An examination of the different forms of research that makes central the practitioner’s agenda about his/her practices. Alternatives include action science, action research, and participatory research. Emphasis will be placed upon history, ideology, and methods associated with each alternative. Conceptual analysis will be integrated with collaborative research in a field setting.

 

An exploration of the relationships between theory, research findings, and course members’ teaching experiences. Course members contribute their teaching experience as a context in which the group discusses ideas drawn as far as possible from original sources read and reported on. The topic, language and learning, cuts across various areas commonly taught in the school curriculum and embraces original work in a number of disciplines (e.g., philosophy, linguistics, psychology, sociology, literary criticism).

Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.

 

This course addresses the content, structure and strategies of recent innovations in preservice teacher education programs. Specific innovations in instruction, field-based activities and school-university relationships are critically examined in relation to changing and sometimes competing conceptions of teaching, learning to teach, and teacher education programs.

 

A seminar on narrative and story telling in the study of educational experience. Narrative is explored both as a fundamental form of experience\ and as a collection of methods for the study of experience. Narrative traditions in literary, philosophical, psychological and professional literatures are studied. Review of published theses and dissertations. Students should bring practical research agendas.

NOTE: Students who have previously taken CTL4801 are prohibited from taking this course.

Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.

 

Critical examination of current qualitative paradigms of research on teaching. The course requires fieldwork research, which serves as the basis for seminar discussions. Students will have the opportunity to develop and present research ideas.

NOTE: Students who have previously taken CTL4802 are prohibited from taking this course.

 

This course focuses on supporting graduate students at both the Master’s and Doctoral levels who are preparing research proposals, theses, dissertations, and for the comprehensive exam. The course aims to advance the research, writing, and exam preparations for its members and at the same time create an academic community. It examines students’ “works-in-progress” with the goal of improving and advancing their research. Course topics will include: defining the research question; framing the study; choosing an appropriate research methodology; gathering the data; analyzing the data; and writing the thesis. Through examination of various studies, students will deepen their understanding of the process of conducting research. One emphasis of the course will be research on teaching and teacher education. Each week, students will spend part of the class working in small groups with others who are at the same stage of the doctoral/master’s journey. The course will include: feedback on their work, time to discuss aspects of the research process, and an opportunity to present their work in a friendly, supportive environment.

 

Current educational literature reflects increasing attention to the practical and philosophical significance of ethical decision-making as a central aspect of the professionalism and accountability of teachers in their role as moral agents. This course will examine, through in part the use of case studies, some of the ethical complexities, dilemmas, and controversial issues that arise within the overall context of the school. It will raise questions about ethical concerns that occur as a result of teachers’ daily work with students, colleagues, administrators, and parents. The course ill consider the nature of professional ethics in education and associated concepts of the moral climate of schools. It will explore theoretical and empirical knowledge in the field of applied educational ethics and the moral/ethical dimensions of teaching and schooling.

Intended for doctoral graduate students, the objective of the seminar is to do a critical examination of existing official discourses on minority education. The notion of minority students’ inclusion is firmly inscribed in the official discourse in North America and in many countries around the world. From a critical theory standpoint, the course will emphasize the analysis of inclusion and other key concepts in the discourse on minority education with reference to society’s power structure, as well as social justice and equity issues. This critical examination will bring students to consider how the inclusion of students from diverse racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds is claimed to be accomplished in schools. To attain the objective of the course, official discourses will be examined through existing educational policies and reforms, teachers’ training and teachers’ daily work.

 

This course examines various issues of teacher education, including the longstanding criticisms (e.g. program is disjointed) while others are more recent concerns (e.g. defining a knowledge base for teachers). Specific topics will be examined in light of the current context of education with an effort to understand the complexity of becoming a teacher. This course will systematically examine the current research on teacher education. We will consider teacher education both within Canada and internationally. We will systematically work through various topics by reading widely, discussing issues, and trying to determine ways to reform and renew teacher education.

 

In this class students will survey a range of issues related to the arts in education, including philosophical and theoretical issues, justifications and approaches to the arts in schools, the role of the arts in communities, as well as contemporary media and popular culture. The course will have a broad and interdisciplinary focus and will introduce students to relevant frameworks for conceptualizing a wide range of artistic practices in various educational contexts both within and beyond schools. From a consideration of various rationales for the inclusion of the arts in general education to the educational experiences of artists themselves, the course will seek to bridge the distance between contemporary arts and cultural theory and the integration of the arts in education through curriculum implementation and research.

 

In this course, we will examine children’s and young adult books as cultural products. We will consider the history of under-representation as it is palpable in children’s literature (what we read) as well as critically and multiculturally analyze (how we read) these texts. Critical (signals the imbalance in social power, manifested in class, race and gender relations) multicultural (acknowledges the diversity in cultural experiences, shaped by historical, social, political, and economic factors) analysis will guide our work together.

 

This course will examine conceptual, theoretical, and methodological considerations of urban school research. The arts generally- and theatre/drama in particular- will be used as a conceptual and methodological lens that informs questions of curriculum, subjectivity, space, diversity, policy, and youth culture in the study of urban schools. Studies of children/youth and youth culture and conceptions of arts/theatre practices and pedagogies in schools will be examined. Discussions of research problems in school-based research, and methodological and design choices in the development of school-based research projects will be a particular focus. Two of the primary goals of the course are: to expand students’ qualitative research interpretation skills by examining the work of other school-based researchers and to help students formulate and articulate their research designs and methods for their own projects.

