Program Overview
PhD in Learning Sciences
The PhD in Learning Sciences is a doctoral program that focuses on researching and designing learning in the contemporary world. This program empowers students to design innovative learning experiences and evaluate their effectiveness in various settings, including schools, museums, libraries, digital spaces, and community organizations.
Degree Details
- Degree Granted: PhD
- Degree Level: Doctoral
- Location: Manhattan
- School: Ruth S. Ammon College of Education & Health Sciences
Program Overview
The Learning Sciences PhD program is designed as a learning laboratory, offering a blend of classroom and out-of-class experiences to ensure that students are equipped to become leaders in their chosen fields. The program utilizes a flexible, hybrid course structure, allowing students to continue working while pursuing their degree.
Why Study the Learning Sciences?
- Learning is happening everywhere, not just in schools or universities. This program helps students become experts in the latest theories of learning for almost any discipline or sector.
- Students investigate when, where, how, and why people learn.
- The program prepares students for careers as research scientists, developers, or instructional designers across industries, both for-profit and nonprofit.
- Students design cutting-edge learning environments to shape their community, chosen field, and the world.
- The program helps students develop critical skills for investigating pressing social, cultural, and economic concerns that influence learning.
What Makes Our Learning Sciences PhD Program Distinctive?
- Location: The program is offered in the new Manhattan Center with state-of-the-art classrooms, libraries, and technology facilities. New York City serves as an extended classroom.
- Flexible Schedules: The program allows students to continue working full or part-time due to its hybrid and part-time study options.
- Financial Aid: All applicants are automatically considered for financial aid opportunities, including scholarships, fellowships, graduate research assistantships, and university teaching.
- Innovative Faculty: Faculty members engage in interdisciplinary projects that merge arts, humanities, and social and physical sciences. They have earned grants from top research organizations.
- Partnerships: Students engage with Adelphi's many community partners and alumni across various fields.
- Hands-On Research: Coursework is designed to engage students in hands-on research alongside distinguished faculty from the first semester.
- Community: Scholars affiliate with an active intellectual community.
- Scope and Reach: The program supports the study of learning in any context, including museums, schools, communities, digital spaces, and international sites.
Application Requirements
- Online graduate application and application fee
- Current résumé or CV
- Final transcript stating bachelor's degree from an accredited four-year institution
- Final or in-progress transcript stating master's degree from an accredited institution
- Personal statement
- Scholarly writing sample
- Letters of recommendation
- English language exam results for non-native-speaking international students
- Course-by-course evaluation of academic work prepared by a NACES member organization for graduate applicants with undergraduate-level work completed outside the United States
Program Structure
The PhD in Learning Sciences includes coursework leading to independent dissertation research. Students take 13 classes in areas across the learning sciences, embodied learning, adolescent development, critical technology studies, and research methodologies. As part of the coursework, students participate in Learning Sciences Workshop classes, engaging directly in applied research and design alongside faculty.
Career Opportunities
The PhD in Learning Sciences qualifies students to shape the vision and design of learning initiatives across many industries. Career paths include:
- Universities or colleges
- Instructional design (in-person and online)
- School districts
- Tech companies (especially in the AI industry)
- Curriculum and assessment groups
- Educational publishing companies
- Government agencies
- Nonprofits
- Community organizations
- Museums and libraries
- Toy companies
Research Areas
Faculty are interested in working with students in a wide variety of settings and exploring research interests connected to learning and modern life, including:
- Place-Based and Place-Conscious Learning and Design
- STEAM (STEM + the Arts) Learning and Making
- Educational Technologies and Digital Literacies
- Critical and Political Learning
Admissions Process
If admitted, students receive a provisional adviser and form a program of studies committee after the first semester, then a dissertation committee once they complete the qualifying process. All doctoral program applicants are considered for Adelphi's standard financial aid opportunities.