Courses
ITSF 4005 Education in Emergencies and Reconstruction
This course provides students with a comprehensive introduction to the growing and increasingly complex field of education in emergencies, one which encompasses crises caused by natural disasters and armed conflict and which spans the relief-development spectrum. The course will provide opportunities for students to critically reflect on practice, policy, research, and advocacy efforts within the field and to develop transferable skills related to program design and policy analysis. The course will draw on a combination of readings, lectures, class discussions, simulations, student presentations, multimedia, group work, and guest speakers to deepen our understanding of the education in emergencies field.
ITSF 4009 Introduction to Research Methods in International and Comparative Education
This course is designed to serve as an introduction to the concepts, methods, and applications of empirical research in international and comparative education. The course readings, lectures, class discussion, activities, and course assignments will examine fundamental issues and processes of research design and practice from a variety of methodological perspectives —qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods.
ITSF 4013 Literacy and International Development
This course problematizes common assumptions about the relationship between literacy and cognitive, social, political and economic development. A sociocultural approach to languages and literacies is taken, while critical studies of international development are examined, applying a gender lens throughout.
ITSF 4025 Languages, Societies, and Schools
This course examines the role that languages play in societal and educational contexts from an interdisciplinary perspective, incorporating economic, cultural, political and historical analyses. Diverse language ideologies are considered, along with how language policies are enacted by stakeholders at different levels, with a focus on non-dominant languages in multilingual contexts.
ITSF 4038 Monitoring and Evaluation in International Educational Development
This course explores small- and large-scale research and evaluation methods and their potential for valid, reliable, efficient evaluation of educational outcomes as well as project outcomes. Needs assessment, capacity assessment, project evaluations (mid-term and final), performance appraisals and impact evaluations done for a range of agencies and organizations are analyzed for diverse educational programs (including formal and non-formal education) in low-income country contexts.
ITSF 4060 Latinx in Urban Schools
In this graduate seminar, we explore theories and research to shed light on the context of Latinx education in the US, including why Latinx are the least likely of all major demographic groups to be enrolled in school and, as adults, are most likely to lack a high school diploma and have limited access to postsecondary education. The course explores the racial/ethnic diversities that exist between and within recent immigrant groups, drawing especially on research that shows the diversity of cultural backgrounds within Latinx subgroups. Framing the discussion within relevant theories, the course’s topics will include immigration, educational achievement and persistence, language and schooling, the interplay of race, gender and class with educational attainment, and transnational communities.
ITSF 4092 Qualitative Methods
This course examines the meaning-making approach to qualitative research and the social science methods used to examine educational policies and practices in diverse research settings, with particular emphasis on international, development, and humanitarian contexts. Students will gain experience in key aspects of qualitative research, including: designing a study, developing data collection tools, collecting data, analyzing data with computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software such as NVivo, and writing a research prospectus. This course will also prepare students for the practical and ethical dilemmas they may confront conducting fieldwork while also discussing strategies to mitigate these challenges.
ITSF 4093 Curriculum and Pedagogy in International Contexts
This course addresses theories, models, planning & policy, design, and implementation of curriculum, as applied across different national contexts. The course addresses key issues in working internationally, such as curriculum borrowing and use of ICTs. Students design a contextually responsive curriculum.
ITSF 4094 Education Planning in ICEd
The course explores educational planning and policy analysis in developing countries. A special focus is placed on aid effectiveness, aid modalities, and the aid architecture in countries where educational reforms are sometimes funded by multilateral organizations, development banks, and non-governmental organizations. Critical issues, such as global benchmarking, target setting, and monitoring by the World Bank, OECD, and other international organizations are examined. Students learn about current debates and controversies in international educational development and reflect on the impact of externally funded projects on educational planning and reform in developing countries.
ITSF 4101 Quantitative Analysis in Comparative and International Education
This course serves as an introduction to quantitative analysis as applied to the field of Comparative International Education. The course covers fundamental concepts of quantitative analysis, inferential statistics, and introduces the assumptions and mechanics of the classical normal linear regression model.
ITSF 4105 Civil Society and NGOs in IED
This course introduces students to education-related Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Non-Governmental organizations' (NGOs) critical strategic issues. Based on teaching cases of NGOs and CSOs from multiple regions, students analyze, improve, and design organizational theories of change, advocacy, service, scaling up strategies, accountability processes, volunteering programs, and resource generating approaches.
ITSF 4160 Human Rights Education in Africa: Politics, Policies, and Pedagogies
Students examine the historical conditions that give rise to human rights violations and the efforts to protect rights through policy and education. They explore different approaches to human rights education, apply them to case studies of specific African countries, and develop human rights education curricula.
