Bachelor of Arts in Community Education

Welcome to our BA in Community Education Program! Return, Rediscover, and Reconnect to the global community as a non-formal educator for lifelong learners on a local, national, and international level.

The Community Education Program (CEP) is for students who are ready to be change makers, innovators, leaders, creative thinkers, and non-traditional educators in their chosen fields in either education, the nonprofit sector, for-profit organizations, or entrepreneurial enterprises.

The course work is driven by hands-on, experiential, progressive forward-thinking practical experiences in the chosen field, to prepare students for the challenges of an eever-changingand developing 221st-century world and their work with the lifelong learner community.

Graduates will leave with a degree that is innovative, creative, non-traditional, and forward-thinking being prepared with base ics of community and social change and innovation, as well as problem/ project-based service-learning opportunities. All, while giving them the freedom to follow their dream careers by partially building and creating their degree through selecting a field interest. This prepares the students for a job market in high-demand positions in ever and newly developing fields and industries on the local, national, and international levels CEP is a 120-credit hour program, consisting of general studies, core, and track/concentration-specific coursework.

The CEP also offers a 15 credit hours minor.

Mission

The mission of the Community Education Program at West Liberty University is to attract intelligent and creative students showing an interest in education that is not limited to “traditional teacher education” in the classroom. The program seeks candidates who are open to serving as competent and effective professional educators and facilitators, willing to marry the two worlds of Formal and Non-Formal Education through active engagement in and through the community.

The curriculum is designed to structure, facilitate, and promote the 21st-century skills of critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. Students are encouraged to communicate and collaborate with individuals, groups, and institutions of the community on a local, national, and even international level. The program aims to develop master educators, facilitators, and educational leaders who contribute to community development at various levels, by engaging in the community through teaching, motivating its members through reflection, and consequently changing lives positively.

Students will be equipped to serve the community/non-formal education of children, adults, and the communities of lifelong learners through a broad set of coursework. The acquired knowledge of specific common core courses, community education courses, and the possibility of specification in one of the five tracks of Community Innovation and the Arts, Disabilities Services and Advocacy, Outdoor Education Experiential Learning and Mindfulness, Sports, Recreation, and Wellness, and Teaching English and Global Education will not just embrace the students’ interests and strengths, but also provide students with multifaceted employment options in schools, universities, museums, community, faith, and sports centers, and other community facilities upon graduation.