The%20School%20of%20Education%20University%20of%20North%20Carolina%20at%20Chapel%20Hill

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The School of EducationUniversity of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill

• George W. Noblit
• Robert J. Helfenbein

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Innovations in the Program

• Distinguished the EdD as the professional
  degree the PhD as the research degree
• Consolidation into one program across whole
  school
• Faculty vote to stand for focus on social justice
  and equity

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School of EducationThree Emphases

• Culture, Curriculum and Change (CCC)
• Early Childhood, Families and Literacy (ECFL)
• Educational Psychology, Measurement and
  Evaluation (EPME)

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First Steps

• The School of Education has committed to a
  seminar consisting of faculty and students in
  Fall 2004 to explore possibilities for the PhD at
  Carolina.
• Key Question How do we get this right?

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Key Ideas

• What is Education Research?- not an answer but a
  set of arguments
• What are the quality indicators of an effective
  program?
• Where do we fit in ethics?
• How do we continue the work of fostering
  community across the emphases?

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Key Ideas

• Graduate students tend to find groups that study
  and write together. In many cases, this has led
  to presentations and publications of good
  quality. Why not organize the faculty to sponsor
  the research the students wish to do together?

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First year Introduction to discipline and
department

• The first yearheavily core coursesemphasizes
  developing ability to critique as well as using
  knowledge and research methods and balancing the
  history of ideas with understanding of
  significant new research problems
• Advisors are selected at admission. Graduate
  student mentors, the Graduate Student Association
  and emphasis areas all work towards developing
  community

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First year Introduction to discipline and
department

• Fall
• Educ 300 Proseminar (history and critique of
  education and education research), 3 hours
• Educ 301 Fundamentals of Educational Research
  (philosophies of science, multiple research
  approaches, ethics), 3 hours

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First Year Coursework (contd)

• Educ 304, 305 or 306 Specialty seminars for each
  PhD emphasis, 3 hours
• Educ 307 Supervised Research (whole cohort
  introductions to the nature of academic life with
  a focus on research and writing), 1 hour
• Educ 184 Statistics (if not taken in Masters
  program), 4 hours

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First Year Coursework (contd)

• Spring
• Educ 302 Theoretical Foundations of Educational
  Research (modern Western thought and how it
  applies to ed.res.), 4 hours
• Educ 307 Supervised research and writing with a
  faculty mentor, 1 hour
• Electives of 3 to 6 hours

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Introduction to the research enterprise

• Core Courses plus at least two more research
  methods classes all emphasize critique of
  methods as well as application
• Educ 300, 302, and specialty seminars develop
  ideas about significant scholarship
• Educ 301 focuses on good research questions and
  their assessment
• Educ 307s to begin research and writing
• Whenever possible, research assistantships

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Intro. to Research (contd)

• Clear emphasis that the PhD is about research and
  scholarship
• Early and continued encouragement to write for
  presentation at professional meetings (often fall
  of 2nd year)