Students in this course will explore various ideas about what it means to learn and how those ideas have impacted educational practice. They will explore relationships among learning, education, and power, in addition to investigating the design of learning environments that promote empowerment and/or social change.

This course focuses on children's and adolescent illustrated texts—including picturebooks, comics, and graphic novels—in elementary, middle, and high school learning contexts. Multiple theoretical and pedagogical aspects will be explored throughout the course, with a focus on the changing position of visual and multimodal literacies in this era of political, cultural, and social change.

Introduces students to current issues in educational practice, policy, and theory. Provides opportunities to investigate issues of teaching and learning to broader social/cultural trends. Topics vary with each offering. No prerequisites.

This course aims to support students in becoming critical consumers of educational policy issues in both media and educational research. We examine ideologies and levers used in past and current educational reform efforts that reflect multiple views on the purpose of schools, the role of educators, and the functions of policies and policy makers.

Why is our nation the only one in the world to take school sports so seriously, and what are the implications of this practice? This course attempts to answer these questions by starting with Thomas Jefferson’s Northwest Ordinance, moving to Britain’s “Oxbridge” model of “sound mind, sound body,” then demonstrating how numerous forces combined these elements into a distinctly American concoction. The story is continued to the present day with a look at the business of school sports and at educational contributions that sports provide to these institutions, including high schools and colleges.

In this course students extend what they have learned about U.S. schools and the institutions that serve public schools through extensive and varied practicums in these organizations and institutions. Students will acquire hands-on experience, in work nested inside an institution that serves and supports children, schools, and their communities.

Coaching for Today's Society is a course designed to aid students in reaching people where they currently are. You will not be a successful coach if you do not know and understand your audience. In order to be effective when reaching out to your audience you must be able to paint a picture or create a shared vision that resonates with your audience on all sensory levels. During this course we will identify and discuss the basic tenets associated with our targeted groups from same age/similar thought processes to multi-generational influencers (Boomers). Coaching in the broad sense deals with basic interpersonal skill sets to help you build a solid foundation however understanding how to coach in today's complex society goes beyond the foundation. We will identify and discuss the roles of family/life experiences, cultural nuances and how social norms play in helping or inhibiting us from connecting with people whether at the high school level, college level or in the workforce. At the end of the course you will feel confident working with diverse groups of people in any given setting.

In EDUC 225, students will examine the social, cultural, and emotional experiences of Black and Latinx youth, the unique challenges they face within urban and segregated schools, and the relationships, cultural assets, and psychological mindsets that help them thrive despite marginalization. EDUC 225 is a hybrid course that includes both a seminar and a fieldwork component. The seminar will include course readings, analysis, and discussions on the above issues. In the fieldwork component, students, equipped with the knowledge and skills from the seminar, will serve as mentors for Black and Latinx adolescent boys at a local middle school to co-construct and implement character development curriculum (i.e. THREADS) that affirms the adolescent mentees and reinforces them with strategies to navigate the rigors of their learning environment and social community. Working together as allies, the student-mentors, and the mentee-boys will strategize culturally sustaining mentoring to work towards developing positive future goals, socio-emotional behaviors, and healthy racial-ethnic identities.

For many, some of the best athletic coaches provide great examples of leadership. But why? What do they do differently from leaders in other fields, and what helps them to lead effectively? We will explore the concepts of coaching (athletically and in general) and leadership; their juxtaposition and inter-relationship. We will explore coaching and leadership across various industries and platforms including sports, business, and healthcare. Our expert guest speakers will share their own philosophies and experiences. Through a series of readings, guest speakers, lectures, and small group interactions, we hope students grow in their understanding of the keys to becoming an effective leader and coach. Many, if not all of you, will be charged with coaching and leading in various capacities during your personal and professional lives (e.g. parent, coach, mentor, manager, educator, consultant, etc). Through this course, you will assess and start to develop your own coaching and leadership philosophies through theories, policies, and practices. 

This course will compare the development of children in schooling systems cross-culturally, looking at the period from preschool to college entrance selection. By comparing education in diverse societies we will identify both universal features of development and particular ways that different societies promote the development of healthy, competent adults.

This course will develop literacy tutors’ skills in working with students in the elementary grades. In this course, participants will learn to develop engaging tutoring sessions and to enact a range of instructional routines for working with students in support of their literacy and language development.

This course examines factors that contribute to (or detract from) our ability to reach peak performance in everything we do. Mental, emotional, psychological, and physical wellness are key to performance and productivity. Students will learn practices to promote wellness, in themselves and others, to support learning, teaching, coaching, and leadership.