College Teaching

The master's specialization in Human Development, Culture, and Learning Sciences (formerly called Academic Educational Psychology) has four areas of concentration: College Teaching, Cultural Perspectives on Schooling, Individualized Studies, and Psychology for Teachers.

The College Teaching concentration is intended for individuals who have or are working on a degree in a discipline other than is represented by our faculty, but who wish to develop their credentials as college level instructors in hopes of securing a teaching position in a postsecondary setting (college or university, community college, training in the private sector).  What distinguishes this specialization is that the program of work would include an internship in actual college classes under the mentorship of course instructors.

This specialization is for those aiming to teach in an institution of postsecondary education such as a community college. We also see it as an additional credential for teaching at four-year colleges and universities for doctoral students enrolled in any other degree program around the university.

Required Courses

A. Foundation courses: 21 hours

  1. EDP 380E Fundamental Statistics OR
    EDP 371 Introduction to Statistics;
  2. EDP 380P Measurement & Evaluation;
  3. EDP 385  Individual through the Life Cycle;
  4. EDP 381M Seminar in Social Psychology;
  5. EDP 382L Motivation and Emotion;
  6. EDP 382L Instructional Psychology;
  7. EDP 398T College Teaching Methodology

B. Elective: 3 hours (a choice of one from among the following)

  • EDP 382L Psychology of Learning
  • EDP 382L Psychology of Computers in Education
  • EDP 381M Individual in Society
  • EDP 382L Psychology of College Student Learning/Retention
  • EDP 386M Mindfulness, Compassion, and the Self
  • EDP ___ Multicultural Issues in Schooling (to be developed)

C. Out-of-department courses: 6 hours (chosen to reflect discipline needs; some possible choices might be courses in technology or community college systems)

D. Internship in Teaching:  6 hours – The internship will pair the student with a faculty mentor teaching a course that the student is likely to be teaching after he or she graduates.  The student will shadow the instructor as he/she organizes and conducts the class and will discuss the various components and decisions made in the course as a way of understanding the thinking and decision-making required. The student is not allowed to be responsible for typical TA activities, but rather to “study” the course as a phenomenon, as a way to develop a portfolio, report, or thesis.  (see F, below, for more information)

E. For students opting for the MA as opposed to the MEd degree: two additional courses are required (7 hours):  Experimental Design and Statistical Inference (4 hours) AND either Correlation and Regression or an approved research design course (3 hours)

F.  Students opting for an MEd or an MA with portfolio will complete the appropriate coursework (above), produce a portfolio, and graduate with no report/thesis.

Registration for the 6 hours of internship (see D, above) will be in:

  • Master’s Thesis (two semesters) for students preferring the thesis option; or
  • EDP 394K: Internship in Teaching (two semesters) for students preferring the portfolio option; or
  • EDP 394K: Internship in Teaching (one semester) and Master’s Report (second semester) for students preferring the report option

Total hours:
MA with thesis: 49
MA with report: 43
MA with portfolio: 40
MEd with report: 36
MEd with portfolio: 33

Last updated on February 25, 2013