Comparative and International Education (CIED)

Methods of comparative education and case studies of governance and administration; first of two part sequence.

Surveys group-oriented education policies internationally, especially comparing those of Britain, Taiwan, India.

Educational systems in selected african countries are examined with respect to colonial history, social, political, and cultural factors.

Examination of globalization discourses and their relationships, implications and impacts on lifelong learning processes and contexts. ADTED 508ADTED (CI ED) 508 Globalization and Lifelong Learning (3) The course is designed to help students to critically examine the nature and impacts of globalization on lifelong learning. The main goal is to enhance the students' ability to learn and work in a globalizing world and to challenge traditional perspectives about globalization and lifelong learning. As such, the course will adopt a critical perspective on globalization while helping the students to develop a reflective stance on the theory and practice of lifelong learning. A central focus of the course will be to develop a critical analysis that contributes to the building of a more active and socially responsible adult learner. Students will be evaluated using a number of assignments/projects. The major research paper, class presentation, two critiques of theories of lifelong learning, country profile of lifelong and a short reaction paper will count for 90% of the course grade. Class participation will be awarded 10%.

Examines the relationship between issues of language, identity and culture for adult learners in an increasingly global context. ADTED 509 ADTED (CI ED) 509 Language, Literacy, Identity, and Culture in a Global Context (3)This core required course provides graduate students in the ADTED Ph.D. program a critical overview of the literature, theories, and scholarship examining the complexities inherent in an increasingly diverse global and post-colonial sphere. Explorations of historical, theoretical, postcolonial perspectives will be the focus, as will the daily portrayals of diverse peoples by the media. Participants in the course will be expected to familiarize themselves with the readings portraying the complexities of ethnicity, indigeneity, race, gender, and social class. Evaluation will focus primarily on writing a scholarly paper, preparing video materials that illustrate the issues, writing their personal educational histories, and participating in class.

This seminar shows students how to use ethnographic methods for education research to inform classroom practice and education policy. The course is centered around the idea that school communities serve as key sites for students of all ages to learn to become members of their culture(s). Course readings include historical to contemporary works of researchers who have shaped educational ethnography. We will also read about education in various settings and discuss anthropological explanations of inequities experienced by minority culture communities or marginalized groups. Students will carry out a mini-ethnographic study based on their area of research interest. The course is especially designed for students to be able to conduct ethnographic studies or make use of ethnographic techniques in future research projects.

Recommended Preparations: A graduate course in educational ethnography This seminar will show students how to use video ethnography in education research. The course is rooted in what is popularly known as the Preschool in Three Cultures method (also known as video-cued multivocal ethnography). We will learn about and watch films using video-based ethnographic research methods. Students will also carry out mini-video ethnographies in a local classroom.

Education is one of the most important factors affecting major demographic shifts and processes worldwide, including the first and second demographic transitions. If, as the old sociological adage goes "demography is destiny," then our destiny is educationally transformed demography. Interdisciplinary research across demography, sociology, neuropsychology, and epidemiology is developing a strong research literature about how the thinking style, behavior, and attitudes of the educated human radically change fundamental dynamics underlying the world's population. The whole way in which we come to our jobs, spouses, and lifestyles; how many children we have and how we raise them; how long we are likely to live, and what will be our eventual demise are all heavily influenced by how much education we have had. The collective force of widespread education and its influence on rising cognitive abilities, scripts for living, and economic well-being are creating a distinctly new type of human population with major benefits and future challenges for a sustainable human population. At the same time, individuals' schooling is also influenced by demographic change. This seminar covers key concepts, theories, and methodological issues related to the intersection of demographical and cultural changes from the education revolution and their impact on subsequent demographic processes.

This course is designed to give students an overview of large-scale international assessment databases and to demonstrate how these databases can be utilized to investigate critical issues in education from a comparative perspective. A number of empirical studies using large-scale international assessment databases will be reviewed, and these analyses will be replicated via computer labs. Students will develop a good understanding of large-scale international assessment databases and will learn to apply an appropriate method to address a particular topic of interest. Students will also develop a wide range of research skills necessary to independently conduct comparative research, including but not limited to formulating a research question, conducting a literature review, analyzing empirical data, and interpreting results. Although the focus is mainly on datasets relevant to education and education policy research, the skills taught in the course are broadly transferable to other social sciences including sociology.

