Education (EDUC)
An overview of the teaching-learning process. Topics include learning theory, individual differences, motivation, human development, exceptionality, teaching methodology, measurement, and evalutation.
Offered: Online
An examination of physical, cognitive, spiritual and social/emotional development, and guidance of a young child.
Offered: Online
An examination of descriptive statistics and basic inferential statistical techniques. Also, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals and correlation techniques will be studied.
Overview of the nature of research on human development, learning, and pedagogical knowledge and skills. Topics include current trends and issues in education, skills in data collection and assessment, and application of research in the school setting.
Offered: Online
A comprehensive course dealing with the characteristics of children and youth with disabilities and topics related to models of service delivery, documentation procedures, and legal/ethical issues. Recommended as the first special education course.
Offered: Online
This course provides an overview of autism across the lifespan and examines characteristics, definitions, eligibility criteria, incidence rates, and etiology. Assessment, diagnostic and identification criteria are described, and methods for monitoring the impact of interventions in a variety of service delivery models will be explored.
Registration Restrictions: Completed background check
This course provides students with an overview of the components of communication and strategies to increase an individual's communication abilities, with emphasis on visual aspects of language. Sensory systems, sensory processing and sensory motor development, and the implication of sensory processing when developing a complete educational program for students with autism spectrum disorders will be discussed.
Using a thematic approach, the integration of the natural and social sciences with other areas of the curriculum is the focus of this course. Candidates will complete assignments in the areas of the natural sciences, social sciences, language arts, and Bible/character education. Candidates will also generate and implement a thematic teaching unit that includes instructional activities for the natural sciences, social sciences, language arts, and Bible/character education.
Offered: Online
This course investigates theories and applications of writing to learn, using writing as a means of learning in the English classroom and within the disciplines.
A course in secondary methodology focusing on competencies associated with individualizing instruction, grouping students for cognitive subject-matter learning, and preparing advanced organizers for cognitive instruction. An emphasis will be placed on transferring theory into practice through selection and use of materials appropriate for the secondary classroom.
Micro-teaching will be used as a means of providing an opportunity for students to model and role play appropriate teaching methods and activities in the secondary school. Candidates will be required to observe in secondary classrooms, prepare a lesson, teach the lesson, and evaluate the experience.
An introduction to urban education and contemporary urban life in the United States of America. Candidates will examine educational issues in urban communities and learn strategies for developing partnerships between home, school, and community.
Offered: Online
An introduction to the culturally responsive teaching pedagogy that acknowledges, responds to, and celebrates cultural differences and offers equitable educational access to students from all cultural backgrounds. Students will explore the dynamics of race, class, and culture and how they affect diverse school populations.
Offered: Online
The social context of urban communities is tied to the success of urban schools. This course will analyze the connection between urban schools and communities and provide strategies for working with families and community stakeholders to advocate for children and improve educational outcomes for students from diverse backgrounds.
Offered: Online
An examination and analysis of research related to urban communities and urban education. Students will synthesize research findings to develop strategies for improved educational outcomes in urban schools.
Offered: Online
An introduction to the process of differentiation in K-12 classrooms, including differentiation of content, process, and product, in an attempt to maximize the potential for student success. Emphasis will be placed on the identification of individual student needs and learning styles.
Offered: Online
Develops instructional competencies necessary for teaching reading and study skills essential in learning the concepts of content subjects. Applicable to teaching in grades 4-12.
This course is intended to give the candidate a broad overview of the postsecondary education system in the United States. The course will examine major trends, issues, and problems facing colleges and universities from a variety of perspectives, including historical, administrative, public policy, governance, and faculty.
Offered: Online
This course is designed to provide exploration of current educational concepts. Topics may include – but are not limited to - diversity, differentiation, and instructional practices.
Offered: Online
Online Prerequisite: Education Gate 3 with a score of 5 or Education Gate 3-Doctoral with a score of 5
Co-teaching with a qualified classroom teacher in a public or accredited nonpublic school and participation in professional activities. Applies what has been learned in the program to the actual process of teaching and guiding PreK-12 students. Offers practice in all phases of teacher responsibility.
