Education Specialist
in Curriculum and
Teaching (EdS)

Your communication abilities have a big influence on your professional reputation. In this course, you’ll develop skills to establish yourself as a competent professional with strong communication skills. You’ll learn competencies related to written, oral, and visual forms of communication appropriate to specific media and audiences. You’ll also explore how the iterative nature of preparing communications and integrating feedback into your work products can support your development and advancement as a professional.

Leadership during times of change can be challenging. This course supports your professional development as an effective leader of educational organizations during periods of change. You’ll explore strategies and techniques for self-reflection, evaluating culture, integrating stakeholder feedback, and incorporating data as part of improvement processes. To conclude the course, you’ll synthesize these skills to design a comprehensive improvement plan that addresses a specific problem within an educational organization.

This course introduces you to the research process by exploring its underpinnings, examining its paradigms, and investigating the foundations of qualitative and quantitative methodologies used in educational studies. You’ll identify criteria for the development of quality research studies that are ethical, accurate, comprehensive, cohesive, and aligned. Specific course topics involve the ethics of conducting research; data collection and analysis techniques; and issues of feasibility, trustworthiness, validity, reliability, transferability, and rigor. The goal is to familiarize yourself with the concepts and skills associated with conducting theoretical and applied research.

A focus on qualitative research methodology and the designs and methods used to collect and analyze data in educational research. You’ll examine the principles of qualitative research and explore commonly used designs (also referred to as qualitative traditions or genres) with a focus on application and feasibility. Qualitative data collection and analysis methods will be examined for their suitability with regard to the research design selected. Alignment between qualitative designs and research methods, issues of trustworthiness, and the responsibilities of the qualitative researcher will also be explored.

An exploration of quantitative research methodologies and associated designs and methods. You’ll examine paradigmatic perspectives along with the tenets and conventions of quantitative research. Topics for examination include feasibility, validity, reliability, variable operationalization, inferential designs, and analytic software applications used within the quantitative research paradigm. You’ll also look at the components of quantitative research designs that support meaningful studies within the field of education.

As the capstone to your EdS studies, you’ll work with a specific educational program relevant to your current or future professional aims. You’ll review the related literature and evaluate data to inform your development of potential solutions and future areas of research related to your identified problem. Finally, you’ll reflect on your personal learning journey throughout the EdS program.

CT-7000 Developing Instructional Strategies and Curriculum

In this course, you’ll analyze instructional strategies based on the principles of universal design for learning, including integrating strategies for providing multiple means for pre-K-12 learners to access the curriculum. You’ll plan instructional strategies for curricula aligned to standards that support current educational requirements, including the use of technology to engage, comprehend, and express learning. You’ll also consider other educational issues, trends, and recommendations for change in the pre-K-12 classroom related to instructional strategies.

CT-7100 Dispositions of Learner and Teacher

This course examines the effects of dispositions on learner motivation, participation, and comprehension, and the impact of teacher dispositions on overall learning and classroom culture. The course includes considerations for dispositions related to inclusivity, technology, social-emotional development, and successful collaboration throughout the community.

CT-7200 Design and Evaluation of Curriculum and Programs

This course begins with the distinction between curriculum and programs in K-12 education. While both are important, evaluation is different for each. In addition to exploring evaluation processes, you’ll examine the development of curriculum and programs. This examination will incorporate theories, trends, and future directions, including technology recommendations to design and develop innovative curricula for K-12 learning environments.

CT-7300 Theories and Applications of Instructional Strategies

Here, you’ll take a closer look at instructional strategies, with particular attention on supporting theories and practical applications in K-12 learning environments. You’ll assess learning theories that frame instructional strategies, including those for remote learning. Ultimately, you’ll recommend instructional strategies, justify approaches to inclusive instruction, and design inclusive learning experiences for K-12 education.

CT-7400 Assessment Practices

This course considers the critical role of assessment in curriculum and teaching. You’ll examine assessment types and processes, including how trends and accountability practices inform instructional decisions, curriculum development, and continuous improvement in K-12 environments. You’ll then integrate the assessments with the universal design for learning perspective, and recommend strategies for effective assessment practices across classrooms, schools, and districts.

CT-7500 Advanced Capstone in Curriculum and Teaching 

In this final course of the curriculum and teaching specialization, you’ll synthesize your work across all courses into a capstone project of your design. The project will integrate theory and practice related to a specific topic of your choosing related to curriculum and teaching. As you prepare your project, you’ll evaluate the impacts of current trends, technologies, and issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. Finally, in one of your last assignments in the specialization, you’ll compose your philosophy of teaching based on research, theory, and personal reflection.