ITSF 4195 Research and Writing Seminar in International and Comparative Education
This course is designed to help students develop the professional knowledge and skills necessary for effective written communication through their Integrative Projects. We recommend that students take the course at least one semester before they plan to graduate (ie. during your second year or if you plan to graduate in one year, during your second semester of the first year).
ITSF 4200 Integrative Project Research & Writing Practicum
The Integrative Project (IP) Research & Writing Practicum will provide an opportunity for students to spend time developing and conducting their integrative project plans. For the IP requirement in the IED and CIE majors, students typically take one of four approaches for completing their IPs: 1) empirical research paper or proposal; 2) theoretical exploration; 3) policy study; or 4) curriculum design and development. Other types of writing projects may also be accepted pending consultation and approval from the student’s faculty advisor. The Practicum represents 36 weekly hours of work to reflect the time spent designing projects, collecting data, reviewing literature, analyzing data, and writing up project findings, among other related tasks. Students will have the option of taking the course for 0-3 credits and will consult with their academic advisors to ensure the best approach for their overall program plan.
ITSF 4580 International Comparative Education & Development Studies, Part I
Scholars and practitioners in the International & Comparative Education field explore educational issues in comparative and international contexts; they examine the relationship between education and cultural, economic, political, and social processes; and promote strategic approaches to improving education and development worldwide. This year-long course introduces students to the field focusing on theories, issues, methods and skills. It is designed to meet the needs and interests of those who plan to work as educators, administrators, policy analysts, or researchers in educational institutions and/or development organizations. The first part of the course (Fall) focuses on debates in two central areas of the field: globalization and development. The second part (Spring) focuses on critical analysis of the importance of education and considerations of education as a private or public good. Yearlong course, meets in Fall.
ITSF 4581 International Comparative Education & Development Studies, Part II
Scholars and practitioners in the International & Comparative Education field explore educational issues in comparative and international contexts; they examine the relationship between education and cultural, economic, political, and social processes; and promote strategic approaches to improving education and development worldwide. This year-long course introduces students to the field focusing on theories, issues, methods and skills. It is designed to meet the needs and interests of those who plan to work as educators, administrators, policy analysts, or researchers in educational institutions and/or development organizations. The first part of the course (Fall) focuses on debates in two central areas of the field: globalization and development. The second part (Spring) focuses on critical analysis of the importance of education and considerations of education as a private or public good. Yearlong course, meets in Spring.
ITSF 4603 Human and Social Dimensions of Peace
This course focuses on issues of human rights, global ethics, and various aspects of structural and cultural violence. Students explore notions of identity, diversity and reflexive narrative in relation to the concepts of (positive and negative) peace and human dignity. Students are then introduced to examples of nonviolent social movements and reflect on the process of peaceful transformation.
ITSF 4613 International Perspectives on Citizenship and Human Rights Education
This course provides a grounding in the theory, pedagogy, and practice of peace and human rights education. It draws from the international literature of the field as it has been developed over the past three decades, and reviews teaching practices relevant to various cultures and learning settings.
ITSF 4614 International Organizations, Civil Society and Peace Education
Peace Education is concerned with the prevention of violence, but this theoretical framework also draws on diverse practices, or co-disciplines, including Global Citizenship Education, Human Rights Education and Education for Sustainable Development. This course explores key inter-governmental and non-governmental actors, processes, curriculum and issues in these peace education areas.
ITSF 5006 Comparative Policy Studies: Tools & Techniques
The course is designed to help students to understand foundations and techniques of policy analysis underlying education sector strategies of low-income countries. Part 1 will review critical debates over the role of donors and aid recipients in development contexts and introduce students to tools and techniques for producing education sector strategies. Part 2 will provide an overview of theories of the policy process from an international comparative perspective and therefore also include theories of global education policy, "traveling reforms," and transnational policy borrowing and lending. Part 3 will discuss trends in various sub-sectors that international agencies tend to frame as "best practices" and for which they provide technical assistance and external financial support.
ITSF 5008 Gender, Education, and International Development
This seminar examines the field of international education development from the standpoint of feminist and gender studies. We will read and discuss relevant studies in anthropology, economics, history, political science, and sociology, as well as interdisciplinary research in the fields of development studies and gender studies. We will begin by considering the political and legal advances in women’s rights within the daily reality of people’s lives in developing countries through the multiple lenses of democratic theory, neoliberal policies, and multiculturalism.
ITSF 5009
Social networks – the relational ties that connect individuals and organizations – affect many important outcomes such as behaviors, opportunities, and the spread of resources. Networks are everywhere, but most often invisible. Therefore mapping and understanding social networks have important implications for policy and practice. This course serves as an introduction to social network analysis, with a special focus on applications in comparative and international education. The theoretical heart of this approach to social science is that actors are interdependent, and that social structure emerges from regularities in this interdependence. The methodological idea behind social network analysis is based on graph theory. Through lectures and discussions of the assigned readings and materials, this course seeks to couple the theoretical and empirical development of social network analysis with methodological tools for conducting social network analysis.
