MSTL Course Descriptions

EDL 500 – Introduction to Teacher Leadership (3 credit hours)
The course focuses on the nature of leadership, theories, principles, and styles, progressing from a general perspective to school leadership to teacher leadership in the model of servant leadership. Participants will gain skills necessary to lead with confidence in the classroom, school, and the community. Candidates will examine and understand the problem-solving tools required in interpersonal and leadership skills while working with people in educational settings. The course offers learners the opportunity to increase their awareness of essential dispositions, enabling them to write their own educational platforms, assist students in developing a personal action plan, and provide opportunities to demonstrate values for effective educational leadership. Twenty hours of field practicum are required.

EDL 530 – Technology for Teacher Leaders (3 credit hours)
Candidates will examine some of the critical issues facing school improvement as it relates to teaching and the use of modern technological tools, including the promises and challenges that technology brings to schools today. This course goes beyond basic technology literacy and requires that the candidate create technology products for classroom use (including one assignment specifically to address diverse learning needs), evaluate the acceptable technology use policy of their school or district, examine best practices for technology integration to enhance student achievement, explore the relationship of learning styles with educational technology, and develop technology leadership skills. This course requires a job-embedded application of a technology lesson in candidates’ classrooms.
Prerequisite: A grade of ‘C’ or better in an undergraduate technology course.

EDL 550 – Social Issues in Education (3 credit hours)
This MSTL elective course focuses on the identification and analysis of major problems in education resulting from the diversity within American society’s pluralistic culture. The course seeks to provide an understanding of barriers to learning faced by children as a result of the environment in which they live. Candidates will demonstrate understanding of a specific social problem contributing to the challenges faced by some children in their environment. Multicultural curricula and instructional strategies will be addressed.

EDL 570 – Master Teacher (3 credit hours)
This course is for teachers who wish to analyze their teaching style and methods and improve their repertoire with additional teaching methods. Theory-based models of instruction will be reviewed that provide participants with a variety of instructional modalities. These skills will facilitate candidates as they attain the necessary pedagogy and classroom strategies required to deliver instruction according to diverse populations of students. Practical, hands-on strategies for teaching in heterogeneous settings will be provided. Participants will learn how to engage and support struggling students while challenging advanced learners. Strategies for differentiating content, process, and products will be presented. Job embedded applications will be required in this course.

EDL 580 – Education Research Methods (2 credit hours)
An introduction to educational research in both qualitative and quantitative forms, this course enhances candidate ability to read educational studies critically and to design studies applicable at the classroom level, that is, to do action research. Participants will be given an overview of sampling techniques, measures of reliability and validity, hypothesis building, and data analysis. They will then decide on a research focus, conduct a literature review, and describe their data collection method. The final component for the course will be a research proposal chosen in collaboration with a local school and focused on P–12 teaching and learning. Participants’ proposals will require approval from both their schools and Brescia University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB).
Prerequisite: Information Literacy Graduate Seminar.

EDL 581 – Documenting Professional Growth 1: ARP Proposal Presentation (1 credit hour)
After successful completion of EDL 580, candidates present the proposal in a formal setting scheduled by the School of Education for fellow students, faculty, TEAC, and representatives of collaborating schools. This oral presentation of an original action research proposal will include a written formulation of a research problem and plan of action, and will use available technology including PowerPoint and/or other presentation software to portray their work.

EDL 590 – Literature in Middle and High School Classrooms (3 credit hours)
This course will provide a survey of diverse literature for middle and high school classrooms, covering poetry, short stories, and novels. Students will be introduced to a wide variety of literature that can be used in middle and high school settings. The course seeks to improve students’ personal ability to understand, analyze, and enjoy various forms of literature and to prepare them to be informed and reflective teachers.

EDL 591 – Introduction to Literacy Coaching in Middle and High Schools (3 credit hours)
Participants will engage in the study of pedagogy and leadership in the areas of collaboration; job-embedded professional development; program assessment; and evaluation of school, classroom, and individual literacy needs as well as instructional strategies. Participants will apply new skills in these areas; therefore, a field component is required.
Prerequisites: EDL 640 and EDL 590 (or Permission from Graduate Program Director).

EDL 600 – Leadership Seminar (1 credit hour)
In this MSTL elective seminar, candidates will facilitate a graduate or an undergraduate seminar; in this way the course offers a forum for graduate candidates to share educational and/or career accomplishments with other MSTL candidates. Participants are required to make a formal presentation of notable teacher experiences; presentation content may include a seminar paper, an educational project, a performance, innovative teaching strategies, and/or an exhibition. Candidates will consult with advisors for guidelines for meeting program requirements. The objectives of the course are to expand candidate knowledge beyond the classroom and enhance their communication skills and confidence with public presentations. The grade for the course is either Pass or Fail.
Prerequisite: Approval of Graduate Program Director.

