If you would like to compete for teaching jobs or administrative positions in a market where online learning is becoming the focus, you may be interested in getting an education degree in distance education. An education degree is a professional specialist degree that prepares graduate-level students to take their careers to the next level by focusing the course content on curriculum that they can use to advance. Here’s what studying e-learning and distance education will entail.
Is There a High Demand for E-Learning Education Degrees?
While it is not a widely available program, more and more universities are starting to offer a Master of Distance Education or Master of E-Learning programs. These universities are starting to evolve their course offerings to keep up with evolution in the education platform. As you would expect, demand for degrees for specialists in the distance education enterprise is large and only growing.
What is the Focus of a Distance Learning Degree Program?
The focus of a distance learning degree program in education is centered more around developing the skills and delivering the knowledge that students will need to lead some of the nation’s top distance education programs. Students will learn how to choose and implement different technologies and applications that are best for students. They will also learn how to direct the business end of online learning and manage the faculty that primarily works online.
What Courses Will Students Take?
When studying distance education, students will take a majority of classes that are tailored and focused on their major. As a graduate students, it’s less about general education and course requirements and more about specializing in the field. Here are a list of many of the common core class requirements for this education degree in distance education:
- Foundations of Distance Education & E-learning
- Learning and Teaching in Distance Education
- Technology in Distance Education
- Economics of Distance Education
- Intellectual Property Issues that Arise in Distance Education
- Learning with Multimedia
- Leadership and Management in E-Learning
- Learner Support Training in Distance Education
- The Distance Education Business System
Finding an Accredited Program
A majority of distance education programs will be delivered online to graduate students, however, there is a possibility that students can choose to study e-learning and the distance education system in the classroom as well. The key to finding the best program is looking for schools and program-specific accreditation.
There are plenty of different national and specialized accrediting boards that evaluate programs. If you have found a program that interests you, you can look up the name of the program through the US Department of Education’s Office of Post-secondary Education. Here, you can find out which schools are accredited and what agency granted the accreditation.
Related Resource: Top 10 Master’s in Teaching and Learning Online
More than 5.9 millions students were enrolled in distance education courses in the United States in 2015, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. These numbers are only expected to grow are more adults return to school and more programs arise. Teachers who would like to manage programs and implement new technologies should benefit from studying for an education degree in distance education that is centered around the e-Learning business system.
