Online adult education degrees provide students with the knowledge and skills to teach adults at various levels of education, from GED completion to career-oriented or continuing education skills inside and outside of the workplace. Students in adult education degree programs will focus on adult pedagogy – how adults learn, various learning and teaching styles for adults, and challenges the teachers of adult students will face – as well as standard education courses in assessment, course design, and teaching strategies.
Students who pursue online degrees in adult education may be ideally suited for careers in teaching adult basic, professional, or continuing education; educating and organizing communities; administering adult and family literacy programs; human resources and workforce training; educational outreach; teaching in a post-secondary setting; or practicing social advocacy. Their jobs could be anywhere, such as community colleges, libraries, workforce development centers, non-profit organizations, and Fortune 500 companies.
The courses students in adult education degree programs will take may be primarily beneficial in adult education settings, but the skills they learn can be applied to a wide variety of careers, such as management, industrial psychology, advocacy, or human resources. Students with degrees in adult education also may be ideally suited toward online teaching or online instructional design, as many adults choose to earn their degrees online.
With the relatively recent national push toward improving college completion rates for both traditional-age and non-traditional students, and as the recovering economy provides a constant need for more diverse and consistently-improving skill sets among the workforce, it is likely that the need for teachers who can specifically meet adult students’ needs will remain steady.