Department of Teaching and Learning

Doctoral Programs

The Department of Teaching and Learning in The Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University aims to prepare first-rate scholars and practitioners in the following areas of focus:

 

Coursework Requirements
All students, regardless of program or focus area, are required to complete a minimum of 36 credits. Additional credit requirements vary by program. Requirements include the following:

1) Pro-Seminar for Department of Teaching and Learning, to be taken in student's first semester of enrollment. This course will introduce students to doctoral level study and will assist in acclimating students to the department, to scholarship, and to the professional world of research studies (*this requirement may be waived by the student's program advisor to accommodate extenuating circumstances*).

2) Two (2) Cognate Courses, to be selected by student with approval of advisor. Cognate courses constitute those taken in an area outside of the program/focus area that are supportive to the student's research.

3) Foundations Requirements: All students are required to complete 6 credits (two courses) of course work in the foundations of education during the first 24 credits of doctoral study. Graduate courses qualify for the foundations requirement when they are upper division courses (Steinhardt 2000 level courses or their equivalent in other schools) and designed to broaden students' access to knowledge beyond the areas of specialization. To this end, courses are considered foundational when they: (1) provide broad basic content, not limited to a single profession, and are outside the student's specialization, and do not require prerequisites; (2) are based on current scholarship in the arts, humanities, sciences and/or social sciences; and (3) have wide applicability to common issues of the student's specialization and profession.

4) Fifteen (15) credits of research methodology courses, of which one must be a qualitative methods course and one must be a quantitative methods course. Per Department of Teaching and Learning requirements, students should complete one qualitative and one quantitative course in their first year of enrollment (See p. 5 of Steinhardt handbook)

5) Three (3) credits of specialized methodology (See p. 6 of Steinhardt handbook). This methodology course should directly support the student's area of research and be linked to his or her planned dissertation work.

6) Dissertation Proposal Seminar for Department of Teaching and Learning

Because the development and completion of a dissertation or major project depend on intensely individual interest and work, the programs emphasize the individual tailoring of students' programs from the very beginning. The programs aim to suit students' unique interests and experiences-both those they bring to the program initially and those that develop as they study.

Additional Requirements for Doctoral Students in Department of Teaching and Learning Programs

1) Upon entering, students will be appointed an advisor in his or her program/focus area. At the beginning of the second semester of doctoral study, the student will select a candidacy committee.

2) At the end of the first year or no later than the third semester, each doctoral student will submit a 25 -30 page Candidacy Paper on a topic agreed to by his or her selected advisor. The topic may be a critical review of research literature related broadly to the topic of a proposed dissertation, a research paper, or a paper produced in a course and subsequently revised. The paper should demonstrate that the student is capable of doctoral-level writing and has the potential to conduct doctoral-level research. This judgment is made by the candidacy committee. (Note: Passing this will constitute Advancing to Candidacy, according to Steinhardt requirements. See p. 9 of Steinhardt Handbook. Students must complete the Application to Doctoral Candidacy prior to submitting the paper.)

3) Teaching and Learning students are required to pass a comprehensive exam. The exam will evaluate their preparation in their field of study and their readiness to begin work on a thesis proposal.

4) After successful completion of the Candidacy Paper, fulfillment of the Steinhardt, Department of Teaching and Learning, and program or focus area requirements for coursework (see p.4 of Steinhardt handbook), and successful completion of the comprehensive oral exam ,each doctoral student will select a topic and appoint a dissertation committee and thesis chair/advisor (Appointment Form). The dissertation committee should be comprised of three members (the student's advisor plus two additional faculty members at least one of whom must be from the Steinhardt School) Students should adhere to Steinhardt procedures for the submission of forms and should see the Steinhardt handbook for rules regarding qualifications of chairs and the appointment of committee members (See p. 10-15 and appendices of Steinhardt handbook).

5) The dissertation proposal should be 20-30 pages in length, not to exceed 40 pages, per Steinhardt requirements, and should include the following:

  • A clearly framed research question or questions
  • A review of the literature related to the question(s)/topic
  • A research methodology section, including a plan for carrying out the research

6) Upon completion of the proposal, the dissertation committee must meet as a group to decide whether to approve the proposal, At least the candidate and the committee chair must be in attendance. Once the proposal has been approved, the committee must sign the appropriate forms and submit them to the appropriate Steinhardt offices. (See Instructions for Filing Dissertation Proposals).

7) Once the proposal has been approved by the dissertation committee, the Department's Proposal Committee must, according to Steinhardt requirements, review the proposal and notify the dissertation chair of the outcome of the review (See Steinhardt Doctoral Handbook pg. 13-14). Possible recommendations of the Department Proposal Committee are: Pass, deferred pass, or not approved. If the proposal receives a recommendation of not approved or deferred pass, the student must rewrite and resubmit the proposal to the Departmental committee.

8) Once the proposal has been approved by the dissertation committee and the DPC, the student may begin work on the thesis.

9) Upon completion of the dissertation and its approval by dissertation committee members, a defense will be held with the student, the committee (the dissertation chair and additional committee members), and at least two additional faculty members, one of whom should come from outside the Department of Teaching and Learning. The defense which will last for approximately two
hours will serve as the final stage of the doctoral process. (See Instructions for Filing Approved Dissertations)