Program Overview

The M.A. in Educational Praxis is a 30-credit program intended for experienced practicing teachers.  The purpose of the M.A. program is to support the development of practitioner scholars who are engaged in and committed to educational praxis. Briefly stated, the goals of the program are to:

• provide advanced studies in education with a focus on scholarship and practice-based inquiry
• provide an opportunity for students who already hold teacher certification to improve their understanding of classroom teaching and learning
• prepare students for doctoral studies in education
• emphasize collaboration, reflective inquiry, and deliberation

By the time of graduation from the program, learners are expected to provide evidence of their evolving capacity for scholarly praxis in relation to the following learning objectives:

• Understand the rationale for and purpose of reflection in learning, inquiry, praxis, and scholarship;
• Demonstrate a capacity for reflection through academic/professional performance and products
• Demonstrate a capacity for “deliberation” through engagement with the ideas of others and through academic/professional performance and products;
• Understand the rationale for and purpose of deliberation in learning, inquiry, praxis, and scholarship;
• Examine one’s own epistemological, ontological, and axiological position in relation to feminist theories of pedagogy, curriculum, and inquiry;
• Begin to develop proficiency in conceptualizing and conducting an inquiry project;
• Relate one’s own intellectual concerns/interests to formal discourses;
• Identify and examine critical issues in education from multiple theoretical and philosophical perspectives; and
• Demonstrate an evolving capacity for professional, practice-based inquiry through the completion of a scholarly paper.

The overarching theme for the M.A. is “exploring the nature of educational praxis.”  Encompassed within this theme are several additional themes, all of which are inter-connected. These themes include:

• Exploring the nature of curriculum;
• Exploring the nature of pedagogy;
• Exploring the nature of reflection and reflective learning;
• Exploring the nature of discursive deliberation through reading, writing, and conversation; and
• Exploring the nature of professional inquiry and creative scholarship.

Required Courses

Faculty

• Marilyn Llewellyn, Ph.D. (Program Director)
• Marjorie L. Barrett Logsdon, Ph.D.
• Patricia L. McMahon, Ph.D.
• Maria Piantanida, Ph.D.
• Lynn Richards, Ed.D.
• Roberta Schomburg, Ph.D.
• Micheline Stabile, Ed.D.

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