This seminar gives students an overview of the writings of key members of the "Bakhtin Circle," which included Mikhail Bakhtin, Valentin Voloshinov, Pavel Medvedev, and others. The core objective of this course is for students to learn about Bakhtinian theory and how to use Bakhtin as a philosophical method in carrying out research studies and analyzing data. In order to do this, we will read the original works of Bakhtin, Voloshinov, Medvedev, and others alongside contemporary educational researchers, theorists, and methodologists who apply Bakhtinian philosophical methods and analyses to the study of education.

The course objective is to use an international comparative lens and sociological perspective to examine the social, cultural, political and economic forces that shape childhood and the role education plays in this process.

The social and organizational characteristics of East Asian schooling, including understandings of authority, power, and leadership, and systemic school reform.

Educational theory and practice in relation to contemporary movements in philosophy. CI ED 541 CI ED (EDTHP) 541 Contemporary Philosophies of Education (3) This graduate seminar explores a range of contemporary philosophies of education viewed from the perspective of different varieties of postmodernism. The study of modern and postmodern western thought is combined with explorations of eastern thought including viewpoints that are emerging today in both the northern and southern hemispheres. While focusing on contemporary educational ideas, it traces their roots in classical and non-modern philosophical sources. This look at the present in terms of the past reveals the paradigm shift presented by contemporary postmodern educational thought. In doing so, considerations for the issues of race, class, gender, ecology, multiculturalism and the regeneration of diverse incommensurable cosmovisions, severed or overlooked by some educational philosophers, are explored in their reintegration by contemporary postmodern philosophers of education.

Discussion of philosophical, sociological, historical, and curricular issues in literacy education.

This course critically examines the broad contemporary issues and interdisciplinary trends of literacy education with an international and comparative framework. CI ED (ADTED/AFR) 543 Comparative and International Trends in Adult Literacy Education (3) This course provides a comparative synthesis of what is known about literacy education and adult learning and what it will mean for the 21st century: the context in which literacy takes place; who participates; what they learn and why; the nature of the learning processes; new approaches to adult learning; social media and mobile devices; development theory in adult learning; and other issues relevant to understanding literacy education and adult learning in sociocultural, political, and international contexts. It also examines the newer approaches to adult learning: embodied, spiritual and narrative learning; learning and knowing in non-western perspectives; and cultural theory, poststructural and feminist perspectives. This course investigates questions such as: What does it mean to be literate in the 21st century? Why are teachers experiencing difficulty teaching students skills needed to understand and produce written work? Can schools in the 21st century inundated with digital technologies help students navigate the new literacies? How should adult literacy participants deal with the reality of new media and new literacies? What is the role of non-governmental organizations in this crisis? Overall, this course challenges graduate students to engage other international and non-western frameworks of learning and knowing to think about the purpose of education and learning as well as question the nature of knowledge production itself.

This course introduces students to some of the major bodies of literature related to race and gender, with a focus on how these intersectional perspectives help to shape our understanding of adult education and lifelong learning. The first part of the course is an overview of several key concepts including global theories of race and gender relevant to diverse societies in distinct geographical locations. The second part of the course explores the intersection of race, gender, and education through the writings of critical feminist scholars. Through this course, students will learn how to analyze race, gender, and class not as independent categories but deeply interconnected spheres of subjective and objective experiences. Students will also learn how theories of race and gender can inform their analyses of adult education policy and practice.

Examines the educational policy process world-wide and the influence on schooling of children, youth, and adults in national education systems. CI ED (EDTHP) 550 Comparative Education Policy Seminar (3) In this course students will learn how educational policy is made around the world and what influence this policy has on the schooling of children, youth, and adults in national systems of education. Students will examine recent trends in educational policy that have originated at the international level. Methods of policy research and evaluation will also be examined. The main goal of the course is to give students an understanding of international processes in policy formation and detailed knowledge of current education policy trends worldwide.

