Robert W. Fulton, PhD

Dean, School of Education

Dear Jones International University School of Education Students,

Congratulations and all my best wishes to JIU’s newest graduates. I know that you will find your master’s degrees immeasurably important to your personal and professional success. Please know that there is nothing that makes the School of Education team happier than to hear from past students who are helping to change the world for the better. Please let us know how and what you are doing!

I hope this edition of the JIU Insider finds all students and professors well and happy. I have some exciting news that I hope you find interesting and helpful.

The School of Education Course Design Model

As we move forward together to create professionally meaningful courses that best meet students’ learning needs, JIU’s professors have improved the School of Education (SOE) course design model.

This document has been a couple of years in the making, and we are open to continued discussion and evaluation of the model. Our design team and professors continue to listen to and learn from our students in our efforts to provide you world-class courses. There are far more strengths to the model than I will mention below, but here are some of them.

The SOE Course Design Model:

Encourages students to get out into their communities to do work that is professionally relevant and changes the world.
Encourages students to build relationships with community leaders.
Is flexible, to ensure students do work that is personally relevant.
Allows students to scaffold their course projects so that each one serves as a foundation for the next.
Encourages students to turn their course projects into their work projects.
Creates expectations that are manageable, so that both students and professors are able to complete the work in eight weeks.
Allows students who are seeking significant challenges to create them.
Expects students to read the most significant works in the field.
Supports students, so that they work on their projects in a holistic way throughout each eight-week course.

Specifically, each School of Education course:

Has a direct and explicit rationale that connects the course to Arthur Levine’s nine criteria that define excellent school leadership programs.
Asks students to find sponsors for their professional synthesizing projects to ensure their work addresses the authentic needs of specific learning communities.
Requires a completed, "whole," portfolio-ready, professional synthesizing project.
Includes built-in flexibility, so that students are empowered to do work that is personally and professionally meaningful.
Includes built-in flexibility, so that professors are empowered to bring their voices and expertise to the endeavor, operating as guides, mentors, coaches, tutors and facilitators to emphasize problem solving, higher-order thinking skills and deep understanding
Includes online resources that are widely considered classic or neo-classic. We purposefully try to hold the costs for resources down and house resources within Jones e-global library^® whenever possible.
Employs a comprehensive assessment rubric based on the completed, "whole," portfolio-ready project outcomes, rather than intermediate products and processes. The project is the course.
Employs a project calendar that includes components that keep the students (and professors) moving down the road to success.
Expects that professors will help learners with the scope and deliverability of their projects by creating a learning environment that encourages meta-cognition, self-analysis, self-regulation, self-reflection and self-awareness.
Incorporates a faculty handbook that serves as a resource for the professors.
Includes in-course links to exemplary student projects that serve as (a) models for future students and professors and (b) historical records of learner achievement.

Exemplary Student Projects

At the JIU School of Education blog, you will find a place for professors to house exemplary student projects. These projects—accessible after login—serve as historical records of JIU student achievement and as models to which all students and professors may refer.

I look forward to getting feedback from students and professors about the blog. Will you please let me know if you have questions, concerns or suggestions? Most important, I want to know if these student projects have been helpful.

Welcome New Professors!

Since the JIU School of Education is currently on track to nearly double in size this year, I have hired two new exceptional faculty members who are excited to be part of this fascinating learning environment. Please welcome:

In Education Administration: Prudence Petrie, JD, University of Denver, has worked in the Denver Public Schools since 1996 as a literacy lead teacher, an instructional literacy coach and, currently, as a librarian at George Washington High School. She is at work on her PhD in Educational Administration.
In Language Education: Ellen Treadway, PhD, Indiana University, is a public school program advisor/foreign language and assessment specialist with the Arkansas Department of Education. She was previously the assistant chair of the Department of Teacher Education, College of Education, at the University of Texas in El Paso.

Forum Conversations

Forum conversations are an essential component of what we do at JIU, and our professors are experts at leading these conversations. In every course, students can expect professors to:

Present within the Forum an overview of the course content and goals at the start of the course;
Present Forum entries prior to the beginning of each weekly module;
Provide within the Workspace and/or Forum specific, substantive, useful and prompt feedback regarding each student’s assignments;
Lead Forum discussions to help each student critically think about course content; and
Encourage student-to-student communication and problem solving within the Forum.

A Word about Schedules

Students: Your Academic Services Counselors—Joslyn Radden and Brad Ingram—make every effort to meet your scheduling needs. If you do not feel your needs are being met, please let them know, and we will strive to accommodate you.

MEd Licensure Handbook

We have updated the “MEd Licensure Handbook." Just click on the Handbook pdf on the right navigation bar. Please take the time to carefully read this important document and let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Student Teaching

The School of Education now offers all teacher licensure students five opportunities throughout the year to complete student teaching—in January, February, May, August and November. If you have any questions regarding your degree plan, please work with your Academic Services Counselor (Brad Ingram or Joslyn Radden). Brad or Joslyn will review your request and help you prepare a plan that works for you.

FAQ Corner

QUESTION: What is the Colorado definition of "approved program of preparation," and why is this designation critical to our students throughout the country?

ANSWER: The Colorado Department of Education defines an "approved program of preparation" as "A program of study for the preparation of educators, including student teaching, that upon completion leads to a recommendation for licensure from a regionally accredited institution of higher education."

This designation is critical for Colorado students because the completion of an "approved program of preparation" is one of the primary components required for teacher or administrator licensure in the state of Colorado.

This designation is critical for students living outside of Colorado because most states have a similar requirement: successful completion of a state-approved program. It is the responsibility of the potential student to know whether his/her state has this requirement (completion of an approved program of preparation). By knowing the definition of "an approved program of preparation," as provided by the CDE, a student should be able to determine if this component is required by the state in which s/he chooses to seek licensure, even if the state's terminology is different, e.g., "approved licensure program." If a state does allow the completion of an approved program of preparation for teacher licensure, then JIU's program probably meets the needs of most students in that state. For more information, see Ways to be Licensed in Colorado.

Please keep in touch with me on your progress and let me know if there is any way that I can be of service to you as you work to complete your degree in education at Jones International University. I am committed to your success and interested in learning additional ways to support JIU’s education students.

Sincerest best wishes,

Robert W. Fulton, PhD
Dean, School of Education
rfulton@international.edu