 

This course examines the role contemplation can play in teaching. Specifically, the concept of contemplation is explored in relation to reflection, personal narrative, and personal mythology. Students will also examine the thought and biographies of various contemplatives (e.g., Emerson, Huxley, Merton, and Steiner). The course provides opportunities to explore various modes of contemplation. Finally, contemplation will be linked with teaching and how it can allow teaching to become a more fully conscious act.

 

The course will consider topics relevant to the teaching of mathematics, science, and technology with a view to increasing the participation of women in these areas. We will review critically research on gender issues, on approaches to teaching mathematics and sciences, and on psychological and social factors related to the participation of women in mathematics and science.

 

A critical examination of current theoretical perspectives and research methods in science and technology education. The course is designed for those contemplating a thesis in this area. Participants will have the opportunity to present seminars on their research interests.

 

Mixed methods research is drawing increasing attention from educational researchers who seek richer data and stronger evidence for knowledge claims than does any single method used alone. This course is aimed to provide both theoretical and practical foundations for mixing different research methods. In this course, students will discuss various conceptualizations and frameworks of the mixed method research including various designs employing both quantitative and qualitative inquiries, sampling strategies, analysis, synthesis, and representation of findings. The students will participate in both collective and independent mixed-method research projects to develop competencies in mixed research methods.

 

A comparison of evaluation models and a study of related technical issues and topics such as outcome-based evaluation, mixed methods, measurement of change, validity typology, impact assessment, logic modeling, training evaluation, multilevel analysis, cluster evaluation, and meta-analysis and meta-evaluation.

NOTE: Students who have previously taken CTL2803 are prohibited from taking this course.

Prerequisite: CTL1040 (previously CTL2006) or equivalent, or permission of instructor.

A seminar dealing with theories and practical constraints in the implementation of evaluation strategies in field settings.

NOTE: Students who have previously taken CTL2810 are prohibited from taking this course.

NOTE: Practicum CTL2997 and Seminar CTL1844 may not both be taken for credit in fulfilling the requirements of the eight half-courses in the Ed.D. program in Evaluation.

Prerequisite: CTL1843 (previously CTL2803) or equivalent.

 

An examination of the technical issues that arise in using performance assessment in the classroom, in large-scale assessment programs, and in program evaluation. Topics addressed include definition and conceptualization, scoring rubric construction, evidential and consequential validity, generalizability, bias and fairness, comparability, and standard setting.

Prerequisites: CTL1042 (previously CTL2009) or equivalent, or permission of instructor.

 

An ethnography - of a community, classroom, event, program - seeks to describe the set of understandings and specific knowledge shared among participants that guide their behaviour in that specific context. The value of ethnography as a research method lies in its holistic view of the particular culture, cultural situation or cultural event under study. Critical ethnography is fundamentally concerned with questions of education and inequality. It seeks not only to describe conditions of inequality, but also aims towards creating change in the conditions it describes. In this course we will inquire into the concerns of critical ethnography and learn about conducting and writing critical ethnography by reading and discussing studies that explore the relationship between education and ethnicity, gender, class, race and minority languages.

 

This is an advanced-level doctoral seminar designed to permit students to explore in considerable depth a few currently controversial issues with respect to the role of educational activities and programs in national development, with particular focus on developing nations and developing areas within richer nations. The particular issues chosen for analysis in any given year are selected by the students. Students are expected, through seminar presentations, to identify the key arguments or “positions” with reference to a controversy of interest to them, and to analyse and evaluate those positions using both relevant theory and available empirical data.

NOTE: Students who have previously taken CTL6800 are prohibited from taking this course.

 

This course is designed for prospective or practicing researchers who wish to use comparative data in their work. Problems in both the acquisition and the use of such data will be considered. Topics will range from the practical problems of gathering data in a foreign country to the analytic tools available for analysing large volumes of data from many countries. Particular attention will be paid to (a) the special analytical problems faced when using comparative data, and (b) the use of comparative data to test propositions and to develop theory in education.

NOTE: Students who have previously taken CTL6801 are prohibited from taking this course.

 

Knowledge Building Environments (KBEs) have two principal objectives: (a) to upgrade the conceptual quality of what is learned; and (b) to increase participants’ abilities to monitor, control, and improve their own knowledge. In this course students will examine different approaches to KBE development and will participate in an online network devoted to advancing designing and use of KBE.

 

Learning edge computer technologies that support in situ knowledge construction will be studied. Implications for mind, education and technology will be examined in addition to the practical applications in schools and other educational settings. Students will have to carry out individual or group projects focused on practical educational applications either using gaming, simulations, augmented reality or dynamic modeling.

 

Supervised experience in an area of fieldwork, under the direction of faculty and field personnel.

 

Description as for CTL1798.

 

A course designed to permit the study (in a formal class setting) of a specific area of curriculum or instruction not already covered in the courses listed for the current year. (This course does not fulfil the purpose of CTL1998, which in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning is normally conducted on a tutorial basis.)