Doctor of Philosophy

Total Minimum: 54 hours (not including dissertation)

General Requirements (Minimum: 21 hours)

With the approval of the program adviser, courses other than those listed below may be used to satisfy requirements. In general, core courses are taken in the Department of C&I.

Learning and Instructional Theory (3 hours minimum)

• EDC 383T Instructional Theory
• EDC 384P Instructional Systems Design
• EDC 385G Learning Theory: Instructional Implications
• EDP 380G Psychology of Human Learning
• EDP 382L Instructional Psychology

Curriculum Theory and Development (3 hours minimum)

• EDC 381J Curriculum Organization
• EDC 383N Curriculum Theory

Cultural Foundations (3 hours minimum)

• EDC 385G Foundations of Curriculum Decisions
• EDC 385H Introduction to Multicultural Education
• EDC 385K General Foundations of Education
• EDC 392L Philosophical Foundations of Education

Research Methodology (12 hours minimum, of which 3 hours must be EDC 684PA and 3 hours must be EDC 684PB or its content equivalent)

• EDC 684PA Research Design and Analysis I
• EDC 684PB Research Design and Analysis II
• EDC 384P Statistical Inference
• EDC 385G Qualitative Research Methods: Naturalistic Inquiry
• EDC 385G Qualitative Research Methods: Educational Criticism
• EDC 385G Qualitative Research Methods: Mixed-Method Qualitative Research
• EDC 385H Ethnographic & Qualitative Research Methods
• ANT 381K Topics in Anthropological Methodology
• EDA 381Q Qualitative Research
• EDA 396 Introduction to Qualitative Inquiry
• EDP 371 Introduction to Statistics
• EDP 380E Fundamentals of Statistics
• EDP 380G Principles of Statistics and Measurement
• EDP 380P Psychometrics
• EDP 480P Psychometrics
• EDP 382K Quantitative Methods
• EDP 482K Quantitative Methods
• EDP 384 Qualitative Research Methods
• EDP 384P Statistical Methods
• HIS 397K Historiography
• PSY 384K Advanced Statistics
• PSY 391P Design, Measurement, and Analysis
• SOC 387L Survey Research Methods
• SOC 388K Field and Observational Methods
• SOC 388L Historical and Comparative Methods

Directed Research (Minimum: 12 hours)

All students will take the following:

• EDC 396 Doctoral Seminar: Curriculum Studies [or approved substitution]
• EDC 396T Directed Research in Curriculum & Instruction (or another course listed under Section III that has a substantial research component) - 9 hours [EDC 396T can be taken more than once for credit]

Specialization Requirements (Minimum: 15 hours)

Students with an emphasis on Curriculum Studies will take additional related courses (minimum 15 hours), selected with the assistance and approval of the area program adviser. To help meet their personal career goals, students are encouraged to select courses from other clusters in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Among the courses that might be selected to fulfill this requirement are the following:

General Instruction

• EDC 381M Designs for Instruction
• EDC 384P Instructional Telecommunications
• EDC 384P Measurement of Teaching
• EDC 384P Research on Teaching
• EDC 385G HyperCard in Instruction
• EDC 385G Instructional Leadership

School Subjects/Issues

• EDC 382E Teaching Elementary School Subjects: Mathematics
• EDC 382E Teaching Elementary School Subjects: Reading/Language Arts
• EDC 382E Teaching Elementary School Subjects: Social Studies
• EDC 382S Teaching Secondary School Subjects: English Language Arts/Reading
• EDC 382S Teaching Secondary School Subjects: Science
• EDC 382S Teaching Secondary School Subjects: Social Studies
• EDC 382T Problems of College Teaching
• EDC 384P Foundations of Bilingual Teaching
• EDC 385G Concept Development in Early Childhood Education
• EDC 385G Learning and Mathematics
• EDC 385G Professional Ethics in Education
• EDC 385G Program Development in Bilingual Education
• EDC 385G Program Development in Literacy

Curriculum Development

• EDC 385G Curriculum Development in Local School Systems
• EDC 385G Curriculum Policy Analysis
• EDC 385G Historical Perspectives on Curriculum

Courses Outside the Department (Minimum: 6 hours)

Coursework from sections General Requirements, Directed Research, and Special Requirements may fulfill this requirement.

Dissertation (Minimum: Two consecutive semesters of dissertation registration)

Students in the Curriculum and Instruction department are required to register for 6 hours of dissertation credit* during each fall and spring semester during which they are working on their dissertation research.

*EDC 699R and 699W: One semester of EDC 699R is scheduled first, during which the dissertation proposal defense should take place. International students and students receiving fellowship, assistantship, or other financial aid, may be required to take 9 hours of dissertation credit each semester.

* Please note that editorial changes will be made to this document as newly-approved courses are added in categories specified by cluster faculty.

Download the Ph.D. degree plan (pdf)