The School of Education University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

1. The School of EducationUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill George W. Noblit Robert J. Helfenbein

2. First year: Introduction to discipline and department • The first year is heavily core courses with emphasis on developing ability to critique as well as use knowledge and research methods and balancing the history of ideas with understanding of significant new research problems • Advisors are selected at admission. Graduate student mentors, the GSA and emphasis areas all work to develop community

3. First year: Introduction to discipline and department • Fall: • Educ 300: Proseminar (history and critique of education and education research), 3 hours Educ 301: Fundamentals of Educational Research (philosophies of science, multiple research approaches, ethics), 3 hours

4. Coursework cont’d Educ 304, 305 or 306: Specialty seminars for each PhD emphasis (Culture, Curriculum and Change; Early Childhood, Families and Literacy; Educational Psychology, Measurement and Evaluation),3 hours

5. Coursework cont’d Educ 307: Supervised Research (whole cohort introductions to the nature of academic life with a focus on research and writing), 1 hour Educ 184: Statistics (if not taken in Masters program), 4 hours

6. First year: Introduction to discipline and department Spring: Educ 302 Theoretical Foundations of Educational Research (modern Western thought and how it applies to ed.res.),4 hours Educ 307: Supervised research and writing with a faculty mentor,1 hour Electives of 3 to 6 hours

7. Introduction to the research enterprise • Core Courses plus at least two more research methods classes; all emphasize critique of methods as well as application • Educ 300, 302, and specialty seminars develop ideas about significant scholarship • Educ 301 focuses on good research questions and their assessment • Educ 307’s to begin research and writing • Whenever possible, research assistantships

8. Intro. to Res. cont’d • Clear emphasis that the PhD is about research and scholarship • Early encouragement to write for presentation at professional meetings (often fall of 2nd year)

9. Significant Transition • Each year emphasis areas discuss each student’s progress and advisors discuss results with students. Sets stage for students developing knowledge domain claims • Since the student’s have individualized programs beyond the core, the program of studies committee meeting in late spring or fall of 2nd year establishes what knowledge domains the student wishes to declare • Program of studies committee meets with student to fashion written comprehensive examinations based on declared knowledge domains • Written and oral examinations lead to advancement to candidacy for PhD

10. Dissertation and defense • Dissertation proposal is guided by advisor and student’s knowledge domain claims • Dissertation Committee (may be different from program of studies committee) approves proposal, guides dissertation, and conducts final oral examination • Dissertations vary widely, from experimental designs to experimental ethnography

11. Dissertation and defense cont’d • Dissertation Defense involves a presentation, questioning by committee and other attendees, and response by candidate. Rewriting follows

12. Optional other Commonalities • Coursework and committee members from other departments

13. Innovation • Distinguished the EdD as the professional degree; the PhD as the research degree • Consolidation into one program across whole school • Faculty vote to stand for social justice and equity

14. Novel Idea • Graduate students tend to find groups that study and write together. In many cases, this has led to presentations and publications of good quality. Why not organize the faculty to sponsor the research the students wish to do together?