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Master's Degree in Postsecondary Technical Education
Mission
Postsecondary Technical Education offers both degrees and certificates. The degrees and certificates provide individuals with the skills needed to successfully teach/train adults in educational and business settings. The Postsecondary Technical Education program was the first to offer a credit course in the new Distance Learning classroom in 1998, here at The University of Akron. And we are the first to offer all of our courses completely on-line. The Postsecondary Technical Education Program offers degrees at the Bachelor's & Master's levels for individuals who desire to teach adults in postsecondary education settings or within business and industry as instructors, trainers and instructional designers. Students from various backgrounds (e.g., medical assistants, police officers, accountants, computer trainers, etc.) obtain these degrees for the purpose of training others in the skills needed for success within the workplace. The major areas of study are adult learning theories, curriculum development, instructional techniques, and the use of technology in instructional design and delivery. Each program offers the opportunity to learn and then apply skills. Individuals will be required to use technology in the classroom (ftf, hybrid or on-line). Graduates of this program go on to become instructional designers in postsecondary education, business, and industry (for-profit and non-profit).
Career Opportunities of those with a M.S. in Postsecondary Technical Education
The major objective of the postsecondary technical education program is to prepare the instructor and other educational personnel for postsecondary education institutions, industry, and public and private agencies engaged in the education and training of technicians, paraprofessionals and middle-level workers. This program is anchored in knowledge of adult learning theories, understanding development of curriculum and instruction, delivery of instruction (face-to-face, instructional technologies, and distance learning), assessment of adult learning, and evaluation of programs. All required professional courses in the master’s degree in Postsecondary Technical Education require learners to master the use of information technology. Throughout the program, degree candidates are challenged to use and learn new and emerging instructional technology for both learning and instruction. This aligns with the number one goal of the Governor’s Commission on Higher Education and the Economy (2004) “to provide more Ohioans with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the knowledge- and innovation-based economy” (p.18).
Faculty in this program conduct research in postsecondary technical teacher education curriculum development, postsecondary technical teacher preparation, women’s career development, distance learning delivery systems, and leadership. The faculty are reviewers for the following professional journals: Workforce Education Forum, Journal of Industrial Teacher Education and American Technical Education Association Journal.
This program provides great flexibility for returning adult students and is focused on the adult learner. While the program is designed to provide graduates with the knowledge and skills of how to design a curriculum, teach it to adults and assess the learners and the program, all learners also become proficient in the use of learning with technology. The numerous skills they learn include technical skills, human relation skills and teacher-training skills. These skills are listed in the top 10 skills needed in today’s workforce on the Monster.com website (Gonyea, 2004). The skills learned are
easily transferred into supervision and leadership in the workplace by knowing how adults learn, how to write an effective job description, and evaluate against that job description. Oral and written presentation skills as well as visual and instructional computing skills are developed by all in the program. Enterprise Networks and Servers (2004) predict that technical workers will need skills in learning with technology because more training programs are moving to on-line delivery.
The demand for graduate technicians and paraprofessionals to teach adults at the postsecondary level and training in business and industry varies by technical area. For instance, due to the rapid changes in the fields of computer applications and allied health, these fields held a strong demand over the years for highly qualified trainers and postsecondary/adult teachers. Graduates have also been able to advance into supervisory roles in their jobs as a result of earning their Bachelor’s degree in Postsecondary Technical Education. Others have also gone on to advanced degrees.
