HSED-UE 1005 Introduction to US Education (4 credits): This course introduces students to the central themes, issues, and controversies in American education. What is the purpose of “school”? How did schools begin, in the United States, and how have they evolved across time? How do children learn? How are they different from each other, and why and when should that matter? How should we teach them? And how should we structure schools and classrooms to promote learning?
PHED-UE 10 Learning and the Meaning of Life (4 credits): What is the most important thing to which I should be devoting my life? This course explores the existential concerns animating questions like this, ones that inspire our lifelong, liberal learning. It focuses on classic works in Western philosophy, literature, & film & examines them as texts of education. Class meetings will be devoted to a mix of lecture & discussion. Liberal Arts Core/MAP Equivalent - satisfies the requirement for Texts & Ideas
EDLED-UE 1005 Introduction to Education Policy Analysis (4 credits): Develop an understanding of the ways in which they may inquire about policy issues relevant in their academic and professional lives. By exploring in depth a substantial body of knowledge drawn from selected cases and current theoretical issues, students will study the development of policy, the instruments used to effect policy, and some analyses of implementation.
TCHL-UE 41/SCA-UE 755 American Dilemmas: Race, Inequality, and the Unfulfilled Promise of Public Education (4 credits): The course provides students with background on the historical and sociological foundation of education in the United States. It examines the role that education has played in advancing civil and human rights and it explores the ways in which education continues to be implicated in the maintenance of social inequality in American society. Through readings, lectures, films, and class debates, students will gain an understanding of some of the most complex and controversial issues confronting education today including: affirmative action, Bilingual Education, Special Education, the achievement gap, school choice, and vouchers, and the role of race and culture in student achievement.
INTE-UE 10 Introduction to Global Education (4 credits): This survey course offers an introduction to the field of global education. Education in the 21st century is undoubtedly a central area for international collaboration as well as contestation. In this survey course, we will examine key debates about the role of education in national and international society, examining the multiple stakeholders that work to improve education globally, and their diverse interpretations of that mandate. The course will introduce students to the history of mass education as a global phenomenon, and the comparative ways in which it is now studied. Students will examine both K-12 and higher education.
TCHL-UE 0030 Thinking Qualitatively (4 credits): This course introduces students to the purposes, theories, and methods of a family of approaches to social science research variously called ethnographic, qualitative, case study, naturalistic, or interpretive. Throughout this course, we will draw on resources in anthropology and sociology to explore issues that are central to understanding the epistemology and methodology of interpretive inquiry. The purposes of this course are to examine the nature, purposes, theories, and methods of qualitative inquiry; introduce several approaches to qualitative inquiry; and learn how to assess the quality and trustworthiness of qualitative inquiry.
EDST-UE 1990 Senior Seminar (4 credits): A culminating experience in which students produce an original thesis or project in their chosen area of specialization. Students will share work in progress with their peers and faculty advisers