The Master of Arts in Education: Professional Development for Teachers is a master’s degree program specifically designed to meet the professional development needs of practicing teachers. The intent of this program is to sharpen your understanding and skills as a classroom teacher by allowing you to combine coursework in education with further study in technology or other specialty areas. Educational pedagogy and technology professors will offer a series of joint classes leading to a culminating project that will enhance the professional development of individual teachers and build on the existing strengths of schools.
Coursework design is guided by four principles: that it be job-embedded, collaborative, inquiry-based, and technology-based.
The degree program has three components, plus the common graduate core and a practical research paper. Students take 8 to 12 credit hours of coursework in each of the three components, with a minimum 33 credits required for the degree.
Advanced Professional Component
This component focuses on teaching methods, materials, instructional strategies, and innovations in teaching. Often, after you have taught for a number of years, you become aware of the need to learn better ways of teaching particular subjects or to become acquainted with newer methods and instructional innovations in your teaching field. Coursework in this component is directed toward helping you add to your existing teaching skills by developing new knowledge in this area.
Foundational Studies Component
Coursework in this component is aimed at expanding both your base of education-related knowledge and your ability to use it in your daily work. Immersion in the constant practical demands of teaching leaves little time to think broadly about the theoretical and philosophical aspects of education. This component encourages you to further explore the areas of learning theory, cognition, human development, curriculum design and implementation, assessment, societal factors affecting education, school reform, and other foundational studies.
Technology Area Component
The content area component for the international program places emphasis on technology integration in the classroom. Coursework enables you to integrate technology into your classroom to improve student learning, as well as draw upon global resources in order to facilitate your professional development. The courses are project-based and allow you to develop materials to be used within your classroom or for the school as a whole.
The program is delivered through a combination of face-to-face meetings and online learning. The primary means of online communication occur through videoconferencing and the UNI Blackboard Learning System.
Other vehicles, such as virtual worlds, podcasts, blogs, Skype, and online meeting systems, may also be used. These authentic settings provide flexibility for students and professors to communicate with one another and model multiple methods of constructing interactive learning environments.
Applicants for the international degree program in “Educational Psychology: Professional Development for Teachers (MAE)” must be recommended by their principals and apply online at www.uni.edu/admissions The major code for the program is 298.
As part of the application process, please submit all undergraduate and graduate transcripts.