EAD 800 Concepts of Educational Inquiry

Dr. Kristy Cooper Stein; Fall 2022

In this course I was able to explore different methods of research in the education field. We dived into ethnographic research, portraitures, and culturally sustaining pedagogy. This class was essentially about building a foundation in research, but I took it at the end of my program and it acted as a culminating experience instead. Finding out more about Black Antebellum women education activists was a particular highlight of this class. 

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EAD 801 Leadership and Organizational Development
Dr. BetsAnn Smith; Spring 2022

In this course I learned and practiced applying leadership skills I never knew I had. Transformational and adaptive leadership were the main styles focused on in this course. Flexing my leadership muscles in case studies was a refreshing method of reflecting on my praxis. I would recommend this class to anyone in the field, as leadership is not about title/position, but about influence and actions. 

EAD 822 Engaging Diverse Students and Families
Dr. Gerardo Lopez;Summer 2021

This class helped challenge norms that had set into my practice as an educator. Before this course, I saw interactions with parents and family as a chore and exercise in normalizing student practice. Post course, I see the intricacies in working with families with their strengths in mind. I see families as fountains of potential rather than barriers or difficulties to overcome. This course played out and demanded answers to questions about diversity in communities where treating everyone the same is the opposite way of getting parent buy-in. Highly recommend if your goal is to become an effective educator. 

EAD 830 Urban Education: Racial Achievement Gap
Dr. John Yun; Spring 2021

This was one of the first courses I took in the program, and played high expectations in regards to qualitative and quantitative research analysis. We explored if the achievement gap was real, if it had racial origins, how it has been measured across decades, and possible implications/solutions. This class spoke to me and my interests in diversity/education work. I got a head start in being able to handle robust graduate level literature because of the readings in this class. 

EAD 832 School Principalship
Dr. Jada Phelps-Moultrie; Spring 2021

This was the first course I took in this program, though it is designed to be last. Initially I found it intimidating and overwhelming, but I quickly grasped the concepts, many of which I had spent time teaching to other schools as a consultant, and went with my instincts in thinking like a principal which got me through the class. The teacher was no-nonsense and had very high expectations, which I was happy to see since this class prepares leaders in institutions. In this course, I learned how to prepare myself to take on the responsibility of leading a building, I learned how to work through my own bias to make rational and informed decisions, and I explored what kind of leadership it takes to inspire and maintain confidence in my faculty. 

EAD 853 Education Finance and Policy
Kristy Stein; Summer 2021

This course showed me how the public school funding apparatus works. I learned about the ways Michigan funds its schools, and had an opportunity to make my own idealistic changes to that system. Learning about the origins of many of the inequities in school resources and funding gave me a broader view of what it will take to fix our broken education system. This course also added onto knowledge gained in my course on education achievement gaps.

EAD 861 Adult Learning 
Dr. John Dirkx; Fall 2021

This course was enlightening on the subject of differences between how adults and adolescents learn. What are the motivational differences, and how can we utilize them to effectively educate adult learners? Because I have some experience with adult learners, this course came at a perfect time to expand my awareness of the scope of human intelligence and potential to learn. When we look at people and their intersections of identity and experience, it creates a much better condition and environment to teach and learn.

EAD 863 Training and Professional Development
Dr. John Dirkx; Fall 2021

When I took this course, I was working as a diversity consultant for schools. This course gave a theoretical foundation to my then concurrent praxis. The greatest benefit from this course was from learning multiple structures of developing professional development/consulting frameworks I could use depending on my client's needs and specialty.

EAD 870 Capstone Portfolio Course
Dr. Matthew Koehler; Fall 2022

This was the final course of my program. Although creating online content and websites is not a skill I came in comfortable doing, over the course of the semester I found that organizing my work gave me time to reflect on how all my acquired skills and knowledge come together. This course appeared at first to be about organizing my work, but later it became more about reflecting on my self and what kind of professional I intend to be.

EAD 878 Education in Digital Age
Dr. Steven Weiland; Spring 2022

This was the course I felt most related to real issues I deal with in the classroom as a teacher. Issues related to computer usage for kids, internet addiction, and changes in social interactions through digital spaces occupied most of the readings. I appreciated getting historical background in how media and education have changed over thousands of years due to technological shifts. This class challenged me to take a critical view of those changes, both historically and contemporarily, and come to conclusions about how this affects the way I teach and guide my students in an increasingly digital landscape.