The School of Education University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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The School of EducationUniversity of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill

• George W. Noblit
• Robert J. Helfenbein

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First year Introduction to discipline and
department

• The first year is heavily core courses with
  emphasis on developing ability to critique as
  well as use knowledge and research methods and
  balancing the history of ideas with understanding
  of significant new research problems
• Advisors are selected at admission. Graduate
  student mentors, the GSA and emphasis areas all
  work to develop community

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First year Introduction to discipline and
department

• Fall
• Educ 300 Proseminar (history and critique of
  education and education research), 3 hours
• Educ 301 Fundamentals of Educational Research
  (philosophies of science, multiple research
  approaches, ethics), 3 hours

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Coursework contd

• Educ 304, 305 or 306 Specialty seminars for
  each PhD emphasis (Culture, Curriculum and
  Change Early Childhood, Families and Literacy
  Educational Psychology, Measurement and
  Evaluation),3 hours

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Coursework contd

• Educ 307 Supervised Research (whole cohort
  introductions to the nature of academic life with
  a focus on research and writing), 1 hour
• Educ 184 Statistics (if not taken in Masters
  program), 4 hours

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First year Introduction to discipline and
department

• Spring
• Educ 302 Theoretical Foundations of Educational
  Research (modern Western thought and how it
  applies to ed.res.),4 hours
• Educ 307 Supervised research and writing with
  a faculty mentor,1 hour
• Electives of 3 to 6 hours

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Introduction to the research enterprise

• Core Courses plus at least two more research
  methods classes all emphasize critique of
  methods as well as application
• Educ 300, 302, and specialty seminars develop
  ideas about significant scholarship
• Educ 301 focuses on good research questions and
  their assessment
• Educ 307s to begin research and writing
• Whenever possible, research assistantships

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Intro. to Res. contd

• Clear emphasis that the PhD is about research and
  scholarship
• Early encouragement to write for presentation at
  professional meetings (often fall of 2nd year)

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Significant Transition

• Each year emphasis areas discuss each students
  progress and advisors discuss results with
  students. Sets stage for students developing
  knowledge domain claims
• Since the students have individualized programs
  beyond the core, the program of studies committee
  meeting in late spring or fall of 2nd year
  establishes what knowledge domains the student
  wishes to declare
• Program of studies committee meets with student
  to fashion written comprehensive examinations
  based on declared knowledge domains
• Written and oral examinations lead to advancement
  to candidacy for PhD

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Dissertation and defense

• Dissertation proposal is guided by advisor and
  students knowledge domain claims
• Dissertation Committee (may be different from
  program of studies committee) approves proposal,
  guides dissertation, and conducts final oral
  examination
• Dissertations vary widely, from experimental
  designs to experimental ethnography

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Dissertation and defense contd

• Dissertation Defense involves a presentation,
  questioning by committee and other attendees, and
  response by candidate. Rewriting follows

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Optional other Commonalities

• Coursework and committee members from other
  departments

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Innovation

• Distinguished the EdD as the professional
  degree the PhD as the research degree
• Consolidation into one program across whole
  school
• Faculty vote to stand for social justice and
  equity

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Novel Idea

• Graduate students tend to find groups that study
  and write together. In many cases, this has led
  to presentations and publications of good
  quality. Why not organize the faculty to sponsor
  the research the students wish to do together?