MMEDCI - Curriculum and Instruction (MS)

This category addresses all aspects of K-12 curriculum. It is intended that one course in curriculum would address the broad range of these issues.

• The foundations of curriculum (philosophical, historical, psychological, and social foundations; curriculum theory)

• The principles of curriculum (aims, goals, objectives; curriculum design, development, implementation, and evaluation)

• Issues of curriculum (trends and issues; future directions; national standards)

Recommended courses for this core category

OR a curriculum course approved by the student's advisor and committee.

This category deals with theoretical, practical, and research-based issues associated with the creation of an environment for effective teaching and learning. The following topics are representative of the issues that might affect the creation of the learning environment:

• Teaching strategies (e.g., direct instruction, cooperative learning)

• Learning theory (e.g., sociocultural theory, schema theory)

• Theory and research into practice

• Instructional planning and design

• Assessment

• Learning environments (organization, management, discipline)

• Standards and practices

One course in teaching and learning may address only one of these issues; one course is not intended to provide a survey of all possible issues that affect the creation of a learning environment.

Recommended courses for this core category

OR a teaching and learning course approved by the student’s advisor and committee.

This category addresses the nature of learner differences and the instructional implications of these differences. Teaching students in a pluralistic society entails knowledge of many possible factors that may affect student performance, behavior, and instruction.

Student diversity may be due to factors such as: ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, gender, exceptionalities, language, religion, sexual orientation, or geographical areas. One course in diversity may address several of these issues; but one course is not intended to provide a survey of all possible issues that address the nature of learner differences, the instructional implications of these differences, and the nature of the institution of schooling and biases that may exist.

Recommended courses for this core category

OR a diversity course approved by the student’s advisor and committee.

This category examines:

• Roles that technology, teachers, and learners may take in any educational context

• Ways of integrating technology into teaching and learning

• Issues involved in using technology in K-12 settings

Recommended courses for this core category

This category deals with interpreting, using, and conducting research and scholarly activities. Scholarship might include analysis, position papers, essays, research into practice, and other creative endeavors. Scholarship is broader and more inclusive than research. Research is a form of scholarship.

This category addresses:

• The many forms of scholarship

• Scientific and naturalistic research

• Analysis, interpretation, and application of research and scholarship to improve teaching and learning

• Designing and conducting research and scholarship

• How research relates to practice

It is intended that one course in research and scholarship would address the broad range of these items.

Students must complete the research course before starting the Master’s degree project, report, or thesis (see Category F).

Recommended courses for this core category

OR a research and scholarship course approved by the student’s advisor and committee.

Students must complete a research course in Category E before starting this project, report, or thesis. The results of the research project, report, or thesis are to be reported to the student’s supervisory committee in the oral exam in the last semester of the degree program.

The objective of the project is to improve the student’s own practice. Students select a topic pertinent to their own practice. This project includes the construction of a professional portfolio to represent the student’s learning throughout the master’s degree program.

A master’s report is generally shorter than a thesis, and it may present the results of a more limited investigation. Alternatively, it may review the state of a particular scholarly or scientific problem, or - especially in the case of professional programs or applied disciplines - it may describe a project appropriate to the disciplines.

The master’s thesis presents the results of an original investigation of a problem or topic approved by the candidate’s supervisory committee. Its purpose is to demonstrate the candidate’s ability to conduct original research, and to present the results in a form acceptable to the supervisory committee.

• Any other Educational Technology centered elective approved by the advisor Credits: 3