George Mason University 1997-98 Catalog Catalog Index
Course Descriptions

Search the 1997-1998 Catalog:

New Professional Studies, Teaching, M.A.


Faculty

DeMulder, Hicks, Jacobs, LePage, Morgan, Osterling, Rigsby, Sockett, Watman, Wood

Reflective Practice with a Subject Specialization

A Teaching track of the New Professional Studies graduate degree is offered only to teams of experienced teachers from school divisions that contract with the Institute for Educational Transformation (IET) of George Mason. Participants are enrolled as teams from designated schools and follow a two-year, three-summer integrated program of school-based research linked to a subject specialization.

The degree is dedicated to the examination of four central questions:

  1. How do we understand ourselves as people and as teachers?
  2. How do we create knowledge of our world through the forms and genres of language?
  3. How do we seek knowledge and understanding of our world, of students, classrooms, and schools?
  4. How do we build learning communities and reflective practice?

The degree program is grounded by seven seminal features:

  1. Curriculum and pedagogy as primary intellectual and practical interests
  2. Work in teams
  3. Reflective practice
  4. School-based inquiry
  5. Intensive scheduling
  6. Integrated technology
  7. Continuous improvement

Students are expected to use electronic mail to confer with each other and with faculty members. Students also develop ways to use "information highways" for research and curriculum development and to confer with other educators about research, curriculum development, and theory nationally and internationally. Students are expected to have easy access to a comuter that will run Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer. The program office has a limited number of used Apple laptop computers, which can be leased to students.

Admission Requirements

Applicants to the M.A. in New Professional Studies, Teaching track, from IET must do the following:

  1. Meet the university's general graduate admissions requirement (GPA of 3.0 or better on last 60 hours of undergraduate study)
  2. Be certified as teachers or have several years of successful experience as a teacher/trainer or educational administrator
  3. Be a member of a teacher team
  4. Submit a letter from the school principal endorsing the team
  5. Submit a team goals statement
  6. Be recommended for acceptance, possibly after an interview

Program Requirements

The New Professional Studies¬Teaching track requires nine semester hours of course work in foundations, research, and advanced seminar. The total requirements for the school-based contract program is 30 credit hours.

The specific information about required course work is available from the IET administrative office at the Prince William Campus, 7946 Donegan Drive, Manassas, VA 22110, (703) 993-8320, Fax: (703) 993-8360, e-mail: iet@gmu.edu.

Degree Requirements

Successful completion of the following courses is necessary to fulfill the 30-credit-hour course requirements of the program.
Semester Hours
Core Requirements 12
    MNPS 700 The New Professionalism: Theory and Practice
 3
    MNPS 702 The New Professional as Reflective Practitioner
 3
    MNPS 703 Technology and Learning in the New Professions
 3
    MNPS 704 Research Methodologies in the New Professionalism
 3
Specialization Requirements 15
    Subject Specialization (required)
    IETT 750 Structures of Language I
 3
    IETT 751 Structures of Language II
 3
    Reflective Practice (required)
    IETT 752 Research in Practice: The Team Project
 9
Exit Requirement (Required) 3
    IETT 753 Teaching and Learning
 3
Total Hours 30


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