Characteristics of the program
This program is designed for educators looking for a nontraditional format emphasizing educational innovation, holistic and integrative teaching, and meaning-centered learning. Our students are diverse, including certified pre-K – 12 and community college educators, correctional educators, home schooling educators, and noncertified educators working in community settings. Our faculty work as a team and are committed to students becoming better explorers, integrators and collaborators, and to the development of a new educational vision, all in the context of the educator's actual or future professional or classroom setting.
The program requires 48 quarter units (12 courses). Twenty-four required units are specifically designed for the program. Students in the program will take the courses as a cohort over a two-year period. The courses will focus on themes and, whenever possible, will be team-taught. Each theme will emphasize a strong theoretical framework and how to apply the theory in your actual classroom or professional context.
Our pedagogy includes the following major components: A focus on helping each student develop a holistic and transformative vision of education and clarifying how to implement that vision in their professional context; a focus on collaboration; establishment of a supportive learning environment and community; emphasis on in-depth reflection on assumptions concerning education and the implications of those assumptions; an emphasis on applying the course work in meaningful ways in your present or future professional context; and a focus on program faculty "demonstrating" pedagogy in the program courses consistent with the philosophies being emphasized; e.g., constructive post-modernism, constructivism, and transformative approaches to education.
In addition to the program courses, you complete twelve units for the required MA core courses, and twelve units based on a personalized plan that allows units outside the field of education and independent study. An advisor will guide the student's development of a personalized plan.
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