Business, Marketing and Information Technology Education (Grades 6–12) Master of Arts (M.A.) – Leading to Initial Teaching Certification

Overview 

In an effort to build the teaching profession and provide new opportunities for prospective graduate students, the Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education offers a full-time Master of Arts (M.A.) degree program that will lead to initial teaching certification in English Education, Mathematics Education, Science Education, Secondary Social Sciences Education, Business, Marketing, and Informational Technology Education, or World Language Education. All programs are campus-based programs. 

Cohort-based. Graduate students proceed together with peers and world-class faculty creating a community of educators in residential programs. 

Graduate Degree and Certification. Upon successful completion, students will graduate with a master’s degree, be fully certified to teach in Nebraska, be eligible for certification in other states, and be employable for the following school year.

Who Should Apply? These programs are designed for qualified graduate students who have earned a bachelor’s degree outside the field of education and who can commit to an intensive and accelerated pathway to a career in the teaching profession. These programs are not suited for educators who currently have teaching certification in any subject area or former educators seeking to renew certification. For certification renewal, please click here. 

Practicum + Student Teaching. Students will be placed in the Lincoln Public Schools or Omaha Public Schools for teaching internships in the classroom. Collaborative relations with public schools offer students' field experiences in diverse classrooms, purposefully designed to help connect coursework theory and methods to classroom practice. Students will gradually build proficiency in teaching, adding responsibilities and skills throughout a nine-month period and be prepared to assume 16 weeks of full-time student teaching in Spring.

Inquiry. Inquiry infuses all aspects of this graduate program. Students will begin to focus on a curriculum inquiry project that requires the development of classroom research about a problem of practice in teaching and learning, a research project that will form the capstone experience of the program. 

Residency. Students will be attending class on the UNL campus and gaining practical experience in K-12 schools in and near the Lincoln/Omaha area. During the academic year, the program schedule will follow the school calendar. Students must live within a reasonable traveling distance to the UNL campus and local cooperating schools. Please note that the funding available for our Master of Arts in Science Teaching Program requires applicants to be US citizens.

Graduate Courses for Master’s Program Leading to Initial BMIT Certification

Thirty-six (36) required hours to earn the master’s degree

*TEAC 800 must be the initial course

** Recommendation that TEAC 451K as a perquisite

Additional other courses could include:

TEAC 813J, Intercultural Communication

TEAC 840M, Language and Power

Typical Sequence of Required Coursework and Practical Experience

Undergraduate Course Requirements

Business Administration (24 Hrs)

• ACCT 201, Intro to Accounting I
• ACCT 202, Intro to Accounting II
• ECON 211, Macro Economics or ECON 211, Macro Economics for K-12 Endorsement
• ECON 212, Micro Economics or ECON 212, Micro Economics for K-12 Endorsement
• BSAD 220 or JGEN 120
• FINA 260, Personal Finance
• COMM 286, Business and Professional Communications
• MNGT 300, Management Essentials, or MNGT 301, Intro to Management, or MNGT 311,Leadership, Communication, and Teams, or MNGT 321, Entrepreneurship and Innovation inOrganization
• BLAW 371, Legal Environment

Marketing (9 Hrs)

• MRKT 341, Marketing (Prerequisite ECON 211/212)
• *MRKT 345, Market Research
• (Prerequisite MRKT 341 and ECON 211 and ECON 215)
• *MRKT 347, Marketing Communications Strategy (Prerequisite MRKT 345)

*Students may select other options from the Marketing Department other than MRKT 345 andMRKT 347

Information Technology (12 Hrs)

• TEAC 229, Applications Software (Office Suite)
• Journalism 130, 131, and 132 Media Applications – OR – TEAC860 and TEAC 882B
• TEAC 259, Strategies for using technology to support K-12 classroom instruction. Electronicportfolios, Internet resources, applications software, and authoring programs TEAC880A
• TEAC 444, Technology Issues (content focuses on keyboarding and information technologyapplications pedagogy; basic computer coding)

Professional Education Foundations in CTE Work-based Learning (25 Hrs)

