https://tal.edu.miami.edu/graduate/masters/als-msed/index.html

Overview

The 30-credit MSED in Applied Learning Sciences focuses on human learning, whether alone or in social settings. The program’s three specific foci, which students are expected to integrate in a culminating applied project, are:

  • Learning: how people, as individuals, groups, or parts of an organization, learn;
  • Design: the design, implementation, and revision of learning environments that enhance human learning; and
  • Assessment: the assessment of learning and the evaluation of individual, social, technological, and design factors that advance or impede learning. 

Application Requirements

Admission to all graduate-degree concentrations in the School of Education and Human Development is based on the recommendation of the faculty. Admissions decisions are based on faculty review of the following general requirements that apply to all Graduate Programs in the School as well as specific documents listed under each concentration.

Applicants must:

  •  International applicants whose native language is not English or applicants whose degrees are from a non-U.S. University must pass the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing Systems (IELTS);
  • provide official transcripts showing completion of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution and an acceptable undergraduate grade point average. A minimum of 3.0 undergraduate GPA is required. Official transcripts from every institution attended by an applicant, whether or not the applicant completed a degree program at the institution, are required;
  • provide three letters of recommendation that address the issues and meet the criteria established by the program being applied to;
  • provide a personal statement that addresses the mission and purpose of the program being applied to;
  • resume;
  • take part in an admissions interview (required by some programs); and
  • exhibit personal and professional experiences and characteristics that are relevant to the profession and/or field and/or degree program for which the application is being submitted.

International Applications

All international applications must provide additional information and meet additional requirements as required by the UM Graduate School and the Office of International Student and Scholar Services. For an appropriate link to these requirements, please visit the Graduate School website.

Admission Decision

Once an applicant has been admitted to graduate study, that individual should meet with the faculty advisor who was appointed to serve in that capacity and whose name appears in the admissions letter. This advisor will help the student enroll in courses that are appropriate to the program; to develop and to refine a Course Sequence Plan that must be on file in the Office of Graduate Studies by the end of the first semester of enrollment.

Honor Code/Handbook of Policies and Procedures

The School of Education and Human Development follows the Graduate School’s Honor Code. All students are required to review the Graduate Student Honor Code and the School of Education and Human Development’s Handbook of Policies and Procedures for Graduate Students and submit the signed Acknowledgement of Receipt located on page 3 by the end of their first semester of enrollment.

Curriculum Requirements

Cross-Cutting Courses
The following courses can be taken under any area because of their cross-cutting nature but will be completed just once.
TAL 704Introduction to the Learning Sciences3
TAL 709Applied Learning Sciences Capstone I3
Learning
TAL 600Human Learning3
TAL 602Organizational Learning3
Design
TAL 705Design of online learning environments3
Select 2 courses from the following:
Design of Formal Learning Environments
Design for workplace related learning
Design of Out-of-School, Informal Learning
Assessment
TAL 652Assessment of Human and Organizational Learning3
TAL 710Introduction to Research3
Total Credit Hours21

This is a sample Plan of Study. Your actual course sequence may vary depending on your previous academic experience as well as current course offerings. Students should meet with their academic advisor each semester to determine the appropriate course selection.

Sample Plan of Study

Plan of Study Grid
Year One
FallCredit Hours
TAL 600 Human Learning 3
TAL 704 Introduction to the Learning Sciences 3
 Credit Hours6
Spring
TAL 652 Assessment of Human and Organizational Learning 3
TAL 705 Design of online learning environments 3
 Credit Hours6
Summer
TAL 602 Organizational Learning 3
TAL 707 Design for workplace related learning 3
 Credit Hours6
Year Two
Fall
TAL 706 Design of Formal Learning Environments 3
TAL 710 Introduction to Research 3
 Credit Hours6
Spring
TAL 708 Design of Out-of-School, Informal Learning 3
TAL 709 Applied Learning Sciences Capstone I 1-3
 Credit Hours4-6
 Total Credit Hours28-30

Mission

The MSEd program in the Applied Learning Sciences will provide people across a broad array of fields with the intellectual tools to (re)think about how they interact with subordinates, trainees, mentees, and students as learners and to (re)think their own roles as being that of a teacher where teachers design, implement, and evaluate the impacts of learning environments for their students.

Goals

As a result of the MSEd program, graduates will:

  • Be able to assess learners' initial knowledge as regards to what said learners are supposed to understand;
  • Be able to design and implement learning environments that will help learners to learn and to understand their intended outcomes; and,
  • Be able to evaluate and modify learning environments against how well learners achieved their own learning outcomes.

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