(Part 2 of the Continuing Education AI series)
If you're running a continuing education or non-credit program, you probably wear 14 hats before lunch. Program developer, marketer, curriculum designer, customer service, trend watcher… you get it.
That’s exactly why AI can feel like a superpower.
AI doesn’t replace your expertise, but it can accelerate your market research, help you understand what competitors are doing, and uncover program ideas you might have missed. And the best part? You don’t need to be an AI expert. You just need good prompts.
In this post, I’ll walk you through practical examples of how to use AI to research non-credit program markets and do it fast, with confidence, and without drowning in Google tabs.
Let’s Start With a Basic Question: “What are others offering?”
Most CE leaders I meet want to know one thing right away: “What non-credit programs are my peers offering right now?” It’s a fair question, and an important one, because understanding the broader landscape helps you position your own offerings more strategically. This is exactly where AI becomes a game-changer. With the right prompt, an AI tool can quickly scan publicly available information, pull patterns from multiple institutions, and summarize what’s trending across continuing education. Instead of spending hours clicking through college websites, you get an instant, clear snapshot of who’s offering what and where the opportunities might be.
Example Prompt: Competitor Program Scan
“List the top non-credit programs offered by continuing education divisions at community colleges and universities. Categorize them into workforce, personal enrichment, industry certification, and emerging programs. Include trends you see across institutions.”
What AI might surface:
Suddenly you have a fast snapshot—the kind you used to build by opening 25 tabs.
Scan Your Region or State
A national scan is helpful, but your local market is where the real value lies. National trends show what’s possible; local trends show what’s needed. AI can help you bridge that gap by uncovering regional patterns hidden inside publicly available workforce reports, employer job postings, industry projections, and competitor program listings. Instead of manually reviewing multiple sources, you can ask AI to combine the data and highlight which programs make the most sense for your specific community.
Example Prompt: Regional Opportunity Scan
“You are a market research analyst for continuing education. Identify high-demand non-credit program opportunities for adults in [Your City/Region]. Base your findings on common employer needs, job postings, skill shortages, and offerings at nearby institutions.”
What this might uncover
You’re not just copying what others do. You are you’re finding unmet demand. And if needed, follow up on the prompt to help you find resources that could help you become part of the solution to meet these needs.
Look for Competitor Program Gaps
AI can also help you identify programs you should be offering that your peers aren’t. And honestly, this might be one of the most valuable uses of AI for continuing education teams. It’s easy to copy what other institutions are doing, but the real wins happen when you discover the open spaces in the market. These are the programs employers are asking for, learners are searching for, and national trends are pointing toward but that no one in your region has picked up yet. That’s where AI becomes a strategic advisor rather than just a fast researcher.
With a well-structured prompt, AI can compare your catalog to those of nearby institutions, evaluate regional job postings, and scan national program offerings to reveal areas of opportunity. It might point out that your competitors are heavy in healthcare but light in tech, or that no one is offering short upskilling courses in AI tools, logistics technology, drone operations, EV maintenance, or digital marketing for small businesses. These insights can guide you toward programs that not only fill a gap but position your institution as the local leader in emerging non-credit education.
Example Prompt: Gap Analysis
“Analyze the most common continuing education programs offered by institutions similar to [Your institution name]. Identify program ideas that are growing nationally but are missing or underrepresented in typical non-credit catalogs.”
Potential outcomes:
Gaps = opportunities to lead, be on the forefront, stand out in the crowd, and demonstrate expertise.
Research Program Viability Before Building Anything
Before you pitch a new certificate or spend weeks developing curriculum, AI can help you explore whether the program is actually viable. This step is crucial because even a great idea can fall flat if the target audience is too small, employer demand is weak, or competing programs are already saturating the market. Early viability research protects your time and resources by making sure you’re building something people actually want and are willing to pay for.
This is where AI becomes an invaluable partner. With just a few well-designed prompts, AI can analyze job postings, employer needs, competitor offerings, and pricing benchmarks to give you a clearer picture of whether your idea is worth pursuing. Instead of guessing or relying solely on anecdotal feedback, you can develop programs based on evidence, not assumptions. And that helps you build certificates that have real traction from day one.
Example Prompt: Pre-Launch Viability Check
“Evaluate the viability of creating a non-credit certificate in [Program Idea]. Include target audience, job pathways, required equipment, recommended pricing, estimated enrollment potential, and risks.”
This gives you a solid starting point for internal conversations and saves you from building programs no one wants.
Read Employer Needs Between the Lines
Job postings hold a mountain of insight, but who has the time or patience to read through a hundred listings? Each posting is packed with clues about the skills employers are looking for, emerging certifications they value, and the gaps in current training programs. For a continuing education team, that information is gold. Manually parsing it can take hours or even days. And let’s be honest, most of us just don’t have that kind of individual or departmental bandwidth.
