Jobs, Careers, and Professional Development in Geography is an open-access course for undergraduate and graduate students interested in exploring and preparing for a career in geography.

The course was developed by Texas State University and draws on a variety of publications, resources, interviews, and data from the American Association of Geographers (AAG). The course is available at no cost to AAG members and their students.

Course Goals and Topics

Jobs, Careers, and Professional Development in Geography introduces effective strategies for career planning and professional development in geography. Career opportunities for geographers in business, government, nonprofit, and academic organizations are examined. Additional topics include professional ethics, lifelong learning, work-life balance, and professional networking.

There are fourteen modules (equivalent to a 3-credit hour course) organized in three phases: 1) identify career interests, 2) research and investigate those interests, 3) prepare job materials and professional documents based on outcomes of student research. The course design accommodates a wide array of career aspirations for all types of aspiring professional geographers.

At the end of the course, a student should be able to…

  1. Identify occupations requiring or benefiting from geographic expertise.
  2. Apply a self-reflective approach to career planning.
  3. Acquire and analyze quantitative and qualitative workforce data.
  4. Effectively communicate to employers (oral and written communication).
  5. Define a professional identity.
  6. Utilize effective time management strategies.
  7. Analyze cases of professional ethics and make ethical decisions.

Course Access

Users can view the course modules in Canvas Commons or import course content to a Canvas learning management system. Canvas users may edit and adapt the course content and assignments as desired for student advising or graded instruction.

View/Download in Canvas Commons.

Click below to download .zip folder with course files (to view content, open the index.html file).

GEO-5393G-Jobs-Careers-and-Professional-Development-in-Geography-open-access-course-2021-Dec-25_21-58-06-2Download

Jobs, Careers, and Professional Development in Geography is an open-access publication of the National Center for Research in Geography Education (NCRGE), a collaboration between the AAG and Texas State University. Questions about the course may be directed to NCRGE Co-Director, Dr Michael Solem.