Brief Profile of Courses: Taught & Rehashed
Organizational Behavior in Education
Through a survey of the individual, interpersonal, group, and organizational processes that members of organizations encounter, this course is intended to help students understand how some of these processes affect their daily lives and how to manage these processes more effectively. Specific learning objectives include (1) obtaining knowledge of some of the major topics in organizational behavior; (2) increasing awareness of one’s own as well as other’ behavioral patterns and their implications; (3) understanding how to see and apply the concepts and theory to real situations; (4) gaining firsthand experience with several of the course concepts and theories; and (5) becoming better able to assess and understand organizations as a current or future member. A variety of opportunities to learn more about organizational behavior are provided through comprehensive as well as specialized readings, class discussion, in-class exercises, a group project, and short individual papers. Students are evaluated on the basis of class participation, several short critical writings, and a group project.
Leadership in Organizations
This course explores several major theories of organization and the implications of those theories for diagnosis and action. It focuses on those in leadership positions and the problems, dilemmas, and opportunities they face in educational, public, and human service organizations. Particular attention is paid to issues of leadership in diverse organizations. Activities include readings, lectures, case discussions, simulations, and small-group field research project. Learning will be drawn from theory and research, students’ experience, and discussions in and out of class. Grades are based on tests, individual papers and a group project.
Academic Administration & Supervision
Academic administration is at the heart of every school, college and university. In fact, no institution of higher education can be much better than its faculty, department chairs, deans, and administrative support staff. Because these individuals are so crucial to the institution success, it is particularly important to understand the policies and practices that govern their employment and influence their performance. The course considers topics such as recruitment, academic tenure, affirmative action, performance evaluation, compensation, professional development, and retrenchment. The Supervision part of the course addresses issues that confront practitioners in their roles as educational managers and supervisors. Throughout the course work members of the class role-play supervisory situations and critique the video taped recording of the simulations. Students are evaluated on the basis of quizzes, tests, short answer questions, class participation, a personnel policy paper, and a term paper.
Cultural Perspectives in Educational Studies
Educational systems in different countries face similar problems, but they arrive at different solutions, even if they are at similar economic levels of development or are under similar political systems. The appreciation of alternative approaches to educational problems is at the core of studying cultural differences. This course starts with culture as it is understood by the anthropologists, but it introduces the fundamental element of culture, with special reference to those that are relevant to education. The latter part of the course is devoted to understanding specific cultures and their implications on education. The objectives of the course are to acquire knowledge of different cultures as well as to develop a mind that accepts the coexistence of diverse cultures.
Planning in Educational Organizations
This course is designed to provide teaching and administrative personnel with basic knowledge and skills in educational planning. A variety of current approaches and paradigms of educational planning are examined in local, national and international contexts. Theories and processes of planning are addressed, including corporate and institutional planning, strategic planning, long-term planning, operational planning and school-based planning.
School Effectiveness and School Improvement
This course focuses on the factors contributing to school effectiveness, including school climate and physical characteristics, instructional patterns, types of organization, and the use of time. It also considers the possibilities for school improvement in different contexts and the use of Total Quality Management (TQM) to improve educational institutions.
Research in Educational Administration
This course examines strategies, techniques, and problems involved in the conduct of research in educational administration. This course prepares the student for defining research problems, reviewing relevant literature, writing research proposals, and conducting research in educational administration. All Master’s level students take this course towards the end of their program.
Doctoral Seminar on Leadership and Educational Change
The course explores a variety of initiatives being taken to improve, reform, and/or restructure schools. The basic intents of these initiatives are examined in an effort to understand implications for productive change processes at the classroom, school, and school system levels. Emphasis is given to the role of leadership in fostering educational change. In this doctoral level course, students are involved in a research project designed to illustrate the practical meaning of course concepts and to refine their research capacities.
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