EDU 595 - Expanded description of course expectations

EDU 595: Directed Study in Education or Behavioral Sciences

Expanded description of course expectations

The focus of the course is on the construct of change in education or behavioral science. That is, you will be encouraged to think about a change that has occurred, is occurring, or is expected in the near future in some area related to your interests, and to develop a project that will allow you to analyze that change.
Some examples of significant past changes in education include the 1954 Brown v. Topeka Board of Education Supreme Court ruling regarding racial segregation of public schools, and Title IX. Some current changes include the recent practice of gender segregation in some classrooms in middle and secondary schools, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, and the growth in the number of English language learners in U.S. public schools. A change occurring now and on into the future is the impact of technology on education. If you were to select one of these changes as a focus, your project would be a description of the issue and the social, political, economic, cultural, or other forces that influenced it, are influencing it, or will influence it. Your project would also address what led (will lead) up to the change, what affected it, what appears to have been or will be the outcome, what further outcomes may be anticipated, what other solutions might have worked better, etc.
image file Another possibility would be to identify an area of education or behavioral science where you think change is needed. Again, you would research the issue thoroughly and then develop a project related to the topic. For example, suppose that in the work setting with which you are most familiar there has been a recent change in the demographics of the clients served. As a result, certain common practices aren't working as well now as they did before, and it seems that some changes will be needed. Your project would then consist of a full description of the issue; an analysis of social, political, economic, cultural, or other forces that seem to have led to the need for the change; a review of potential solutions or past efforts to address the issue, along with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of those efforts; and a well-developed proposal for addressing the issue, including not only a potential solution but a well-substantiated rationale for the solution and a methodology for evaluating the success of the solution.
Please note that regardless of the project you identify, you will be expected to do a thorough review of relevant literature to determine what has been done before and how successful past efforts have been. This will involve finding journal articles, texts, online resources, microfilm and microfiche, etc. Furthermore, as part of analyzing the problem or issue, you may need to interview people, conduct a survey, or otherwise collect some information that will help to build the case for the concern you have identified or the solution that you propose. In some cases, where feasible you may be expected to try out your solution on perhaps a pilot basis, or at least describe fully a method for testing out the proposed solution. What group will be studied, and how, and what data will be required to determine the success of your proposed solution? How will you know if the solution is workable?

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