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Description Collapse
of 6 PhD programs into 1 program with three subspecialties and creation
of a set of core courses. Students take the core courses all at the
same time in a cohort. The PhD core includes a course on the history
and nature of educational research as a field, a course that reviews
the fundamentals of research designs (quantative and qualtitative), and
a course that studies the "cosmology" of the current era that shapes
the philosophy of science currently at play in educational research.
UNC Ph.D. in Education
This is a link to section of the School of Education website that describes the degree programs.
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Details The
new PhD program was created in 1997. With the new program a Graduate
Studies Division (GSD) was created to implement, monitor and coordinate
the new program. Faculty volunteered to join one of the three
specialties: Culture, Curriculum, and Change; Educational Psychology,
Measurement and Evaluation; and Early Childhood, Families and Literacy.
These faculties then constitute the GSD.
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Purpose It
promotes a common understanding of the breadth of educational research.
Students are exposed to a wider range of perspectives than in our old
program.
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Evidence that it works We
have an ironic result. It is clear that students understand education
as a field more broadly and have a wider exposure to concepts than
previously. Nevertheless, this broader exposure also highlights the
differences amongst the students in subfields, perspectives and values.
This causes considerable debate amongst students and has led to some
'drawing of lines' when we had hoped for a more interdisciplinary
result.
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Reflection from a faculty member Dr. George Noblit The
core is difficult to teach when students see that the different
specialties have different theories and methods. Thus they wonder why
they have to learn that which they will not do later. Yet I am
convinced that this cross-disciplinary conversation with all its noise
and controversy is exactly what they need to understand and be able to
navigate in our field. The goal of becoming truly interdisciplinary
across the specialties in our program may not be reasonable.
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Reflection from a student Evelyn Gordon, Second Year Ph.D. student Coming
from a background in mathematics I found the core courses to be a good
introduction to the field of education. I gained a sense of the
varieties of research that are open to me and current issues in theory,
research, and practice. The courses also served as an unintentional but
useful introduction to the differing perspectives of the specialties. I
found the core a positive aspect of the program in its function as an
introduction and because it served to facilitate relationships with
people outside my specialty area, whom I might otherwise not have met
since we have little coursework in common.
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Reflection from a student Silvia Bettez, Second Year Ph.D. student I
completed my master's degree at UNC in which there are no requirements.
The beauty of that is that I had the flexibility to take courses
related to education that interested me in a variety of disciplines.
Upon entering the Ph.D. and being forced to take the core courses I
realized that there is a specific foundational history and philosophy
of education. Furthermore, having classes with students from the other
two subspecialties introduced me to divergent ways of thinking about
the field of education. This process, honestly, was frustrating.
However, I feel like I have a better sense of what the larger field of
education comprises as well as a stronger understanding of the range of
ideas my peers will hold.
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