• TEAC 451K, Teaching Principles (content focuses on the foundations of career and technicaleducation as well as pedagogy) 3 hrs
• *TEAC 425/825, Coordination in Work-based Learning 3 hrs TEAC825
• TEAC 452J, Curriculum Planning (content includes review of career and technical educationfoundations and continuation of pedagogy) 3 hrs
• TEAC 397J, Practicum (taken in conjunction with TEAC 452J) 3 hrs
• TEAC 497J, Student Teaching 10 hrs
• TEAC 403B, Student Teaching Seminar 3 hrs

*Requirements for Work-based Learning Supplemental Endorsement requires three credit hours(TEAC 425/825) plus 1,000 hours of work experience

Application Requirements 

In order to become certified to teach BMIT (Business, Marketing, and Information Technology) at the secondary level (grades 6-12) in the state of Nebraska, you must complete sufficient hours of collegiate business, marketing, and information technology coursework in order to satisfy Rule 24 of the Nebraska Department of Education. To evaluate your 45 BMIT credits and see if you have any academic deficiences, please complete the Prerequisite Courses Form.

Application Requirements

Applications Checklist

• Complete the ‘Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education (MA)’ application, including transcripts and fees, prior to the department application deadline.
• Resumé/CV
• Personal Statement*
• Three Recommenders**
• Minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0
• Complete the ‘Teacher Certification (Initial) – Elementary Education K-6’ application,including transcripts and fees, prior to the department application deadline.
• Successfully complete a Background Check*** 
• Completed Prerequisite Courses Form (‘Other Upload’)

The Initial Certification application will require you to upload material from your MA application again, as the MA & Initial Certification are considered two separate programs by the Office of Graduate Studies and can be completed separately of each other.

International Applicants

• TOEFL score of at least iBT 79; all subscores must be at least in the Intermediate/Fair range.If the IELTS is taken in place of the TOEFL, all subscores must be a minimum of 6.5.Applicants taking the TOEFL or the IELTS may be asked to take part in an online interview.
• The equivalent of at least one year of full-time teaching experience is required for consideration.

Personal Statement and Recommenders

The Graduate Admissions Committee will review for the following evidence:

• Academic strengths and readiness to do graduate study
• Professional and academic goals and whether these align with the goals of the Department

In addition to the minimum requirements listed above, transcripts and resume, the Graduate Admissions Committee closely examines your letters of recommendation and your personal statement.

*Personal Statement. The Graduate Admissions Committee looks closely at the applicant's goals inthe personal statement essay for further evidence of your meeting the admissions criteria. A well-written essay is crucial to admissions decisions. This personal statement is a concise statement in which you address clearly why you want to pursue this graduate program at the University ofNebraska-Lincoln. In this essay you should address clearly:

1.Your academic and/or professional goals and how this graduate program will enable you tomeet these goals.

2.Your academic strengths, with specific attention to your background in higher education andhow this qualifies you for graduate study at a major university.

3.Any professional experience, knowledge, and skills you possess and how these furtherqualify you for graduate study at a major university. This statement should be between 700-1000 words.

**Recommenders. The application requires three letters of recommendation. The Graduate Admissions Committee considers letters an important part of any application. You should solicit Recommenders that can directly address your readiness and qualification to do graduate study in Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education. Letters should come from those who are familiar with your academic and professional work, such as former professors, employers or administrators. Do not include letters from friends, family members, or your own high school teachers. Each of these will be disregarded in the review and detract from your application. 

Within your MA application, you will input the contact information of your Recommenders. After submitting their information, your Recommender will be sent an email, with a link where they can upload your letter of recommendation. 

***The Nebraska Department of Education and Nebraska school districts require that College of Education and Human Sciences students who plan to pursue a degree in an education-related field, athletic training majors, and any other UNL students who enroll in CEHS courses that involve practicum experiences in the schools are required to undergo a formal screening process related to criminal history through One Source. Consequently, a background check is a pre-requisite for application to our programs.

Only completed application files will be considered for admission. It is the applicant's responsibility to be certain that all materials are submitted and received prior to the deadline dates. 

Apply at go.unl.edu/gradapp

Program Contact 

Joelle Tangen, Graduate Project Associate

230E Carolyn Pope Edwards Hall

jtangen2@unl.edu