Adult Education Degrees

Adult Education degrees prepare you for a career path that provides adult instruction in vocational, technical, college/university, and continuing education. Students typically are those who want to update their job skills, learn a new skill, simply acquire new knowledge due to their high motivation, acquire basic skills such as reading, writing, arithmetic, are simply motivated to learn something new, or just enjoy learning. We also don't think about it in this manner, but college students are adult learners. Those who pursue adult education degrees serve both as mentors and educators. Adult education works best if it uses a variety of methods to teach, for example lecture, group/team work, hands-on work, and individual assignments.

If you are interested in pursuing a online Masters or PhD degree in Adult Education. There are some schools that offer the curriculum in Adult Ed. Some of the programs are available online. Capella University offers a M.S. in Education/Post Secondary and Adult Education. In addition, they also offer a Ph.D. in Post Secondary & Adult Ed. Another university that offers preparation in this area is Walden University which offers a Ph.D. in Education/Adult Education Leadership. The qualifications that are needed to become an adult education teacher depend upon the type of course involved for example if you are working in training, you would need to be qualified in that area. similarly, if you are working with return students taking their GED, a bachelors or masters degree would usually be required. During your program of study in any of the adult education degrees listed here, the aim is to maintain strong interpersonal and communication skills as this is a major factor in working with adult learners. In addition to specialized subjects, adult educators may choose to focus on distance learning, workplace learning, or research. Adult educators often work in community colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations, corporate training and other facilities employ adult education instructors. These instructors also work in corporate training departments and job training centers. The concept of adult learning was pioneered by Malcolm Knowles, who identified several characteristics of adult learners. This has led to the formation of adult education degrees and coursework in other areas that place emphasis related coursework:

• Autonomous and self-directed: Their instructors must actively involve participants in the learning process and serve as facilitators. The instructors should get participants' perspectives about what topics are relevant to them, and allow the participants to take responsibility for activities.
• They have accumulated life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and previous education and need to connect learning to this knowledge/experience base. To help them do so, they should draw out participants' experience and knowledge which is relevant to the topic. They must relate theories (andragogy) and concepts to the participants.
• Learners are goal-oriented and when they sign up for a course, they often know what they want to achieve in the end. Therefore, course goals and objectives must be ascertained early in the course.
• Learners are relevancy-oriented, in that they must see a reason for learning something for instance applicability at their current job.
• Learners are practical, therefore the instructor must make it explicit how what is being covered is useful to the learners.
• Learners need to be treated with respect and they want to be treated as equals in experience and knowledge.

Motivation is important in adult learning. These factors are import to motivation:

• Social relationships: Able to make new friends, to meet a need for associations and friendships
• External expectations: Able to comply with instructions from someone else
• Social welfare: Ability to participate in community activities
• Personal advancement: Able to Achieve higher status at work and secure professional advancement
• Escape/Stimulation: Able to relieve boredom and get a break from the routine of home or work
• Cognitive interest: Ability to learn for the sake of learning, seek knowledge for its own sake, and to satisfy inquiring minds.

Success tips for pursuing adult education degrees via e-learning