Offered: Online
Online Prerequisite: Education Gate 3 with a score of 5 or Education Gate 3-Doctoral with a score of 5
Teaching in a public or accredited nonpublic school and participation in related professional activities. Applies what has been learned in the program to the actual process of the classroom for which the candidate has been employed.
Registration Restrictions: Employment as a full-time K-12 teacher
Offered: Online
Online Prerequisite: Education Gate 3 with a score of 5 or Education Gate 3-Doctoral with a score of 5
Co-teaching with a qualified classroom teacher in a public or accredited nonpublic school and participation in professional activities. Applies what has been learned in the program to the actual process of teaching and guiding PreK-12 students. Offers practice in all phases of teacher responsibility.
Offered: Online
Online Prerequisite: Education Gate 3 with a score of 5 or Education Gate 3-Doctoral with a score of 5
Teaching in a public or accredited nonpublic school and participation in related professional activities. Applies what has been learned in the program to the actual process of the classroom for which the candidate has been employed.
Registration Restrictions: Employment as a full-time K-12 teacher
Offered: Online
Topics of special interest that are not included in the regular department course offerings. Course may be taken more than once, but no topic may be repeated.
Registration Restrictions: Department approval is needed
Offered: Online
This course includes a survey of the organic, social, and physical factors that influence the development of the individual. It seeks to understand what makes a person distinctively different along with a critical evaluation of various theories of learning and personality development, particularly as they relate to questions of values and religious commitment.
Offered: Online
This class will heighten Middle Grade Educators' understanding of their personal pedagogy by encouraging reflective practice through individualized and collaborative professional development opportunities.
Registration Restrictions: Background Check Required
Offered: Online
An overview of the characteristics and issues related to transescence and their implications for educational practice. Understanding of preadolescent physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual development will be applied to school processes and the teacher's interaction with middle school students and families.
Registration Restrictions: Background Check Required
Offered: Online
A study of selected national systems of education in their differing cultural settings, with particular reference to administration, curriculum development and educational opportunity.
Offered: Online
Online Prerequisite: Non-Licensure Graduate Gate 1 with a score of 5
This course is a comprehensive survey of the historical development of education. Emphasis is placed on American education and the emergence of the Christian School Movement.
Registration Restrictions: Background check
Offered: Online
Principles and techniques in the utilization of research methods to solve problems and answer questions in educational settings. This course requires completion of a major research project, along with demonstration of skills is using technology as a tool in qualitative and quantitative educational research and assessment.
This course examines the processes and strategies for assessing students with special needs.
Offered: Online
This course is designed to provide theoretical and experiential knowledge regarding basic principles of educational assessment and intervention for all learners. Emphasis is placed on connections from research to practice and making instructional decisions based on systematically collected data.
Registration Restrictions: Background Check Required
Offered: Online
This course will explore research and instructional approaches and methods for managing behaviors effectively. Emphasis will be placed on individualized, classroom and school-wide behavior support to prepare candidates for the special education classroom as well as student's going into the general education classrooms and community settings.
Offered: Online
This course provides an overview of autism across the lifespan and examines characteristics, definitions, eligibility criteria, incidence rates, and etiology. Assessment, diagnostic and identification criteria are described, and methods for monitoring the impact of interventions in a variety of service delivery models will be explored.
Registration Restrictions: Completed background check
Offered: Online
This course provides students with an overview of the components of communication and strategies to increase an individual's communication abilities, with emphasis on visual aspects of language. Sensory systems, sensory processing and sensory motor development, and the implication of sensory processing when developing a complete educational program for students with autism spectrum disorders will be discussed.
Registration Restrictions: Background check required
Offered: Online
This course focuses on the nature of individual learners as it impacts instructional design with the use of technology in education. Specifically, the course covers topics on tools, methods and approaches to meet learning needs of children with special learning, those of differing socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, and those of varying learning styles and preferences. The course attempts to bridge the gap between theoretical implications and practical applications of diversity considerations in the context of educational technology integration.
Registration Restrictions: Background Check Receipt
Offered: Online
This course has students research and engage best practices in educational technology usage for the purposes of inclusion in instructional practice for student learning and for assessment of student achievement as a result of instruction. Students practice and demonstrate competency in using productivity tools for professional and pedagogical practice. Further, students will develop means of effectively using technologies for communication and collaboration to improve teaching and learning.
