Access: Elective for all students except counselling

In this course we critically consider the content and practices of teaching and learning music through diverse cultural perspectives. Using formal and informal settings we engage ways music can support learning in a variety of subject areas (arts practices, language arts, science, history, cultural studies, health, etc). In relationship with culture bearers of diverse local communities and the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings resources we develop respectful, culturally-responsive and culturally-sustaining pedagogies. Values and principles of EDIA, Indigenization, Reconciliation, anti-racism and decolonization are foundational to this course. Learning Through Music is for people who are and would be music/arts and culture students, educators (all realms), curriculum developers, administrators, policy makers, musicians, researchers, and ethnomusicologists with an interest in processes of change and learning.

Instructor: TBC
Location: Hybrid course delivery. Partly online for pre-readings, and assignments. The in-person component will be offered at Cape Breton University - Centre for Sound Communities.
Dates: Summer 2025: August 12 - August 29.
Scheduled: Online and in-person. Students will participate in full day sessions (8:30 am - 4:30 pm) during the week of August 18 - 22, 2025, in Cape Breton.
Additional costs: Please note: Travel, Accommodation and any costs in addition to the course fee, is the student's responsibility.

Access: General Curriculum Core plus open to all students except Counselling

This course focuses on current issues in the field of curriculum studies. The course integrates contemporary work in the social sciences and the humanities in the analysis of curriculum. Students are invited to critically examine the impact of theory that influences
curriculum development in schools. Prerequisite(s) or Corequisite(s): EDUC 5633 or permission of the instructor

Instructor: Dr. Gemma Porter
Location: Virtual Synchronous and Asynchronous
Dates: Summer 2025: July 21st - August 1st
Scheduled: Monday through Friday; 9:00 am - 11:00 am

Access: Elective for all students except Counselling

This course entails an examination of both summative and formative assessment in relation to various educational purposes. Professional issues such as the role of the teacher and student in assessment, bias, morality, and ethics are explored. Existing assessment practices and processes used in program planning and curriculum implementation will critically analyzed.

Instructor: Dr. Ayman Aljarrah
Location: Virtual Synchronous and Asynchronous
Dates: Summer 2025: July 07 - August 11
Scheduled: Mondays and Fridays; 6:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Access: Pre-requisite of Research Design 5513 or Equivalent approved by Graduate Coordinator

This course examines the traditions and paradigms of interpretive research in educational contexts. Practical, ethical, and theoretical issues are shared through class readings, discussion, and practical application. Opportunities are provided for students to learn and practise a variety of interpretive research methods and strategies. Students actively engage in analysing data from a variety of interpretive perspectives. The intended outcome of the course is to provide students with skills and understandings in a wide range of interpretive research approaches that can be put into practice in classrooms and other research settings.

Instructor: Dr. Gemma Porter
Location: Online, continuous intake

Notes:

Textbook: Coe, R., Waring, M., Hedges, L. & Arthur, J. (2021) Research Methods and Methodologies in Education. 3rd Ed. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

• The course textbook is readily available in the university bookstore and available for ordering across a number of online retail outlets
• Paperback ISBN: 9781529729627
• Hardcover ISBN: 9781529729634

Access: This course can be taken as part of the Acadia University TESOL Certificate, or as a stand-alone course. Please visit tesol.acadiau.ca for more information regarding the Certificate.

This course is foundational. The focus is on how language is acquired. There will be a sociological and a psychological analysis of language acquisition. Semantics, syntax, phonology and pragmatics will be explored. Although it may be taken by all interested students, it is primarily designed to be taken with EDUC 5193 and EDUC 5693 which are part of the Acadia TESOL Certificate program, for those who wish to teach English as a second or foreign language.

Location: Online
Instructor: Sharon Churchill Roe
Dates: Continuous Intake (register and start anytime)

Access: This course can be taken as part of the Acadia University TESOL Certificate, or as a stand-alone course. Please visit tesol.acadiau.ca for more information regarding the Certificate.

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of linguistics: the sound system (phonetics and phonology), word system (morphology), syntax, grammar, discourse analysis, and sociolinguistics.  Although it may be taken by all interested students, it is primarily designed to be taken with EDUC 5183 and EDUC 5693 which are part of the Acadia TESOL Certificate program, for those who wish to teach English as a second or foreign language.

