A number of college students feel so inspired by one teacher throughout their lives that they want to inspire other students in the same way. Pursuing an online degree in education is one of the best ways for students to take the first steps to being a leader and an educator in their community. Teaching can be tough, but it’s also one of the most rewarding jobs out there.

Education as a whole is the second largest industry in the entire United States, employing roughly 13.3 million jobs. Within the broad definition of education fall the four most recognizable jobs: teaching in kindergarten, elementary school, middle school and high school. These teachers held approximately 3.5 million jobs as of 2008, and employment in these fields is expected to grow about 13 percent between now and 2018.

Traditionally, the road to becoming a public school teacher at any of the levels of education requires completion of a bachelor’s degree from a school with a teacher education program followed by obtaining a license. Education programs are designed specifically for those who want to teach and include classes that teach education philosophies, psychology of learning classes and teaching methods. Most programs, even online programs, will require students to perform a student-teaching internship in order to get the first-hand experience of teaching before moving on to doing so professionally and independently. Read the rest of this entry »