AI does. With the right prompts, it can scan large numbers of job postings, extract key skills, summarize recurring requirements, and even suggest non-credit courses that could address those needs. Suddenly, what used to be tedious research becomes actionable intelligence in minutes. You can see patterns across industries, uncover gaps in current offerings, and identify where your programs could make the biggest impact, all without spending hours on manual data crunching.
Example Prompt: Extract Skills from Job Postings
“Summarize the most common skills required for entry-level jobs in [industry] in [region]. Then suggest non-credit courses that address those skills.”
This yields incredibly useful ideas:
This is how you build programs that fill real workforce gaps.
Benchmark Pricing Without Hours of Manual Searches
Pricing matters. Set it too high, and enrollment drops; set it too low, and your program may struggle to cover costs, or worse, signal low quality. For continuing education teams, understanding what is “normal” in your market is critical. You want tuition that is competitive, aligned with employer expectations, and appropriate for adult learners who are balancing work, family, and professional development.
AI can make this process far easier and faster. With the right prompts, it can scan publicly available data from peer institutions, workforce programs, and national trends to summarize typical tuition ranges, highlight outliers, and even identify pricing patterns for different program types or delivery formats. Suddenly, you don’t have to manually dig through dozens of websites or guess what your learners will pay. You get a clear, data-informed snapshot that helps you price programs confidently and strategically.
Example Prompt: Pricing Scan
“List average tuition ranges for non-credit programs in [topic]. Include examples from community colleges and universities. Also identify pricing trends.”
Great for ensuring you’re not underpricing or pricing yourself out of the market.
Use AI to Validate Trends and Avoid the Hype
Is AI in healthcare legitimate?
Is drone training still growing?
Is cybersecurity saturated?
Ask the model to break down whether a trend is real or hype, specifically for CE and non-credit programs. Just because a topic is “hot” nationally doesn’t mean it’s a viable option for your learners or region. Some trends catch the headlines but never gain traction in enrollment, while others quietly grow into high-demand programs. Understand what is crucial before investing time, staff, and resources into curriculum development.
With the right prompts, AI can analyze multiple indicators like employer demand, job growth, competitor offerings, learner interest, and regional adoption You will obtain a more accurate picture of a trend’s potential. For example, it might tell you that while “AI for business” is generating a lot of buzz, demand among local adult learners is low, but a microcredential in AI-assisted office productivity has growing enrollment potential. This kind of insight helps you prioritize programs that have real staying power instead of chasing every shiny new topic that comes along.
Example Prompt: Trend Reality Check
“Evaluate whether [trend] represents a sustainable opportunity for non-credit programs. Include employer demand, job growth, competition, and adult learner interest.”
Save yourself from chasing shiny objects. Let evidence, not excitement, drive the programs you invest your time and money in.
Bring It All Together with a “Market Brief”
One of the most powerful ways to use AI is to create research briefs for each program you’re exploring. By doing so, you get a clear, organized snapshot of key features, benefits, and potential drawbacks without having to sift through countless sources. AI streamlines your decision-making by providing concise, actionable summaries that highlight what really matters, uncover insights that might otherwise remain hidden, and save you hours of manual research. With AI-powered briefs, you can spot trends, evaluate opportunities strategically, and approach your options with confidence, making smarter comparisons and informed choices in far less time.
Example Prompt: Full Market Research Brief
“Create a 1-page market research brief for a potential non-credit certificate in [topic]. Include:
Great for internal decision-making, pitch decks, and a confidence booster for your decisions.
AI Doesn’t Replace Your Judgment: It Amplifies It
AI won’t tell you exactly what programs to run or predict how your local community will respond. Those nuances require the insight only you have. While AI can provide data, trends, and recommendations, you still know your market best. Your understanding of local culture, community needs, and on-the-ground dynamics is irreplaceable, and combining that knowledge with AI’s capabilities is what creates truly informed, effective decisions.
But AI can:
…all in minutes instead of days.
And that frees you to do what CE leaders do best: build programs that transform lives, support local employers, and strengthen your community.
Next in the Series: AI Powered Curriculum and Training Design
administrator
Rick Stern is an entrepreneur, educator, and dedicated professional. He received his MBA from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester. Rick has 20 years of experience managing continuing education programs and over 30 years in registration system development. Xenegrade Corp was founded by Rick Stern with a focus on service to educational organizations. His expertise provides valuable insight into the needs, demands, and trends of the continuing education market.
More Posts by Rick J. Stern administrator
Rick Stern is an entrepreneur, educator, and dedicated professional. He received his MBA from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester. Rick has 20 years of experience managing continuing education programs and over 30 years in registration system development. Xenegrade Corp was founded by Rick Stern with a focus on service to educational organizations. His expertise provides valuable insight into the needs, demands, and trends of the continuing education market.
More posts by Rick J. Stern
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