Instructor: Stephen Whelan
Location: Online
Dates: Continuous Intake (register and start anytime)

Access: Open to all MEd students

This course is designed to provide an introduction to multiple paradigms and approaches to research design. Emphasis is placed on participants reading, understanding, and critically engaging with research literature and developing a grounding in ethical best-practices for research with human subjects. Moreover, a focus of the course is on applying the methodologies used to design, analyze and interpret educational research.

Instructor: Dr. Deborah Toope
Location: Online, continuous intake

Notes:  

Course materials:

Creswell, J. W. & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (5th Edition). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.

--- Print ISBN: 9781506386706, 1506386709

--- eText ISBN: 9781506386690, 1506386695

Access: Open to all MEd students

NOTE: There is a registration cap of 20 seats for this course.

This course will examine the relationship between counselling and spirituality. A framework for the spiritually oriented counsellor will be offered to explore topics such as forgiveness, guilt, suffering, death, various concepts of a higher power, transcendence, and mystical experience. Through reading, reflecting, and research, students will explore meaning and transcendence, the difference between religion and spirituality, and the impact openness to spirituality has on the therapeutic alliance.

Instructor: Clarence DeSchiffart
Location: Online; Open-Entry

Access: Open to past and present MEd Counselling students with a prerequisite of 50C3 FA01  School Counselling Programs. Students who have taken 50K3 FA01 Clinical Mental Health Counselling can not get credit for this course because of the similarities.

This asynchronous course will provide students with an overview of the various components of clinical mental health counselling as it relates to the school counsellor. This includes identifying specific mental health diagnoses associated with childhood and adolescence to enable quicker referral; preparing case conceptualizations; choosing empirically supported interventions; developing and implementing effective treatment plans in the school context; and understanding consultation models utilized in schools. This course will aim to assist students in gaining knowledge and understanding of clinical mental health in Canada and issues faced by schools, families, and students. Students will be asked to critically explore ethical issues and diversity relevant to the role of school counsellor working with children and youth experiencing mental health challenges. Students will engage in critical analysis of the advances and tensions related to assessment and diagnosis of mental health challenges, with a focus on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revised (DSM-5-TR). The intent is to give students the language to competently engage in wraparound service provision for children and youth. Students will be asked to consider the DSM-5-TR, not as a tool to define or diagnosis students, but as a way of communicating with other helping professionals and their students. Students will learn the importance of working with other mental health professionals to accurately capture students’ symptomology and understand diagnoses, as well as be an active part of an interdisciplinary team-based approach designed to implement effective interventions to support children and youth in schools.

Instructor: Dr. Birdie Bezanson

Location: Online; Open-Entry

Access: Open to all MEd students

This course is for students who wish to expand their career counselling competencies. It includes a major practical component and will cover such topics as career education and exploration, planning and decision making, and incorporation of computer-based programs. Students are introduced to selected interest and other preference assessment tools. Equity and diversity are taken up as central concerns in career counselling.

Instructor: Clarence DeSchiffart
Location: Online; Open-Entry

Notes: Please note - This course requires two course books - the book listed below is not available at the Acadia bookstore. Students can order the book below through their preferred provider using the ISBN number below. Savickas, Mark L. (2011). Career Counselling; American Psychological Association, Washington DC. ISBN #: 9781433809804;

Access: This course can be taken as a part of the Acadia University TESOL Certificate, or as a stand-alone course.  Please visit tesol.acadiau.ca for more information regarding the Certificate.

This course introduces students to some of the major current teaching methods in English as a Second Language or Foreign Language. It is designed to help prepare teaches for teaching English to ESL speakers either in Canada or abroad. Students will also be required to complete a short ESL practicum. Although it may be taken by all interested students, it is primarily designed to be taken with EDUC 5183 and EDUC 5193 which are part of the Acadia TESOL Certificate program, for those who wish to teach English as a second or foreign language.

Instructor: Nick Veinot
Location: Online
Dates: Continuous Intake (open-entry, register and start anytime)

Access: Open to past and present Acadia Counselling students or by permission of the instructor.

Queer-Affirmative Counselling is designed to introduce new and established helping professionals to queer-affirming counselling perspectives and practices. It provides a starting place for counsellors to "do the work" to provide more intersectional, anti-oppressive, and affirmative care to 2SLGBTQIA+ clients. Part of this work includes ongoing self-reflexivity on implicit biases and assumptions around gender and sexuality so that counsellors can better identify and challenge cisheteronormative discourses in counselling and beyond.

