Program Description

The online M.Ed. in Adventure Education at Springfield College is designed to promote career advancement, enhance an earned related undergraduate degree, and/or to provide advanced academic training for individuals employed or planning to seek employment as physical educators, recreation leaders, and/or youth development professionals in academic, community, and youth serving agencies. Adventure education cuts across public schools, not-for-profit organizations and community agencies serving youth, adults, individuals with disabilities, corporate organizations, and a multitude of other professional contexts.  

Graduate students enrolled in this program choose adventure education to refine and enhance their knowledge and skills in the use of adventure and team building. The core of the adventure education graduate degree is the online adventure theory and practice courses that focus on the design and implementation of experiential education programs.  The core courses form the primary content of the program and include: conceptual and theoretical foundations of experiential education and adventure education; facilitation skills; planning, implementation, and evaluation of experiential and adventure programs; and working effectively with diverse populations.  The applied fieldwork segment of the program enables students to gain skills through hands-on experience facilitated by pre-approved partner adventure agencies.  The selective portion of the curriculum is designed for students to work with academic advisors to select courses that provide contexts to the application of the adventure knowledge and skills in their personal and professional settings. Finally, the capstone project is designed with the explicit intent to provide a culminating experience for students in their respective professional settings.  The capstone is meant to synthesize the scope of knowledge, theory, and skills developed across the breadth of the program and allow students the opportunity to put theory into practice and engage with the community. Capstone proposals and projects are unique to the student and their current or anticipated professional experiences. Comprehensive capstone proposals and projects are accomplished with consultation and direction provided by a chosen faculty member or the program director.  

Upon completion of the degree, students who hold initial licensure in physical education in MA will have completed the educational requirement to advance their licensure to professional status in MA.  Depending on the state, students who hold initial licensure in physical education in other states may also be eligible to apply for professional licensure.  

A maximum of 9 credits of graduate coursework, not taken for credit within a degree-granting program, may be transferred and applied to the M.Ed. in Adventure Education program.

A. Required Courses (24 credits)

• HLTH 617 - Social & Emotional Development in Children and Adolescents Credits: 3
• PHED 614 - Adventure Theory Credits: 3
• PHED 623 - Community and Positive Youth Development: Adventure and Sport Contexts Credits: 3
• PHED 647 - Programmatic Design and Risk Management in Adventure Education Credits: 3
• PHED 671 - Capstone in Adventure Education Credits: 3
• PHED 699 - Adventure Education Fieldwork Credits: 1-9

B. Selectives (9 credits)

Choose 9 credits from the following list:

• AEXS 678 - Sport Psychology Credits: 3
• HLTH 510 - Race, Ethnicity, Class and Gender Credits: 3
• HLTH 614 - Implementation & Sustainability of Community Health Programs Credits: 3
• HLTH 615 - Advocacy and Leadership in Education Credits: 3
• HLTH 619 - Advanced Instructional Strategies in Education Credits: 3
• MOST 624 - Motor Learning and Control Credits: 3
• PHED 681 - Inclusive and Critical Approaches to Sport Credits: 3