IU Kokomo offers enhanced, more accessible graduate education degree
March 30, 2007
KOKOMO, Ind.—Kevin M. Cline, a social studies teacher and academic team coach at Frankton Junior/Senior High School in Madison County, knows that he and other educators can’t ignore the information technology that dominates their students’ lives.
“Teachers are working with an ever-growing tech-savvy student population. We as teachers must take every opportunity to keep as up-to-date as possible,” said Cline. That’s one reason Cline, now in his second year of teaching, is considering the recently redesigned Master of Science in Education program at Indiana University Kokomo. “The new M.S. in Education program at IU Kokomo excites me as a teacher because of its emphasis on technology that is relevant to use in the classroom,” said Cline.
Approved by the state in March, the new program merges IU Kokomo’s previous M.S. in Elementary Education and the M.S. in Secondary Education degree programs.
M.S. in Education courses, such as “Multimedia in the Classroom,” will focus on technology, said Dean of Education D. Antonio Cantu, Ph.D. Many classes will integrate synchronous and asynchronous online learning activities, he added. “The Division of Education plans to take full advantage of the online and blended or hybrid learning environment in the new graduate program.” The program will also introduce students to working in a variety of digital formats to develop their own electronic portfolios, or e-Portfolios.
Along with technology, the M.S. in Education curriculum emphasizes foundations, inquiry, and content/content pedagogy, Cantu said. “The program incorporates a common core of studies relevant for classroom teachers at the preschool through high school level. Yet, the curriculum also allows for individual course selection tailored to the needs and interest of teachers in early childhood, elementary, or secondary education.”
Candidates who have completed an accredited initial teacher training program and a minimum of two years of successful classroom teaching can apply to the graduate program, whose classes start in fall 2007. “The program has embraced a cohort approach, and can be completed in a moderately intensive 24-month timeframe,” Cantu said.
“The cohort system offers the flexibility to work classes around teachers’ schedules and let them do field work in their own environment,” said Stephen Gwin. Now in his 13th year of teaching at Fairview Elementary in Logansport, Gwin served on the advisory council for the master’s degree program revisions. “I’m happy to see that IU Kokomo did the research to put together a very balanced program that can benefit those teaching at many different grade levels.
M.S. Program Director Michael Tulley, Ed.D., said the redesigned program “represents a significantly enhanced approach to graduate professional education on the IU Kokomo campus, which should serve to make the degree program more accessible to central Indiana educators.”
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Stuart Green praised the Division of Education faculty’s work to develop “a more field-based and research-oriented graduate program that will serve the needs of practicing teachers at both the elementary and secondary levels.”
For more information on the M.S. in Education can contact Michael Tulley, tulley@iuk.edu, (765) 455-9347, or Dean Cantu at dcantu@iuk.edu, (765) 455-9441. Visit the Division of Education Web site at www.iuk.edu/education.
