Designed to support and challenge educators who are engaged in leading curriculum in an era of rapid technological, demographic, and cultural and linguistic change, graduates of the MPEd in Curriculum and Pedagogy will have received sustained opportunities to critically explore and develop knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge in curricular practice relative to a breadth of curricular and pedagogical issues.
Key topics include: contemporary and historical conceptions of curriculum; curriculum models; analyzing, designing, implementing, and evaluating curriculum at the levels of institutional curriculum (e.g., policy), programmatic curriculum (e.g., curriculum documents), and classroom curriculum (e.g., how curriculum actually plays out, including through pedagogy); the development of reflective curricular practice; implications of curriculum for equity and social justice; curricular commonplaces (i.e., the teacher, the learner, the subject matter, and the milieu).
The Master of Professional Education in the field of Curriculum and Pedagogy gives candidates:
- Direct access to experienced curriculum researchers who specialize in curriculum research and its application in a wide variety of domains (both formal and informal; from early years to graduate and elder contexts including medical and health professions education).
- The ability to work through problems of practice with other practicing educators.
- Flexible programming so that they can focus on their own unique curricular interests while also having opportunity to learn about the wider picture.
- The tools to create innovative curriculum and pedagogies that can engage learners in meaningful learning experiences that can foster specific program goals as well as learner well-being and equity and social justice.
Important Note
The successful completion of a Master of Professional degree does not lead to certification with the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT).
The MPEd is designated as a full-time program. Full-time status requires that you complete four half-courses in one year. MPEd students will complete one course per semester (fall, winter, intersession, summer) for two years. Full-time students have access to all student services at Western. See SGPS for details.
This program of study is a course-based cohort model. Approximately 20 students will be admitted to each cohort. This cohort structure will provide ongoing support within the course work, enabling you to develop a professional community of practice. To ensure the integrity of the cohort model, continuous enrollment is required, and will necessitate that you complete all the required courses within the timeframe stipulated.
All courses are online and will primarily be delivered in an asynchronous format. Some may have synchronous components depending on the topic and Instructor. Please refer to the course outline for additional information about such details.
Year 1 Fall
ED 9100 Understanding Curriculum for Practitioners
An advancement of critical concepts for the making of curriculum in contemporary educational settings so as to empower educators and learners across diverse learning contexts. Drawing on foundational and innovative curriculum theories, this course highlights definitions, models, commonplaces, and questions of curriculum and curricular decision-making involving design, developments, and implementation.
Year 1 Winter
ED 9101 Understanding Teaching and Learning for Practitioners
Promotion of professional decision-making, reflection, and pedagogical actions of educators across diverse learning contexts in contemporary times. Emphasizing theories of teaching, learning, and knowing, this course highlights conceptions of pedagogy, pedagogical strategies, and analysis of classroom curriculum.
Year 1 Summer - Intersession
ED 9102 Understanding 21st Century Teaching and Learning
Critical examination of the educative affordances, constraints, and re-shaping of educational environments created by the use of new technologies, online pedagogies, computational thinking, and multimodal delivery. Topics include online communities, equity of access, course blending, adaptive learning technologies, flipped classrooms, big data, and issues specific to online assessment.
Year 1 Summer -Summer Session
ED 9103 Understanding Assessment and Evaluation in Educational Settings
Purposes, principles, and forms of assessment and evaluation in educational settings to enable practitioners to make informed and ethical decisions. Topics include formal and informal forms of student assessment, documentation, reporting, and program evaluation. Emphasis on critical consideration of the approaches and their implications.
Year 2 Fall
ED 9496 Understanding Research Methods for Educational Practice
An introduction to curriculum research as an innovative process with emphasis on designs involving students, educators, community members, and/or educational practitioners. Topics may include theoretical understanding and practical application of various research designs, relating to the topic of curriculum, including quantitative and qualitative methods to offer guidance in developing inquiry/questions of practice and reading/interpreting research.
Year 2 Winter
ED 9497 Understanding Curriculum Leadership for Educational Practice
Focus on leading the development, implementation, and evaluation of positive curricular change. Emphasis on ways of conceptualizing curriculum leadership and advocacy and professional learning and reflective practice to promote equitable and enabling environments for all. The course will give students opportunities to explore curriculum leadership in their MPED focus.
Year 2 Summer - Intersession
Year 2 Summer - Summer Session
ED 9491 Capstone Course
The completion of a Capstone Course based in reflective field work that addresses students' MPEd focus.
