Social Justice Education EdS Course of Study

Course of Study

Students in the Social Justice Education EdS program (Youth Specialization Track or College Specialization Track) must complete 31 credit hours.

**SJE Students who enroll in EDUC 632B or EDUC 888 will be enrolled in EDUC 698S by the department for 3 credits.

*Students may take up to 1 of the following alternative courses in place of either EDUC 746 or EDUC 778:

• EDUC 515 Teaching English in Middle & High Schools
• EDUC 626 Social Theory and Educational Change
• EDUC 784 Social Issues in Children's and Young Adult Literature
• EDUC 837 The Influence of the Social Context of Schools and the Politics of Reform on Teaching and Learning
• EDUC 590Z Critical Pedagogy for Media Literacy (only alt to EDUC 778 Multimodal Approaches)
• EDUC 647M Making & Makerspaces in Education (only alt to EDUC 778 Multimodal Approaches) 

***Students may take 1 of the following alternative courses in place of EDUC 787C:

• EDUC 606 Interventions and Consultations with Families & Schools 
• EDUC 614B Inclusive College Environments and Campus Cultures
• EDUC 644 Critical Perspectives on Equity and Justice in Higher Education
• EDUC 682 Supporting Student Success 
• EDUC 690STC Advising and Supporting College Students
• EDUC 698ED Professional Practice & Career Development in Higher Education

Sample Two-Year Program Sequence

Year 1 - Fall

EDUC 622J - Education for SJE Self-Awareness (3 credits)

EDUC 691E - Confronting Oppression in Education (3 credits)

EDUC 746 (or equivalent) - Social Justice Education in Schools (3 credits)

OR 

EDUC 786 - SJE with College Students in Educational Settings (3 credits)

Year 1 - Spring

EDUC 624 - Critical Histories, Ideas, and Praxis in SJE (3 credits)

EDUC 627 - Curriculum Design and Instruction in SJE (4 credits)

EDUC 778 (or equivalent) - Multimodal Approaches to Working with Youth (3 credits)

OR

EDUC 787C (or equivalent) -  SJE Inquiry into Praxis with College Students (3 credits)

Year 2 - Fall

EDUC 888/698S- Youth Participatory Action Research Methods (6 credits)

OR 

EDUC 638B/698S - Small Group Leadership: Dialogue Facilitation Across Differences (6 credits)

Elective 

Year 2 - Spring

EDUC 780 - Integrative Social Justice Education Seminar (3 credits)

Elective 

Sample Three-Year Program Sequence

Year 1 - Fall

EDUC 622J - Education for SJE Self-Awareness (3 credits)

EDUC 691E - Confronting Oppression in Education (3 credits)

Year 1 - Spring

EDUC 624 - Critical Histories, Ideas, and Praxis in SJE (3 credits)

EDUC 627 - Curriculum Design and Instruction in SJE (4 credits)

Year 2 - Fall

EDUC 888/698S - Youth Participatory Action Research Methods (6 credits)

OR 

EDUC 638B/698S - Small Group Leadership: Dialogue Facilitation Across Differences (6 credits)

Year 2 - Spring

EDUC 778 (or equivalent) - Multimodal Approaches to Working with Youth (3 credits)

OR

EDUC 787C (or equivalent) -  SJE Inquiry into Praxis with College Students (3 credits)

Elective (3 credits)

Year 3 - Fall

EDUC 746 (or equivalent) - Social Justice Education in Schools (3 credits)

OR 

EDUC 786 - SJE with College Students in Educational Settings (3 credits)

Year 3 - Spring

EDUC 780 - Integrative Social Justice Education Seminar (3 credits)

EDUC 624: Critical Histories, Ideas, and Praxis in SJE

Theoretical issues related to manifestations of oppression with focus on social constructions of race, gender and sexuality, and disability.

EDUC 691E: Confronting Oppression in Education

Introductory vocabulary and definitions, descriptions of the dynamics of oppression at the individual, institutional, and cultural levels.  Focus on developing personal awareness of social group memberships in relationship to two specific forms of oppression.  Introduction to selected literature on two specific forms of oppression.

EDUC 627: Curriculum Design and Instruction in SJE

Examines and applies theories and methods of instructional design, classroom teaching, and reflective practice in social justice education in K-16 settings.  Explores critical issues in teaching and learning about diversity and social justice issues.

EDUC 622J: Education for SJE Self-Awareness

Educational strategies for increasing SJE educators' self-knowledge.  Focus on self-awareness of social group memberships and the impact of those identities upon social justice education leadership skills.  Experiential approach to processes, concepts, and skills leading toward self-observation and development of effective responses to social justice education classrooms and teacher training, such as management conflict, recognizing and working effectively with resistance, and group-leader dynamics.

EDUC 746: Social Justice Education in Schools

This course focuses on the integration of SJE as pedagogy and SJE as content to promote youth engagement and transformative education across learning environments. Its purpose is to help students develop a combination of historical, theoretical, conceptual, scientific, and pedagogical foundation for SJE in youth-based settings such as schools and community based organizations.

EDUC 778: Multimodal Approaches to Working with Youth

This course's purpose is to guide students in implementing, evaluating and reflecting upon social justice education initiatives in elementary and secondary schools.  Additionally, students will develop a publication-ready manuscript examining a K-12 application of Social Justice Education.

EDUC 888/698S: Youth Participatory Action Research Methods

An approach to research and evaluation; theories and ethical issues; practice using specific methods; learning to choose an appropriate method for particular contexts and goals.

EDUC 786: SJE with College Students in Educational Settings

This course provides a conceptual, practical, and empirical foundation for SJE in college settings in four areas: advocacy and inclusion, diversity education, intergroup dialogue, and civic engagement.

EDUC 787C: SJE Inquiry into Praxis with College Students

This course is designed for master’s students in the SJE with College Students area of specialization who have successfully completed EDUC 786. Students apply knowledge, awareness, and skills to an area of practice of SJE with college students (e.g., student success, dialogues across differences, resource centers, service learning, restorative practices, and student wellbeing).

EDUC 638B/698S: Small Group Leadership - Dialogue Facilitation Across Differences

This course is intentionally designed to prepare students to become active change agents as planners and facilitators of intergroup dialogues using a reflective practice training model.

EDUC 780: Integrative Social Justice Education Seminar

EDUC 780 is an advanced Master’s level course designed for students who are at the end of their program of study. This course focuses on an integrative approach to Social Justice Education, blending theory and practice to help students demonstrate their understanding of applied social justice work both within schools and society. Students will demonstrate an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary mastery of social justice knowledge and action through a variety of methods that they have learned across all of the courses in their program of study, making this a culminating course to demonstrate full mastery through a multimodal synthesis. Lectures, presentations, readings, dialogues, in-class activities and audio / visual materials will be used to help us students deepen their applied knowledge as well as prepare them to curate a practicum project to be completed by the end of the course. The required readings apply various methods of inquiry to promote an understanding of integrative social justice methods and practices. Students will produce a portfolio that showcases their capstone project using different modalities of knowledge production.  The portfolio showcase will be a requirement for completing their master’s program of study.