Role of education in social mobility, using quantitative, qualitative, and historical methods; focuses comparatively on Britain, East Asia, and South America. CI ED 553/SOC 553/EDTHP 553/HI ED 553 CI ED 553. (SOC 553, EDTHP 553, HI ED 553) Educational Mobility in Comparative Perspective (3)Sociologists interested in higher education have attended to the relationships between postsecondary institutions and other institutions, as well as the impact on higher education of general social and demographic processes. Many of the classical ideas in sociological theory, including those of Max Weber and Emile Durkheim, have surfaced in recent debates over the nature of higher education. Sociologists in the U.S. have explored such questions as: the gatekeeping function of higher education; the impact of universities on stratification; and the socializing environment for women and minorities. This seminar introduces some of the classical theorists and contemporary researchers of the sociology of higher education. All seminar participants will be required to write a sample research proposal, based on the readings from the seminar.

Concepts, issues, and methods of validation of educational and psychological assessment including models and approaches to validation, bias, and utility. EDPSY (CI ED) 555 Validity of Assessment Results (3) The goal of this course is to enable the student to acquire a broad perspective on issues and considerations in the process of validating interpretation and uses of tests, scales, assessment procedures, or protocols. Issues of validity are examined from many perspectives including a review of current dominant and alternative validity theories, of known threats to validity, of some advanced specialized statistical techniques; and of test bias, legal issues, psychological/behavioral issues, social/consequential considerations, and philosophical considerations. Additionally, applications are provided through in-depth cross-cultural and historical studies, technical reviews of published commercial tests, and in-depth examinations of controversies.

Examines the work of Paulo Freire as it applies to community action projects. ADTED 562 / CIED 562 Politics, Languages and Pedagogy: Applying Paulo Freire Today (3) The life and work of Paulo Freire will be the focus of this advanced graduate seminar. Freire was one of the foremost adult educators of our time. Graduate students participating in the course will read and reflect on his vision and how it evolved over time, critiques of Freire, the ways in which his ideas have been applied in diverse geographic and practice settings (e.g., education, community development), and implications for research, policy, and practice. Students will explore how elements related to Freire's work, such as conscientization, transformative action, and pedagogy for liberation, influence pedagogy and community action projects. Readings will include Freire's books, scholarship on Freire, and case studies of Freirean projects, among others.

Examines the relationship between learning and work with special attention given to how certain forms of learning are legitimized. ADTED 564 Social and Cultural Contexts of Learning and Work (3) This course is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills required to critically examine the concepts and meanings of learning and work and their relationship to community. The course focuses on formal, nonformal, informal, and incidental learning, with particular emphasis given to how different types of knowledge and different forms of learning are legitimized. The course will allow students to develop and understand the social context in which learning and work operate and how those concepts shape and impact the community. Students will write critiques of readings as well as a major literature review, participate in class discussion, and do a class presentation.

Critical and comparative analysis of adult education theory and practice outside North America, including international agency involvement.

Comparative methods of studying structural variations in systems of higher education in principal industrialized nations and other selected countries.

This course offers an in-depth coverage of social theory, especially as it intersects with research and practice in adult education and lifelong learning. Considering that educational research, educational practice, and the politics of justice in education are informed by specific theoretical frameworks, this course will explore historical and epistemological foundations of theories and engage core modernist theories, postmodern and critical theories, and the theorizing found in Global South discourses.

Introduction to education policy journals and the review and editing process; discussion of emerging issues within the academic publishing industry.

Examines human development and cultural factors in planning, designing, and implementing curriculum and instruction in early childhood and childhood education.

Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individual or small-group basis.

Creative projects, including nonthesis research, that are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.

Formal courses given on a topical or special interest subject which may be offered infrequently; several different topics may be taught in one year or semester.

Background, intervention strategies, and issues related to developing intergenerational programs and practices aimed at addressing vital social and community issues.

Formal courses given on a topical or special interest subject with a professional orientation that may be offered infrequently.