EDUCATION
Robert W. Fulton, Ph.D.
Dear Jones International University M.Ed. students,
I hope this letter finds you all well and happy. I have news to share with you that should prove quite encouraging as you work toward your graduate degrees in education.
Career Opportunities and Salary
According to America’s Career Infonet (online at www.acinet.org), “of the 167 occupations with the largest number of projected openings during the 2002-2012 time period that generally require [a] bachelor’s degree or higher,” five of the top fifteen careers are in the education field, and 20 of the top 137 are in education. Furthermore, the majority of these job openings are in the highest salary quartile. This news, of course, translates to high-paying career opportunities for JIU M.Ed. graduates for the next decade.
Here are the education entries and their position on the ACI list:
| Rank | Occupation | Job Openings |
| 1 | Postsecondary Teachers | 95,980 |
| 3 | Elementary School Teachers | 54,700 |
| 4 | Secondary School Teachers | 45,760 |
| 8 | Special Education Teachers | 23,300 |
| 15 | Middle School Teachers | 18,150 |
| 28 | Child, Family, and School Social Workers | 11,060 |
| 29 | Education Administrators (Elementary and Secondary) | 9,860 |
| 31 | Training and Development Specialists | 9,030 |
| 32 | Educational, Vocational, and School Counselors | 8,630 |
| 44 | Kindergarten Teachers | 6,590 |
| 45 | Clinical, Counseling, and School Psychologists | 6,350 |
| 46 | Education Administrators (Postsecondary) | 6,340 |
| 57 | Speech-Language Pathologists | 4,910 |
| 66 | Instructional Coordinators | 4,000 |
| 70 | Vocational Education Teachers | 3,910 |
| 72 | Directors, Religious Activities, and Education | 3,690 |
| 76 | Education, Administrators (Preschool) | 3,300 |
| 88 | Adult Literacy, Remedial Education, and GED Teachers | 2,620 |
| 101 | Health Educators | 1,760 |
| 137 | Vocational Education Teachers (Middle School) | 540 |
Student Loan Forgiveness for Teachers
I will be sending each of you an email detailing a 2004 addendum to the existing federal Teacher Loan Forgiveness program. The limit on the amount to be sliced off the top of eligible teachers’ student loans has been raised from $5,000 to $17,500, so please watch for my message!
Course and Capstone Changes
The M.Ed. capstone courses have changed!
Beginning in April 2005, e-learning students will take EDU769: The Professional Adult Educator (rather than EDU766 and EDU767). The new capstone course, EDU769, has been designed to offer students more flexibility to develop projects that integrate the knowledge and skills they have gained during their M.Ed. coursework. Students will develop their professional and personal competence by addressing the authentic needs of their learning and/or employment communities. Among other possibilities, the project may take the form of a grant proposal, environmental research scan, program development and/or implementation, appraisal of an existing program, internship, etc.
The M.Ed. K-12 capstone title is now EDU520: The Professional K-12 Educator. Like the e-learning capstone, the K-12 capstone is designed to maximize students’ flexibility so that they may choose to develop personally and professionally meaningful projects that integrate the knowledge and skills they have gained during their M.Ed. coursework.
Tips for Success
When writing papers to submit to professors within the M.Ed. program, the student writer must be very careful to submit his/her own original work to avoid plagiarism.
The University, in its “Student Handbook Policies and Procedures,” defines plagiarism as “intentionally duplicating the work of another, violating copyright laws, and presenting someone else’s work as one’s own original work” (online at www.jonesinternational.edu/myJIU/). Unfortunately, the university leadership has had to dismiss a couple of students in the past year because they submitted fraudulent work. Students should protect their personal integrity and avoid putting themselves through unpleasant and unnecessary grief by carefully writing their own papers to (1) use credible and compelling references to support their theses and major ideas; (2) use references correctly and document their paraphrases and direct quotes; and (3) use the APA format to include a bibliography/references page.
If you feel like you do not know how to document references within your work correctly, I strongly encourage you to work closely with your M.Ed. professors to learn how to do so. Do not put your JIU education at risk!
Please let me know if there is any way that I can be of service to you as you work to complete your M.Ed. at Jones International University.
Best wishes,
Bob
Robert W. Fulton, Ph.D.
Academic Chair
Education
Phone: 303-784-8498
Fax: 303-784-8547
Toll Free (US only): 800.811.5663 (Ext. 8498)