New Ed.D. Cohort: Scholars of Educational Practice

Creating the necessary spaces where educators’ practices can be developed and nurtured, problems of practice examined as challenges and opportunities, and greater agency for teachers claimed, thereby furthering student learning.

In the Department of Teaching, Learning, & Teacher Education:
 Education Doctorate (Ed.D.) First Cohort, starting Jan. 2009 specializing in Teaching, Curriculum, and Learning.

In conjunction with the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate, the department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education is initiating a new Ed.D. cohort. This course of studies is designed for working educators (with a completed master degree) and will lead to a doctorate in less than four years. Within a collegial and supportive environment, a highly selective group of professional educators will learn to analyze problems of educational practice, to understand the relationship of theory and practice, and to use knowledge for making a meaningful difference in real-world settings.

The cohort program is designed for twenty highly motivated educators who come from a variety of backgrounds, including preK-12 schooling, teacher education, professional development, higher education, teacher-leadership and advocacy roles, and community education. The cohort participants will make this journey together with dedicated faculty leaders who will support individuals in their own study of educational practice.

WHO SHOULD APPLY?
The Ed.D. cohort is designed for educators working in PreK-16 and community education settings. It is for students wishing to analyze problems of practice, develop new knowledge, structure experiences, grow practical insight, and become leaders of practice and to have these recognized within a doctoral degree. On campus experiences are involved, so educators must be located at a reasonable distance to make it to the UNL campus on a regular basis.

WHAT IS THE PROGRAM of STUDY?
The Ed.D. cohort is an intellectually rigorous and contextually relevant program of study in which educators address challenges of practice in order to create and sustain effective teaching/learning contexts in the concrete realities of P-16 classrooms, work, and community settings. Our approach allows educators to be actively engaged in their professional working environments while exploring theories, ideologies, and applications, in sustained dialogue with peers and faculty. The program conceptualizes scholarship of practice as “both substance and process,” critical to educators who can analyze, evaluate, model, and teach in a cross section of educational settings (Shulman, et al., 2006).

I. Core Principles and Pedagogies of the Program of Study
• Teaching, learning, and curriculum are complex activities that exist within the larger social, cultural, and political contexts framing educational settings.
• Teaching, learning, and curriculum are best thought of as practical action -praxis- action that is intentional, situational, and thoughtful.
• Theory and practice infuse one another; therefore, successful graduate education must intertwine theory/practice relations.
• Cohort learning offers opportunities to learn from each other and foster ongoing dialogue and connections beyond the degree.

II. Features of the Program of Study
• Cohort organization: Allows full-time educators to complete an Education Doctorate in less than four years through the combination of evening seminars, on-line learning communities, and intensive study in the summers, deliberately connecting the world of practice to doctoral studies.
• Inquiry Oriented: Research design and data collection and analysis skills fostering practitioner-based action research in preparation for the conduct and documentation of the capstone project.
• Core Interdisciplinary Experiences: Cross-disciplinary and cross-emphasis coursework offering perspectives and traditions cultivating a culture of collaboration, debate, and dialogue across scholar/practitioners.
• Arts of the Practical Coursework: Enabling educators to concretely consider the nature of learners, learning, teachers, and teaching from multiple perspectives and within the concrete realities of varied educational settings.
• Advanced study in an area of emphasis: http://cehs.unl.edu/tlte/graduate/emphasis.shtml

For a closer look at the programmatic features see:

WHEN
Applications are due: Oct. 1, 2008 for the first cohort starting in Jan. 2009. Expected graduation for participants who fulfill all requirements is Fall 2011. Application requirements include:
1. Undergraduate GPA: minimum of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. Graduate GPA: minimum of 3.75 on a 4.0 scale.
2. Test scores: 50th percentile on each of the Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical sections of the GRE taken in the past five years (and for international students a TOEFL score of 79).
3. Professional experience: a minimum of two years as an educator in school or other educational settings.
4. Fit between the applicant's goals/interests and the Ed.D Cohort programmatic ability to address those goals/interests. Applicants should develop a 3-5 page narrative that describes the relations, challenges, and opportunities among teaching, learning, and curriculum, with personal goals and interests in completing an Ed.D as a first cohort member.
5. Evidence of writing abilities through provision of a sample such as a thesis, a paper written for a course, a published article, a curriculum document, etc.
6. Completion of all steps in the application process as found on the department website: http://cehs.unl.edu/tlte/graduate/docApplication.shtml

This is a selective and competitive program and our top candidates will be determined through a review committee. No single criterion is more important than another. The application file is reviewed as a total package.

We are participants in the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate re-thinking doctoral education.

Associated Faculty: See the website for further faculty information http://cehs.unl.edu/tlte/graduate/index.shtml

Dr. Elaine Chan

Dr. Ted Hamann

Dr. Ruth Heaton

Dr. Margaret Macintyre Latta

Dr. Tom McGowan

Dr. Steve Swidler

Dr. Guy Trainin

Dr. Kathy Wilson

Dr. Susan Wunder

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