College of Education launches new online master's program in global studies

 

The College of Education is happy to announce its newest on-line Master Program, Global Studies in Education (GSE On-line). The College already offers two on-line programs: Human Research Education (HRE On-line) and Curriculum, Technology and Educational Reform (CTER On-line)

Online programs provide an efficient, convenient, and flexible approach to learning that enables students to adapt coursework to their busy schedule, work at their own pace, and access study materials and faculty from anywhere.

GSE On-line has been developed to support the efforts that schools are making in internationalizing their programs. These efforts are responding to recent world events and to the fact that the world is now inextricably interconnected and interdependent.

The Director of the Program, EPS Professor Dr Fazal Rizvi, says that “Globalization has created a need for teachers to better understand the changing economic, political and cultural context within which education takes place, and engage with global issues that affect us all”.

The program seeks to meet this need, seeking to help teachers in schools to explore ways in which global perspectives can be incorporated into existing curricula and pedagogies.

GSE On-line is structured around six themes: curriculum; educational policy; learning and classroom management; technology; identity and culture; and organizational change. Students also have an opportunity to participate in a four-week study tour abroad, and to conduct a school-based project enabling student to apply the course concepts in their own work situations.

According to the Dean of the College of Education, Dr. Susan Fowler, “Providing an international perspective to educators is critical today if we are to ensure that our students understand what it means to live in a global society”

“The new master's degree in Global Studies is an exciting initiative in the College to help teachers integrate international and culturally diverse perspectives into the K-12 curricula and into their teaching practices. The new opportunities for study abroad will also bring a rich and varied set of experiences to our students and faculty”, she adds.

GSE On-line is coordinated from the Department of Educational Policy Studies, but draws upon the expertise of faculty from across the College. The development of the program has been funded under the Federal Government’s Title 6 Program, and has been supported by the University’s Center for Global Studies and Illinois International High School Initiative.

Applications the program’s first cohort close on December 15, 2004, with instruction to begin in Spring Semester 2005.

For more information on the program, please visit the program website http://gse.ed.uiuc.edu or e-mail gse@uiuc.edu or call (217) 333-5875.