According to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (2008), there is expected growth and need for postsecondary technical teachers, and training/development specialists. Nationally, the number of jobs for employee training specialists is expected to grow more than average through the year 2012 (Ohio Career Information System, 2007). The expected growth will be due in part to the increasing complexity of many jobs. With an aging workforce, increased use of technology and a global economy, education and training will continue to be a need for the postsecondary/adult population. Also, initiatives such as welfare-to-work and Tech Prep have their impact on how adults will be prepared for tomorrow’s job market. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education (Roberts, 2009) “Community College and other institutions that offer career and technical education are expected to offer many new job appointments” (p. B22). The growing need to regularly update one’s skills will continue to create new opportunities for postsecondary teachers, particularly at community colleges. A large number of openings are also expected due to the retirements of faculty who were hired in the late 60’s and ‘70s to teach the baby boomers. “Vocational-technical education teachers are in short supply in computer, business, and health-related fields” (U.S. Department of Labor, 2008, p. 199). The Occupational Outlook Handbook (2008) indicates that postsecondary teachers are one of the top jobs with the largest numerical increases in employment projected for 2000 through 2010 with over 300,000 position openings nationwide. There is a projected demand for technical faculty at community and technical colleges across the county. There will be 1,200 more training and development specialist employed in Ohio by 2010 with an average number of annual openings of 284 (OCIS, 2007). It is projected that there will be 690 more postsecondary vocational-technical teachers needed by 2010 in Ohio with an average of 160 average annual openings. The U.S. Department of Labor identifies Vocational-Technical Skills (#2) and Teaching- Training Skills (#5) as two of the 10 skills on employers wish list (as cited by Gonyea, 2004). This program addresses both skills across the curriculum.
Graduates are employed as trainers in business, industry and area community agencies; faculty members at community and technical colleges; academic advisors in community and technical colleges, as well as colleges and universities; as well as community education leaders. They also work in career schools, the military, and government agencies. Program graduates from The University of Akron campus indicate they would highly recommend this program “because of the wide variety of career opportunities, flexibility of the degree, ability to transfer credits and the usefulness of the skills in any field” (Olson & Coyner, 2004, p. 31). This particular degree has existed for over 35 years with over 2200 graduates. There are only 10 other programs like it in the United States (Olson & Spidell, 2008).
Admission Standards
Students must have a 2.75 or better GPA in a completed bachelor degree program for full admission to the master’s program. Those students with a 2.5-2.74 overall GPA on a completed Bachelor’s degree will be considered as space is available.
Placement Objectives
Career placement varies with the diversity of background of the learners attracted to this program. Some stay in their current jobs and earn a promotion because of their earning a master’s degree. Others move into two-year college teaching, others work as trainers in business and industry, community or government agencies or as instructional designers in these organizations including four year colleges. One’s technical background and work experiences will influence what specific opportunities there may be for a particular program completer. The U.S. News and World Report (March 24, 2008) list curriculum/training specialist as one of the best careers (with 31 careers listed) with an outstanding job market (p. 60).
References
Best Careers (2008) U.S. News and World Report 144(9), 60 Retrieved March 25, 2008 from:
http://www.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2007/12/19/curriculumtraining-specialist-executive-summary.html
Gonyea, J. (2004) Ten In-Demand Job Skills. Retrieved August 30, 2004 from
http://hourlyandskilled.monster.com/print/?article=/articles/skills/Index.asp
Governor’s Commission on Higher Education and the Economy (April 29, 2004) Building on knowledge: Investing in people: Higher education and the future of Ohio’s economy. Columbus, OH: Author. Retrieved August 30, 2004 from www.chee.ohio.gov
Ohio Board of Regents (2005) Success strategies for the knowledge economy: Ohio…a heritage of leadership. Columbus: Ohio. Retrieved August 30, 2004 from www.OhioKnowledgeEconomy.org
Ohio Career Information System (2007) Employee training specialists. Retrieved October 6, 2007, from http://ocis2005.ode.state.oh.us
Ohio Career Information System (OCIS) (2007) Postsecondary Vocational-Technical Instructors. The University of Oregon. Retrieved October 30, 2007 from http://ocis2004.ode.state.oh.us
Olson, S.J. & Spidell, C. (2008) Update: Preparation & Credentialing requirements of two-year college technical instructors: A National study. Journal of Industrial Teacher Education, 44(4), 1-23.
Olson, S. J. & Coyner, S. (2004, Fall) A well-kept secret in Ohio: A flexible degree completion program for technical majors. Ohio Association of Two-Year Colleges Journal, 29(1), 27-32.
Roberts, L. (10, July 2009). Hot Academic Jobs of the future: try these fields. The Chronicle of Higher Education. The Academic Workplace (pp B22-23).
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (2003) Ohio job outlook to 2010. Columbus, OH: Bureau of Labor Market Information.
U.S. Department of Labor (2008) Occupational Outlook Handbook. Washington, D.C.: Author.
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