ITSF 5023 The Family As Educator
Analysis of the family as educator and its interrelations with schools and other educational institutions. Emphasis on inquiry deriving from educational practice and behavioral science theory.
ITSF 5026 The Family and Television
Permission required. An analysis of the impact of television on the family's educative functions, with special attention to the process by which the family mediates television.
ITSF 5029 Education, Conflict and Peacebuilding
This course examines the politics of armed conflict and peace building and the role of education in promoting peace or exacerbating violence in conflict-affected and post-conflict contexts. We will investigate several of the most pressing challenges facing the various stakeholders (external actors such as international organizations, bilateral donors, and NGOs; local actors, such as governments, civil societies, and nationalist/ideological state factions) and the influence of those stakeholders on education systems in times of war and emerging peace and on educational practices, policies, and curricula in conflict and post-conflict situations.
ITSF 5031 Education and Sustainable Development: Comparative and International Perspectives
This course critically examines the role of education in sustainable development, specifically the global movement of Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE). The course focuses on ESE-related policies and practices within a variety of levels, contexts, and perspectives. Beginning with an overview of the foundations of ESE, we will explore key issues in the field: (a) the development of ESE policy in different levels (e.g., supranational, national, and subnational); (b) the links between ESE and other curricular movements (e.g., standards and accountability; human rights and peace education); (c) drivers and barriers that shape ESE policy/practice (e.g., NGOs and characteristics of modern education systems); and, (d) ESE "best practices" and their impact on teaching and learning.
ITSF 5034 Climate Change, Society, & Education
This course introduces students to the links between climate change, society, and education. Through assigned readings and materials, lectures, games, and field trips, we will examine different perspectives on climate change (climate science, social science, indigenous knowledge systems), the international architecture behind climate change education (CCE), best practices and their impact on teaching and learning in k-12 schools, the spread of climate information, misinformation and disinformation, and the recent emergence of the global youth movement advocating for climate justice. Our discussion will be based on a variety of literatures including theoretical texts, empirical research, and policy documents.
ITSF 5035 Social Analysis of International Large-Scale Assessments
The course introduces students to the growing field of international large-scale assessments of student achievement (such as TIMSS, PIRLS, and PISA). The first section of the course is dedicated to the history of international assessments and to conditions that facilitated their emergence and diffusion. The second section is focused on the methodology behind global and regional projects that produce indicators, standardization, benchmarking, and comparison in education policy and governance. The third section is focused on the politics of these assessments, through critical analysis of the ways in which scholars, media, and policy makers use data from international assessments.
ITSF 5040 Mixed Methods in International Comparative Education
The course is designed to develop students' ability to critically consume and produce research in their specialized field within International and Comparative Education or other programs in the department, college and university. Students will be oriented to the epistemological and other assumptions and methodological practices of quantitative and qualitative methods including experimental, survey research, ethnographic, and historical approaches to disciplined inquiry. Students will be exposed to positivist, interpretive, and critical/feminist traditions or paradigms associated with these approaches as well as ethical dilemmas encountered in planning, conducting, reporting, and consuming research.
ITSF 5043 Decolonial Theories in Comparative Education
In this graduate seminar, we will explore the application of Decolonial Theories to advance new perspectives and knowledge in comparative education. We will read the work of Walter Mignolo, Arturo Escobar, Catherine Walsh and Boaventura de Sousa Santos, among others.. We will frame the discussion within relevant theories and contexts , such as Internal Colonialism and Indigenous ways of knowing. Among the issues to be discussed are the rights of Indigenous peoples to education and the preservation of cultural and linguistic diversity of people across the world. Topics include the right to education, the nature of citizenship, intercultural and bilingual education, transnational networks in support of Indigenous movements, Indigenous resistance, and decolonizing methodologies. An overarching theme is national policies to improve access, teacher training, and intercultural understanding at all levels of education.
ITSF 5050 Language, Cultural Politics, and Education
Over recent decades, discourses of multiculturalism and multilingualism have become standard in the educational initiatives of nation-states, multinational corporations, and nongovernmental organizations. In much of the world, practitioners no longer ask whether they should educate for diversity but rather how they should carry out such efforts within many existing alternatives. This course covers historical moments in which different types of multicultural and multilingual education have arisen; social theories about social inequality, language, and education that help us understand them; and examples of educational initiatives that reinforce or change inequity. Students are encouraged to consider radical possibilities for educational change.
ITSF 5102 Public Opinion on Education Around the World
This course provides a broad overview of social research on public opinion, and seeks to inspire students to engage with this work on education development. We consider ways to conceptualize and measure public opinion, sources of variation in public opinion, and recent contributions to the empirical and theoretical assessment of the impact of public opinion on policymaking. We also consider public opinion on a wide variety of topics, including trust/confidence in education systems, teaching and teachers, global educational reform movement, and equal opportunity.
