Cabrini’s Graduate Division is launching a new master’s program: a Masters of Education in Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment.
This program hopes to unite Cabrini’s mission with strategies to access diverse communities, according to the person implementing the program, Dr. Amy Hoyle, assistant dean for education. The Masters of Education in Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment (CIA) is a new degree that will be offered to graduate students starting in January. This program will help educators who want to use theory and research to promote learning so that students become engaged citizens of the world.
According to the course description, “potential future students include current school teachers, students holding undergraduate degrees and interested in a teaching career and those who teach in alternative educational settings.”
This is not limited to just people who meet these criteria, however. This degree is conceived to be flexible and if someone shows a desire to become a committed instructor, he or she may be a part of this program.
“It is meant for educators. Fundamentally we work with people who are already certified but are open as we grow to see where people’s wants are,” Dr. Amy Hoyle said via telephone interview.
In addition to the one current education masters degree that Cabrini currently offers, the Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning, this one sets itself apart with a different content emphasis and a modern style of teaching.
“The most significant difference between the two masters degrees is that this is a hybrid program, meaning some of the classes are online,” Hoyle said.
While classes through a computer have had their share of popularity with undergraduates, their receptiveness with post-grad programs have hit a stand-still. One of the primary goals with the revamped hybrid program is to provide students with the same connection they would receive in a classroom, online.
In conjunction with the education department’s need for a program such as the CIA and the drive to have a hybrid program, Hoyle and her co-workers have been hard at work developing the appropriate curriculum.
They spent the last spring and summer semesters creating what will be the newest graduate program at Cabrini. After receiving feedback from the department on what they had accomplished, the team is ready to announce what they have created.
“I’m really excited because until now all we had was the M. ED Certification Track,” Hoyle said. “Our graduates can now say they are an expert in CIA or teaching and learning in addition to becoming a transformative educator and that is no small thing.”
The first four classes of the masters in education CIA program will be introduced in the spring semester.
