Unless things have changed in the last few years, which is doubtful, there are indeed barriers to online instructors being employed by institutions in other countries. All universities are entirely happy to enroll students from other countries than their own, and many of them actively market in other countries to secure international enrollments. However, they seem reluctant to hire instructors from other countries, even within the anglosphere of Canada, US, UK, NZ and Australia, where culture and language contribute a strong common denominator. I've been teaching online for about a decade, and presently teach for an American university from my home in Canada. I've been employed by them for 6 years. But, previous to that, I encountered barriers in trying to secure jobs teaching online with both US and UK universities. And even within Canada, the university that proclaims itself as "Canada's open university", hires tutors from its own province first, while marketing to enroll students from right across Canada. One institution in the US replied that they could not hire a Canadian because of "tax issues". But my present US employer has no such tax issues. And the largest university in the UK that uses online learning principally explained that their policy was to hire "Online Tutors from the UK and European Economic Community" only, though they conceded they needed to revisit that policy. So much for Commonwealth solidarity! I wrote a short article titled - "Barriers to International Faculty in Global Online Learning" - about this issue a decade ago that was published by an online publication in Australia called GlobalEd.com that is no longer available on the Net. I'll send you copy, FWIW. Here's a quote from it:- "It is my contention that as online learning becomes increasingly global and online universities and training schools market more and more to a multicultural distributed clientele, that restrictive hiring policies with respect to online contract faculty must change. Specifically, as global online learning is international by definition, this internationalism should be reflected not only in the learners, but also in the faculty contracted to design and facilitate courses for them. Furthermore, distance learning institutions which call themselves "open" need to extend their definitions of openness to include faculty as well as students. No nation has a monopoly on online learning expertise, and policies restricting the hiring of contract faculty to an institution's own nationals or based on other socio-political considerations, reflects an Industrial-Era mode of thinking, with its domestic protectionism, borders, tariffs, and cross-border employment restrictions. The Internet has no borders - firewalls yes - but borders no". Alex Kuskis, PhD -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Michael Baron Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2013 6:31 AM To: air-l Subject: [Air-L] Online Teaching Opportunities and Practices Recently, I've been doing some e-teaching and I noticed that while e-learning content management systems (CMS) enable Universities not only deliver their programs worldwide but also to employ lecturers/course developers/coordinators from around the Globe, all of the institutions that I've been involved with, employ lecturing staff that is based locally (Australia). In 90% of the cases, the lecturers/tutors are expected to be based in the same city as the institution they are working for. Given the online nature of the delivery, I am curious why the Melbourne-based training providers are so unwilling to employ internationally-acclaimed professors/trainers/course developers and whether Universities in other countries are managing their online staffing arrangements likewise or not. Have their been any papers published on this topic? Are their any truly international Universities that recruit online teaching staff from all over the world? Any feedback/suggestions will be appreciated. Michael Baron -- Dr. Michael Baron CEO, Baron Consulting Website: www.baronconsulting.info "My Body is my Temple" "Be The Change You Want to See In The World." Gandhi _______________________________________________