Instructor: Malory Beazley
Location: Online; Open-Entry

Access: Topics in Education is a course is designed to allow students to engage in the study of special topics that are of emerging interest in their core area. This course is only accessible to enrolled MEd students who have completed 9 credit hours in their MEd program already. The course contents and assessment scheme are negotiated between student and participating faculty member and are necessarily approved by the Graduate Coordinator. The range of studies and course outputs are widely flexible.

• This course differs from Readings courses in that there are typically tangible and practical outcomes that go beyond reading the literature. The form below is intended to be a template only which can be shaped to address the desired outcomes of the course.

Process Steps:

• Read about faculty interests and areas at: https://education.acadiau.ca/faculty-staff.html
• Approach an Acadia faculty member or Adjunct faculty member about their availability
• Download the course proposal form (Topics contract 2021.doc)
• Over a meeting with the faculty member, negotiate the contents, deliverables and evaluation of the Topics course
• Submit the signed form by email to the Graduate Coordinator: graded@acadiau.ca
• Await approval to proceed

Access: Pre-requisite of 9 credit hours in an Acadia MEd program

This course provides an opportunity for the exploration of a variety of educational issues through participation in formats such as institutes, workshops, and mini-courses. Evidence of 3h equivalency (120 hours of approved voluntary professional development activities), program relevance, and appropriate academic standards are to be submitted for prior approval to the Graduate Coordinator. Evaluation is on a pass/fail basis. Available only to students enrolled in an Acadia University M.Ed. program or Director-approved extension programs (example: the NSAC technology program)

Dates: Open Entry

Fee:  $200

Notes: Students must have approval from the School of Education before registering to get credit for EDUC 5143

• Educational Explorations is a course credit that allows students to get credit for 120 hours of accumulated professional development experiences directly and justifiably related to their core discipline.
• This professional development (PD) would normally take place during their enrollment in their given MEd program - a few exceptions apply.
• This course is only accessible to enrolled MEd students who have completed 9 credit hours in their MEd program already.

• After the forms (see below) are completed as per the directions included and following the approval of the Graduate Coordinator, students pay per-course tuition and then get credit (3 ch) for the Explorations course as part of their Acadia program.
• Read the instructions carefully as some restrictions apply and forward any questions regarding suitability to the Graduate Coordinator.

•  Education Explorations Form (.pdf or .doc)

•  Sample Education Explorations Form (.pdf)

•  Education Explorations Course Instructions

Access: Pre-requisite of 9 credit hours in an Acadia MEd program

This course is designed to permit students to pursue in depth any of the major areas in education. Requirements for the course will be determined mutually by the student and the supervising instructor.

Instructor: Approved Supervisor
Location: Independent Study
Dates: Open Entry.
Notes: To register for this course you must have approval from the School of Education with a confirmed supervisor

• Readings (EDUC 5153) is a course that allows students to investigate an area of readings interest as an independent study with a faculty member. This course is only accessible to enrolled MEd students who have completed 9 credit hours in their MEd program already. The course contents and assessment scheme are negotiated between student and participating faculty member and are necessarily approved by the Graduate Coordinator. The range of studies and course outputs are widely flexible with the caveat that a seminal reading list forms the foundation of the course. The form below is intended to be a template only which can be shaped to address the desired outcomes of the course with the expectation that there be a rigorous review of the relevant literature and a significant evaluation component that addresses the student's engagement of the topic.

Process Steps:

• Read about faculty interests and areas at: https://education.acadiau.ca/faculty-staff.html
• Approach an Acadia faculty member or Adjunct faculty member about their availability
• Download the course proposal form (word.doc)
• Over a meeting with the faculty member, negotiate the contents, deliverables and evaluation of the Readings course
• Submit the signed Proposal form to the Graduate Coordinator via email: graded@acadiau.ca
• Await approval to proceed

Access: To register for this course you must have approval from the School of Education and a confirmed Supervisor.

The focus of the project in this course is on practical applications grounded in scholarly work. The project should be a substantial piece of work with a written component. Projects might include, but are not limited to: development of software or artistic presentation, curriculum development, creation of a professional development program, action research and systematic program evaluations.

Note: The project offers the student an opportunity to work with a supervisor on a major study that culminates in a research report. While the work is supervised, it differs from a thesis in that it lacks formal committees or a defense of the work. This is sometimes appealing if the student faces MEd timeline completion challenges.

• Request for Project Supervisor (.pdf or .doc)
• Project Proposal Acceptance Form (.doc - download)