Offered: Online
An introduction to the historical, theoretical, and philosophical foundations of educational technology and online learning systems; an overview of education technologies including online, classroom, and administrative; and an examination of effective techniques for teaching and learning within these systems.
Offered: Online
This course is designed to assist the education professional in developing a solid foundation in instructional design and current research. The student will develop the skills and knowledge to advance their instructional effectiveness in varied settings through application of technology theory and practice.
Offered: Online
Contemporary methods and research for teaching science to middle school students.
Offered: Online
An analysis of trends and practices of teaching social studies in the middle school, and its contextual relationship to elementary and secondary instruction in social science. An emphasis will be made on how to transfer theory into practice through preparation of activities and materials appropriate for the elementary classroom and critical reflection on those very material and approaches. Students will plan instruction considering student-based diversity, instructional demands of the field and the best integration of other tools and disciplines.
Offered: Online
This course will examine the roles of leadership in community, leadership in administration and leadership in the schools from a Christian worldview. This course will provide educators with both the theoretical and the practical considerations for planning and implementing technology, particularly computer applications, in schools. Basic concepts of technology and planning that use systems theory are presented. Emphasis is placed on the importance of the total application of technology as opposed to any individual component, be it hardware, software, facilities, personnel, or finances. This course will form a foundation from which educators will provide leadership and become agents for realizing the powerful potential of technology in their schools.
Offered: Online
Trends and Issues examines current trends in the research area of educational technology, having students engage literature to understand theoretical underpinnings of the field, current research projects in effect, and future trends as technology in learning evolves as a practice and as a research interest. The course uses foundational concepts of learning in the fields of psychology, sociology and educational research to understand critical implications of the current body of literature.
Offered: Online
Online Prerequisite: Background Check Clearance with a score of 5 or Background Clear International with a score of 5 or Background Clear Out of State with a score of 5 or Background Clear Virginia with a score of 5
An examination of the administration roles in the design, implementation and improvement of the total educational program in private and public schools. Specific areas of study include curriculum and instruction, pupil and staff personnel, student activities, school organization and management.
Offered: Online
Methods, theories and research applying to supervision at all levels of education: analyses made concerning the work of curriculum directors, general supervisors, special supervisors, supervising principals department heads; study of supervisory methods, current plans for staff utilization and use of instructional materials; and stress on evaluation of educational programs and the effects of supervision.
Offered: Online
Methods, theories and research applying to supervision and leadership: analyses made concerning the work of curriculum directors, general supervisors, special supervisors, and department heads; study of supervisory methods current plans for staff utilization and use of instructional materials; and stress on evaluation of educational programs and the effects of supervision.
Offered: Online
This course examines current issues and trends in education. Emphasis will be placed on how policy at the federal, state, and district levels affect the school-level decision-making process.
Offered: Online
This course focuses on differences in educational leadership in diverse settings to include: private, charter, and traditional public schools with a focus on urban schools, as well as alternative and online schools.
Offered: Online
Online Prerequisite: Advanced Gate 1 with a score of 5
A study in the philosophy, precepts, and principles of education applied to Christian leadership in the educational setting. Emphasis is placed on self-investigation and analysis of leadership skills, strengths, and styles.
Offered: Online
Online Prerequisite: Background Check Clearance with a score of 5 or Background Clear International with a score of 5 or Background Clear Out of State with a score of 5 or Background Clear Virginia with a score of 5
Concepts and specific techniques in school-community relations involving the development and maintenance of purposeful programs of communication and collaboration between school personnel and the community. Includes appropriate field projects relating theory to practice.
Offered: Online
Online Prerequisite: Background Clear Out of State with a score of 5 or Background Clear Virginia with a score of 5 or Background Clear International with a score of 5 or Background Check Clearance with a score of 5
An examination of the legal aspects of education affecting administrators, teachers, students, parents and board members; various forms of liability; separation of church and state.
Offered: Online
Online Prerequisite: (Background Clear Out of State with a score of 5 or Background Clear Virginia with a score of 5 or Background Clear International with a score of 5 or Background Check Clearance with a score of 5)
Basic methods of school finance and business management and principles of plant, finance, budgeting and accounting will be discussed. Federal and State regulations and grants will be studied.
