Program overview

The Graduate Certificate in Applied Educational Psychology is designed for prior and current graduate students seeking to build knowledge and skills for professional work in educational contexts, including schools, colleges, universities, healthcare, business, and government settings.

Delivered entirely through distance education via Zoom meetings and asynchronous activities, the program helps professionals understand the psychology of learning while developing the ability to create safe, inclusive learning environments. Coursework strengthens learners’ capacity to facilitate high-impact teaching and learning at individual, group, and organizational levels.

The certificate requires 12 graduate credit hours and is offered in both add-on and stand-alone formats. Required courses include EDPY 507 (Survey of Educational Psychology), EDPY 512 (Motivation in Learning), and EDPY 574 (Facilitating Change in Educational Environments), plus one elective from EDPY 513, 531, 537, or 572. To complete the certificate, students must submit a Course Verification Form and apply to graduate through MyUTK.

Why study Applied Educational Psychology?

Understand how people learn

Educational psychology gets at the “why” behind learning — motivation, cognition, development — so you can design instruction and environments that genuinely work, rather than relying on guesswork or tradition.

Create safer, more inclusive learning spaces

As the program description emphasizes, understanding the psychology of learners is essential to fostering environments where diverse learners can thrive — a skill increasingly valued across schools, workplaces, and community organizations.

Apply it beyond the traditional classroom

Because the field applies to schools, colleges, healthcare, business, and government, the certificate suits people in varied roles such as teachers, trainers, instructional designers, HR professionals, healthcare educators, not just K-12 or higher ed faculty.