EDL 620 – Ethical Issues in Education and Research (3 credit hours)
Candidates in this MSTL elective course develop and refine the skills necessary to analyze and integrate constructive and ethical decision-making into practices that lead to success and to their roles as ethical educational leaders. The policies and procedures required by school districts will be addressed. Participants will learn what students’ and teachers’ rights are protected, how they are explained in school district source documents, and what violations of the rights may occur in schools. To urge students to become a reflective decision-maker, emphasis is placed on decision-making, professional conduct, research, and learning.

EDL 630 – Interaction of Classroom Management and Instruction (3 credit hours)
This course helps teachers develop competencies for motivating and increasing student learning through understanding the interaction of classroom management and instructional planning by focusing on positive discipline, productive classroom climate, improvement of student learning, and collaboration with parents. Participates will examine the strategies used in managing a positive classroom environment within the framework of today’s diverse population and implement a classroom management plan in their own classrooms.

EDL 640 – Assessment for Students’ Learning (3 credit hours)
This course equips teachers with the skills and knowledge needed to do high quality classroom assessment, develop classroom tests, and measure student achievement. Practical and theoretical assessment issues within the classroom will be surveyed; significant assessment methodologies explored, including performance assessment, test development, portfolio use, and communicating student progress; the principles for understanding standardized tests and test scores discussed; and practical applications of classroom assessment to enhance learning developed. Job embedded applications are required in this course.

EDL 650 – Effective Practices for Coaching and Mentoring (3 credit hours)
This course is designed to provide the essential knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with effective facilitation, coaching, and mentoring, presuming that effective leadership is grounded in a solid grasp of these three activities. Additional topics include building rapport among colleagues, conducting classroom observations, developing effective listening and questioning skills, and providing constructive feedback. Course content will include a mentoring practicum that provides each student with the opportunity to develop and practice the skills necessary to become a teacher leader in a coaching relationship with a prospective or new teacher in a school setting. Ten hours of mentoring practicum are required.
Prerequisite: EDL 500 and Mentor Training Seminar.

EDL 655 – Multicultural and Diversity Issues in the Curriculum (3 credit hours)
This course explores historical and contemporary perspectives on cultural diversity; critical issues of race, class, gender, and ethnicity in education; the perennial issues of multiculturalism in public education and in global society; and a comprehensive overview of principles and current research in diversity and multicultural education. The course will also include self-examination of potential bias and stereotypes that must be addressed by both teachers and students. Participants will implement a multicultural curriculum and instructional strategy in their own classrooms.

EDL 671 – Action Research (2 credit hours) 
EDL 671 builds on the proposal completed in the EDL 580 and will ensure that candidates can investigate P–12 data, develop tests, surveys, and benchmarks to evaluate teaching and learning. This capstone course provides a culminating experience for MSTL students, with the planning and implementation of an action research project in a real-world (classroom) setting. Findings will be analyzed and shared in writing, including within the setting in which it was conducted. These projects are designed to enhance critical thinking about classroom or school-related P–12 issues and practices and to generate appropriate actions for change and improvement. The final component will be a written research report.
Prerequisites: EDL 580, completion of 27 credit hours, and participation in Action Research Roundtable Graduate Seminar.

EDL 672 – Documenting Professional Growth 2: Capstone Project (1 credit hour)
Candidates present the completed Action Research Project (ARP) to a colloquium consisting of (1) collaborating school representatives, (2) Brescia University faculty, (3) TEAC members, and (4) students. This presentation is the second half of the capstone experience for the MSTL student, tying together the skills and knowledge acquired in their graduate coursework though effectively communicating the results and conclusions of the Action Research Project. Candidates will use available technology including PowerPoint and/or other presentation software to portray their work.

BIO 501 – Advanced Cell Biology (3 credit hours)
This MSTL elective course covers a detailed study of the cell as the basic unit of life, focusing on the interplay of biochemistry and genetics in the regulation of eukaryotic cell processes.
Prerequisites: Undergraduate courses in cell biology, chemistry, and anatomy and physiology, with a passing score and permission from the instructor.

BIO 502 – Population and Community Ecology (3 credit hours)
This MSTL elective course will cover concepts regarding the interactions of individual organisms with members of their own and other species and with the environment. Material will include topics such as population growth, life history theory, foraging and group behavior, parasitism, species diversity, and community development. The course will include interpretation and discussion of both classic and contemporary research in the field of ecology.

MTH 513 – Mathematical Models and Methods (3 credit hours)
In many ways, mathematics teaches us to understand the world by understanding abstractions. This MSTL elective course examines those abstractions – particularly mathematical models – from the early visualizations of the problem and the recognition of key structures, through the construction of appropriate models, the collection of data, and the use of software and analytic tools, to the computation and adjustment of models.
Prerequisites: Calculus 1 and EDU 246 (or equivalent course in Educational Technology).