Complete your undergraduate degree program. If you want to be a math teacher, you need have a bachelor's degree in math. You will also need to pursue a teaching certificate in math education. You can pursue these programs online also if you wish en route to your education degree at the graduate level. The University of Illinois offers various online programs eligible for teaching certification. It offers these programs through its campuses at both Urbana-Champaign and Springfield.
Research graduate degree programs to determine which ones best meet your needs. Online graduate degree programs tend to emphasize areas other than the traditional academic fields of math, science, English and history. Instead, you can expect to choose from programs that emphasize areas like global education, educational leadership and organization, educational policy studies, educational psychology, human resource education and even measurements, statistics and evaluation methods in education.
Apply for admission to as many graduate degree programs as possible. This will help to increase the likelihood that you will be admitted. Other schools offering online degree programs in education in Illinois include the University of Illinois at Chicago and the American College of Education. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers the widest array of degree programs.
Complete your online coursework as required by your degree program. Most graduate degree programs in education require from 30 to 45 credit hours and can take anywhere from one to two years to complete. Coursework tends to vary widely depending upon the emphasis of the program. Some schools offer courses as three credit-hour courses, while others offer them in four-hour blocks. Some schools require you to complete a significant research paper like a master's thesis or an educational research project.