Offered: Online
This course provides an overview of the student affairs profession. Topics covered in this course include the various functions of student affairs, student affairs administration, and critical areas of student support.
Offered: Online
This course provides an overview of theory and current research related to student development. Students will gain an understanding of how theory informs best practices in the student affairs profession.
Offered: Online
This survey course introduces students to the major social and political issues and trends facing contemporary higher education in the United States. Students examine, discuss, and debate various perspectives on critical issues at postsecondary campuses.
Offered: Online
This course is an introductory survey of financial and economic issues in higher education. Students will learn about these issues in relation to three primary levels: students and families, institutions, and the postsecondary industry at large.
Offered: Online
This course discusses approaches to optimizing post-secondary student outcomes, particularly in support of critical programs designed to meet students' academic, developmental and economic needs. Topics include orientation programming, academic support, student retention, campus life, academic advising, and career guidance, among others.
Offered: Online
This course will explore, develop, and use instructional strategies, technologies, and activities to promote development of attitudes and concepts in mathematics. Emphasis is on mathematical teaching and learning practices anchored in mathematical concepts, diagnostic and assessment methods, and leadership skills.
Offered: Online
This course focuses on promoting the middle level learner's literacy development. Emphasis is placed on current theories, models, and methods of teaching, learning and communicating through the language processes of reading, writing, listening, and speaking in the content areas. Students will explore, analyze, and critique research in reading, and the relationship of other disciplines to reading in the context of the middle school.
Offered: Online
A study of the curriculum evaluation process focusing on the beliefs and practices of curriculum evaluation, the relationship between evaluation and curriculum improvement, and the relationship between theory and practice of curriculum evaluation.
Offered: Online
A study of the construction, organization and function of the curriculum. Special attention is given to objectives, sequence, major problems and recent developments in each school program area.
Registration Restrictions: Background Check Clearance or Receipt
Offered: Online
A review of the history of education as it affects the development across schools. Emphasis on characteristics of preadolescents, personalizing curriculum for the K12 student, and strategies for motivating curriculum improvement planning to involve teachers and community.
Registration Restrictions: Background Check Required
Offered: Online
An overview of the current issues and trends in the field of elementary teaching and curriculum.
Offered: Online
An overview of the current issues and trends in the field of middle grades teaching and curriculum.
Offered: Online
This course is designed to provide exploration of current educational concepts. Topics may include – but are not limited to - diversity, differentiation, and instructional practices.
Offered: Online
This course is intended to provide guidance and information regarding the expectations and requirements for the student's program (Gate 1). Candidates will submit Gate 1 Application requirements in this course.
Offered: Resident and Online
Research project completed on an educational topic related to the concentration in the master's degree. Credit is not awarded until the thesis has been accepted.
Prerequisite: EDUC 689
This course is intended to provide guidance and information regarding the expectations and requirements for the student's program (Gate 2). Candidates will submit Gate 2 Application requirements in this course.
Offered: Resident and Online
Online Prerequisite: EDUC 691
This course is intended to provide guidance and information regarding the expectations and requirements for the student's program (Gate 3). Candidates will submit Gate 3 Application requirements in this course.
Offered: Online
Offers opportunity and challenge of self-directive, independent study; that is, it develops the individual's ability as an independent student and enables the student to pursue needed study or to pursue a particular interest (thesis or project). May be repeated for credit to a maximum of 6 hours.
Online Prerequisite: Non-Licensure Gate 3 with a score of 5 or EDUC 665
This is a capstone course. It should be the final course taken in the program. A research project addressing a current issue in the field of education is required.
Offered: Online
Topics of special interest not included in the regular department offerings, may be taken more than once, but no topic may be repeated.
Online Prerequisite: (Background Clear Virginia with a score of 5 or Background Clear International with a score of 5 or Background Clear Out of State with a score of 5 or Background Check Clearance with a score of 5) and Non-Licensure Gate 3 with a score of 5 or Add-On Licensure Gate 3 with a score of 5
A planned program of practice in an educational setting under the direct supervision of University faculty and/or appropriate school administrator. May be repeated to a maximum of six hours.
Note: Completed application and approval of Department Chair
Offered: Online