New Distance-Learning Master's Degree Program at UB Offers Permanent NYS Teaching Certification

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A new distance-learning graduate program at the University at Buffalo this fall will offer an innovative master's degree in general education that will satisfy New York State Department of Education requirements for permanent teaching certification.

The 33-credit-hour program is unique in that it will be a complete graduate program -- including non-education courses -- delivered entirely through the use of interactive video and Web-based technologies. Students also will have the option of attending on-site summer institutes at UB.

The program is a collaborative effort of the UB Graduate School of Education (GSE) and College of Arts and Sciences (CAS). It targets provisionally certified K-8 and special-education teachers in outlying areas of Western New York who want to earn permanent New York State teaching certification while they continue to teach in their own communities.

The program's first cohort will consist of teachers in Niagara, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties who will take courses from one of three remote sites over the Western New York Interactive Video Network. Participation will be limited to 10 students at each site: Jamestown High School, Cuba-Rushford High School and Niagara Academy.

The interactive-video technology to be used will allow students to communicate with one another and with their professors audibly and visibly in real-time. Some of the courses also will be offered entirely over the Internet, through blackboard.com to accommodate the different learning styles of enrolled students.

The academic rigor and admission requirements for the degree are identical to those of the GSE's campus-based programs and are consistent with the standards of nationally ranked schools of education like the GSE, says Katherine G. Ferguson, associate vice provost and director of graduate student recruitment services at UB.

UB Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi said the program "ensures teachers will have the content and the pedagogy required to provide high-quality education that the students in New York deserve and need. We're proud and pleased to be able to provide this program outside of our immediate geographic area."

Added GSE Dean Mary Gresham: "The program is ideal for the growing number of teachers who need new ways in which to continue their professional development." She noted that this year the university will use the tools used to develop this program to offer several new distance-learning, continuing-education initiatives.

Christine Chelus, director of new media projects for the GSE, said there is a growing population of teachers faced with the need to integrate educational technology and cross-disciplinary approaches into their teaching practice.

"This program," Chelus said, "will help them to do this by presenting material grounded in educational theory and practice, while building strengths in the content areas of English, social science, mathematics and science. It also will teach valuable skills in information-seeking and delivery through the use of new educational technologies."

The curriculum consists of five courses offered by the GSE and five offered by the CAS. Among them are educational technology, standards and curriculum, teaching for diversity and instructing exceptional learners in regular classrooms. They cover such topics as indigenous peoples, world civilizations, mathematics and statistical reasoning, American literature and case studies in biology that look at the natural world and the human melting pot.

Students will be required to complete 30 credit hours of coursework and a final project over five semesters. Permanent certification will be awarded when they have completed the program curriculum and two years of teaching, and pass both the New York State Content Specialist Test and the New York State Assessment of Teaching Skills/Performance.

For more information about the joint degree, visit . Prospective students may contact Chelus at 716-645-6642 or ctchelus@buffalo.edu.