Course Descriptions

Technology for Educators
EDUGF-500 2 semester hours
Meets Illinois Standards 1, 4, 5, 6, & 8

This course is designed to promote the integration of technology tools and resources into your classroom. As shapers of the future, educators must teach and use technology in their everyday instruction. You will explore Internet resources, gain access to an extensive database of lessons, and begin experimenting with many different technology tools that will assist in developing your action research project. The course also provides lists of Internet sites on many topics that are both informational and interactive for you and your students. Then you will learn to integrate those resources into your content area(s).


Critical Issues in Diversity
EDUGF-529 2 semester hours
Meets Illinois Standard 5

This course focuses on meeting the challenges of a culturally diverse classroom. You will explore historical, theoretical, and practical perspectives on multicultural education to help you meet the needs of linguistically, culturally, and ethnically diverse students. As you investigate these perspectives, you will consider and develop plans to address the diverse needs in your own classroom environment. You will examine curriculum, instruction, and assessment topics and gather strategies that will promote success for every student within your culturally sensitive classroom. Objectives will be to meet the needs of English language learners and support the individual needs of all students.


Active Learning
EDUGF-521 2 semester hours
Meets Illinois Standards 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8

This course presents the learning benefits of active learning and guides teachers to develop a repertoire of active learning strategies. These strategies work effectively in all areas of the curriculum and with all audiences of learners. In an active classroom, teaching and learning is multidirectional. Active learning strategies accommodate different learning styles and learning needs and advance social skills development especially in multicultural classrooms. This course models active learning by engaging learners in pair and group activities with discussion, problem solving, teaching analysis, concept mapping, and other engaging processes.


Teacher Leadership
EDUGF-523 2 semester hours
Meets Illinois Standards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 8

This course explores recent research and the world of teacher leadership. You will examine what's being done in your own school with your own work and colleagues. Examination of perceptions and the basis of theories as they inform effective teacher leadership will be addressed. You will also engage in discussions regarding teacher leader roles and the impact teacher leaders can have on teachers seeking to improve their practice to help students learn more effectively.


Introduction to Research Practice and Theory
EDUGF-525: 3 semester hours
Meets Illinois Standards 4, 9, 10, & 11

This course assists you in evaluating, interpreting, and applying educational research in your classroom. With the guidance of experienced faculty and using research findings, you will identify and expand your instructional decision-making options. You will also receive assistance in developing a reflection of your classroom or school to help identify appropriate research project topics.


Learner-Centered Instruction
EDUGF-528 2 semester hours
Meets Illinois Standards 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, & 8

This course models differentiated instruction in content, processes, and products on the basis of teachers' varied backgrounds, interests, and learning profiles. Content is presented through a variety of sources that appeal to various learning style preferences. Activities (processes) are differentiated to appeal to various interests and the classroom needs of individual teachers. Some of the assignments (products) are strategically designed to allow you to choose the options that apply to your teaching. By the end of the course, you will be ready to begin differentiating instruction at a pace appropriate to your classroom and set personal goals about differentiating to continue to build on the experiences and skills achieved.


Authentic Assessment
EDUGF-533 2 semester hours
Meets Illinois Standards 1, 4, 6, & 8

Learn to ascertain the critical attributes needed for any measurement procedure. You will critique traditional, standardized, criterion-referenced, and teacher-made tests with emphasis on creating effective teachermade tests that include a variety of question types, modalities, higher order thinking, and allowances for special needs and low-ability students. You will investigate a variety of significant classroom assessments such as journals, logs, portfolios, group projects, reflective papers, student interviews, and self evaluations and then relate the usefulness of these measures to appropriate elements in curriculum and instruction.


Literacy in the Content Areas
EDUGF-534 2 semester hours
Meets Illinois Standards 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, & 8

Explore the relationship between oral and written language, critical thinking, and strategies for integrating reading and writing across the curriculum. This course primarily emphasizes relationships between theory, research, and practice in literacy at all educational levels. You will gain insight into promoting successful reading comprehension by using visualization, higher order questioning, prediction, inference, and learning logs.


Developing Teachers as Leaders
EDUGF-535 2 semester hours
Meets Illinois Standards 1, 7, 9, 10, & 11

Become prepared as a teacher-leader by developing a comprehensive system to support school-wide improvement efforts. Review and evaluate the research that shows professional development increases student learning. Examine an array of research-based programs that develop students' skill levels and the ability to transfer knowledge to the classroom. Learn methods to build team consensus in order to develop curricular and instructional practices that promote successful student-centered learning.


Action Research in Practice
EDUGF-537 2 semester hours
Meets Illinois Standards 2, 4, 5, 6, & 9

Gain the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct action research projects in your school classroom. You will select an instructional problem to address, design methods to document the scope of the problem, investigate possible problem causes, and describe an intervention to reduce or eliminate the problem. The decisions associated with these processes will facilitate your creation of your research proposal.


Action Research Project I
EDUGF-541 3 semester hours
Meets Illinois Standards 2, 4, 5, 6, & 9

This seminar incorporates both theory and practice of educational change through action research models by utilizing current research and evaluation methodologies. This course focuses on the full design implementation and evaluation of a valid research project. You will be guided through the process of authentic action research in this supportive seminar format.


Action Research Project II
EDUGF-542 2 semester hours
Meets Illinois Standards 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, & 8

Continuation of Action Research Project I.


Team Seminar I
EDUGF-540 3 semester hours
Meets Illinois Standards 3, 4, 9, & 11

In this course, you will discuss mechanisms for classroom teachers and student support staff that help students achieve appropriate mastery of content and skills to demonstrate above average competencies and capabilities for any standards. This course helps participants clarify or redefine their roles, expand their knowledge, develop new strategies and skills, and revise or improve their perceptions and expectations of themselves as educators, but also of their students as learners. Each month you will meet with your cohort to discuss a variety of issues related to education and to teaching, reflecting on how those issues impact your learning community, your teaching, and your students.


Team Seminar II
EDUGF-550 3 semester hours
Meets Illinois Standards 4, 6, 7, 8, & 9

This course focuses on helping teachers clarify or redefine their roles, expand their knowledge, develop new strategies and skills, and revise or improve their perceptions and expectations of themselves as educators, but also of their students as learners. As you work on your portfolio and prepare materials to document your action research project, you will have the opportunity to demonstrate how you have updated your skills, your knowledge, your expectations of yourself and your students, and your perception of your role as a teacher, and a teacher leader.