ITSF 5120 Education in Community Settings: Museums
Permission required. A review and an analysis of educational issues and opportunities in various community settings.
ITSF 5430 Internship
Permission required. Supervised experiences in diverse settings designed to develop skills in research, development, planning, and evaluation.
ITSF 5500 Education Across the Americas
This graduate seminar introduces students to education and social issues in Latin America and the Caribbean. The seminar covers the time period from the consolidation of national systems of public education during the twentieth century to present day. Using theoretical perspectives drawn from comparative education, critical social theories and critical pedagogy, the course includes case studies of individual nations as well as thematic issues pertaining to the region as a whole. Topics include social and political dimensions of education, ethnicity and indigenous education, academic achievement, women’s education and social change, teacher preparation, student movements, social movements and patterns of migration. The seminar incorporates and analyzes the perspectives of different actors in education, including international organizations, civil society organizations, teachers and students. The effects of projects financed by international organizations will be evaluated in terms of improved access, teacher training and intercultural understanding within the education systems of Latin America and the Caribbean.
ITSF 5509 Globalization, Society, and Education Policy
The seminar explores current debates and controversies regarding global governance, “traveling reforms,” evidence-based policy and planning, and other current topics related to comparative policy studies. Each session starts out with a structured lecture on relevant social theories (systems theory, institutionalist theory, political economy, actor network theory, science and technology studies, etc.), followed by discussion. Reading and active participation in class discussions are required and will be graded. The course is tailored towards Advanced Masters and doctoral students. It helps them to understand, differentiate, and apply different interpretive frameworks that best suit their own research interest.
ITSF 6200 Field Research Outside of the US
Permission required. Required of doctoral students when choice of doctoral research necessitates data generation in other countries. Students will engage in 36 hours per week, for a minimum of 15 weeks, during their research outside of the United States. Students are able to take this course no more than two times during their doctoral studies. Field experiences will be conducted under faculty supervision in an approved geographical and institutional site. Students secure approval of department chair and principal advisor in advance and render periodic reports.
ITSF 6520 Seminar in Families and Communities as Educators
A research seminar in the family and the community as educational systems.
ITSF 6580 Advanced Doctoral Seminar in International and Comparative Education I
The advanced doctoral seminar is a year-long course (ITSF 6580/fall and ITSF 6581/spring) that will enable students to critically examine the history, methods and theories in the field of international and comparative education. The course will also help students identify and engage in current debates. The aim of the course is to help students develop an understanding of the multiplicity of perspectives and practices surrounding education and of the ways that global and local forces shape schooling the world over.
ITSF 6581 Advanced Doctoral Seminar in International and Comparative Education II
The advanced doctoral seminar is a year-long course (ITSF 6580/fall and ITSF 6581/spring) that will enable students to critically examine the history, methods and theories in the field of international and comparative education. The course will also help students identify and engage in current debates. The aim of the course is to help students develop an understanding of the multiplicity of perspectives and practices surrounding education and of the ways that global and local forces shape schooling the world over.
ITSF 6583 Dissertation Academic Writing
The Dissertation Academic Writing practicum will provide an opportunity for doctoral students to spend time developing and writing work for their dissertation, including the specialization exam, grant proposals, and dissertation proposal. Students will have the option of taking the course for 0-3 credits for full-time status and will consult with their academic advisors to ensure the best approach for their overall program plan. The course can be taken twice, but can’t be taken after proposal hearing.
ITSF 6590 Academic Writing and Publishing
Permission required. Presentation of research in progress and examination of professional roles. This course requires at least 18 hours per week of out-of-classroom work.
ITSF 6902 Studies in International and Transcultural Studies
Advanced students may register for intensive individual study of some aspect of their concentration. Registration is only by permission of the instructor under whose guidance the work will be undertaken. Times for individual conferences will be arranged. Enrollment may be for 1 or more points each term, and registration is not limited to one or two terms.
ITSF 6990 Studies in International and Comparative Educational
In each of the areas within the department, advanced students may register for intensive individual study of some aspect of their specialization. Registration is only by permission of the instructor under whose guidance the work will be undertaken. Times for individual conferences will be arranged. Enrollment may be for 1 or more points each term, and registration is not limited to one or two terms.
ITSF 7500 Dissertation Seminar in International and Transcultural Studies
Permission required. Proposal writing. Required of doctoral students in the semester following successful completion of certification examinations.
ITSF 8900 Dissertation Advisement in International and Transcultural Studies
Individual advisement on doctoral dissertations. Fee to equal 3 points at current tuition rate for each term. For requirements, see section in catalog on Continuous Registration for Ed.D./Ph.D. degrees.