent company alone?
Escaping From Evening Television Watching Brings A Businessman Many Rewards (10)
What motivated him to take on this particularly time- and energy-consuming task? His job involved human resources consulting, a field in which academic credentials are helpful for attracting clients.
Permalink to Launching An Academic Career By Enjoying More Academic Freedom Through Online Learning