Course Catalog

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 combined graduate/undergraduate seminar offers students the opportunity to explore and engage with global, interdisciplinary, theoretical frameworks of race, racism, and racialization derived from or utilized in educational research from the late 19th century through the 21st century.

This course meets with EDUC 543.

This course seeks to fulfill the following objectives: 1) disrupt hegemonic conceptualizations of Latinidad, 2) identify how dominant narratives (both US-based and transnational) shape policy, curriculum, and the educational experiences of Latine students and families, and 3) explore the limits and possibilities of education and schooling to diminish oppression.

Counts toward Education for Empowerment Minor & Psychology Minor. Every society devotes substantial resources to shaping children's development, but there are important differences in how children enter into and experience education across cultures. These differences reveal what societies value, fear, and believe about learning and development. By comparing education in diverse societies, we identify both universal features of development and particular ways that different societies promote healthy, competent adults. This course examines how cultural values, family background, educational practices, and historical contexts create different pathways for human development from preschool through adolescence. 

PALS is designed to give undergraduate and Master’s students experience working with students, families, teachers, and community members in K-12 public school settings. Students will gain insight into university-school partnerships and the ways that such partnerships can support the academic, social, and emotional development of children and youth. The course is framed from a positive youth development perspective and emphasizes the personal, familial, school, and community factors that promote resilience and optimal development of children and youth typically deemed “at-risk”.

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.

This course aims to support undergraduates interested in research and evaluation of educational offerings of schools, companies, and nonprofits. Students learn about designs, methods, and techniques used in social research and their application to the study of educational programs. They get experience reading and critiquing education research publications, and hands-on experience designing a research instrument and analyzing education data.

In this service-learning course students explore the language, educational, health, and legal issues facing migrant farmworkers in southeast Michigan. As students come to understand the needs of these communities, they learn and practice methods and techniques for teaching ESL to this mixed-proficiency, primarily Spanish-speaking population.

Crosslisted with AMCULT 361, LATINOAM 361, LING 391, RCSSCI 395, RCSTP 395

This course offers opportunities to engage in critical approaches to policy analysis, intentionally examining issues of inequality and power in relation to US public schooling. Drawing on multiple disciplines and research methods, students will analyze policy design, implementation, and outcomes at the local, state, national levels. Students will explore historical, political, economic, and social forces shaping education policy, evaluating how policies promote or limit opportunity for diverse student populations.

This course centers on the ways in which educational systems contribute to conflict and division, as well as to post-conflict reconstruction and stability. We will cover theories of conflict, peacebuilding, and justice frameworks. Through global case studies, we will examine the relationship between education, identity, poverty, and violence.

The Education Media Lab is a collaborative learning space. Students will receive direct instruction in several Adobe software titles including: Audition, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Premier. Students will learn about the principles of design-thinking and apply these skills to collaborate in the development of media projects from pre- to post-production.

Based on research on equitable teaching practices, this course focuses on communicating with diverse individuals and audiences, listening across difference, supporting learning in diverse domains, assessing learning and impact, giving feedback, designing and leading meetings and convenings, using artifacts and texts, and attuning the work to participants’ experiences and identities.

This course introduces students to the principles and practice of turning complex datasets into clear, compelling visual narratives. The course emphasizes real-world applications such as visualizing educational data, equity gaps, and policy impacts. Through hands-on projects, students will develop skills in data interpretation, visual design, and storytelling to communicate insights that support informed decision-making and social change.

Understanding Digital Wellness: Creating Peer-to-Peer Interventions with Middle School Students. The course includes a community-based learning component where U-M students visit local middle schools. U-M students will explore issues of digital wellness, as well as teaching, mentoring and group facilitation pedagogy, and lead a two day on-campus Digital Wellness Symposium for local middle school youth.