Programs

________________________________M.Ed, M.A., & Ph.D.___

The CCFI graduate program is designed for educators who wish to explore the theoretical, ecological, ethical, and political stances which we embody as revealed in our practices, and in our interactions with others within our relationships, communities, and institutions. Through collaborative and self-reflective practice, participants investigate how theory and forms of inquiry influence individual and communal identity, ethics, and pedagogical choices of action. This program is a response to the challenges of the 21st century; offering educators dialogical, experiential and proactive spaces that foster intercultural explorations and shared communication.

The CCFI program embraces several key areas of focus. (See the diagram below). Two core courses, Living Inquiry in Learning Communities" and "Theorizing Knowing" are the theoretical heart of the program. Each year a variety of cross-faculty CCFI courses are offered to complement the program. In addition, students are encouraged to enroll in courses offered in other departments and faculties which may inform or enrich their work.Opportunities for individual flexibility, collaborative investigations, and a variety of communal experiences are built into the CCFI program.

Living inquiry in Learning Communities
Recognizing the pedagogical role that "living inquiry" plays in our lives as educators, researchers, and human beings is integral to understanding our educational practices and ways of being in the world. Living inquiry critically and openly investigates the impact of our presence, our knowing, our language and action within educational contexts. Living inquiry also acknowledges the lived and shared experiences of learners within multiple spaces of learning.

This core course is designed to explore with students theoretical, relational, and experiential (re)presentations of communal practice, exploring and creating integrity between theory and practice. Students will engage in a variety of theoretical and experiential explorations-bridging reading of theoretical perspectives with generative dialogue, as well as collaborative and self-reflective practice. Investigating relational, intercultural, and communal sites of learning, students will generate narrative, interpretative and collaborative experiences that give voice to lived experience and shared learning.

Theorizing Knowing: Ways of Being/Knowing/Doing
Theorizing Knowing embodies the theoretical heart of the program and introduces students to a variety of work by scholars engaged in exploring ecological, ethical, spiritual, embodied, indigenous, gendered, and/or intercultural ways of being/knowing.

Our ethical, ecological, gendered, cultural and embodied positionings are embedded within the theory that we embrace (knowingly or not), as scholars and educators, and, in turn, informs our practices, relationships, and ways of being in the world.

Investigating Inquiry
Research methodologies embody not only a set of procedures for generating knowledge, but also both a language, and a theoretical and political stance that places the subject of inquiry under a particular lens. In this program, students are initially introduced to a broad spectrum of educational research to understand the variations in procedures, assumptions, language and stances that exist across methodologies. They then choose from a variety of research methodology courses to investigate a particular method of inquiry in more depth. Students may choose to focus on methodological approaches such as narrative inquiry, autobiography, interpretative inquiry, ethnography, action research, art/ography, performative inquiry, and creative non-fiction.

Performing Con/textualities:
(Re)presenting Research
Representing research has itself become a site of inquiry for students interested in interested in new ways of expression and communication. How do we create texts of our learning within the con/texts of our inquiry and experience? How do we map our journey from the initial concept of inquiry to the shaping and per/forming of the final text? Can research be (re)presented in ways other than textual?

Through a variety of opportunities, students may explore performative writing, intertextual writings for cyberspace, and alternatives to scholarly writing. Participation in Educational Insights, the Centre's online journal, provides students with the opportunity to follow the production of a journal from conceptualization to publication.

Open Spaces: Elective Opportunities
Open Spaces invite students to design their own program building on the four areas of focus within the CCFI program. Flexibility of choice is available so that students have the opportunity to journey through theoretical/experiential/representational landscapes they may not yet have imagined, or to pursue areas of interest to complement their program of study. Students are welcome to take courses within the Faculty of Education, and/or are encouraged to seek relevant courses across the campus to enrich their program of study.

(To be selected in consultation with your program advisory committee and/or graduate advisor).

Comprehensive Examination for Ph.D. Students
Comprehensive examinations are required by the Faculty of Graduate Studies in all Ph.D. programs. These are typically written over the course of two to three months at the conclusion of the student's coursework and prior to approval of the dissertation proposal. The comprehensive examinations for the Ph.D. degree in the Centre for Cross-Faculty Inquiry in Education entail the preparation of three scholarly papers that deal with important and far-reaching concepts from across the student's program of studies. Two papers will address areas of content relevant to the proposed dissertation and one will address research methodology. Coming at the end of the student's coursework, and before the heavily specialized research of the proposal and dissertation, the papers should pursue a more comprehensive goal, in a critical fashion, taking on one or more of the leading issues at the intersection of policy, theory, research, and practice for each area. One model that might guide students in writing these papers is the scholarly journal article that, rather than present the results of a research project, seeks to engage a specified field of inquiry by contributing a specific point of view on this current or historical orientation and disposition.

While the actual time frame for writing the papers is decided by the student and her/his supervisory committee, the specific date for submitting the three papers to the committee must be registered with the Centre's Director at least one month prior to the submission deadline. In preparing the papers, students work with their committee to develop a) a general issue or question that will provide the focus of the argument within each paper and b) a preliminary reading list of key works in the area of 10 or so items for each of the papers. After this initial period of consultation and topic development, students complete the papers independently of the faculty members who are to examine the resulting work. The papers should have the format and length of a typical academic article (5000 - 7000 words).

Within three weeks of submitting the papers, the supervisor will schedule a meeting of the supervisory committee and student to discuss the three papers. The committee may request that the student revise one or more of the papers before evaluating the comprehensive examination on a Pass/Fail basis. The student has the right to appeal the committee's decision through the Centre's Director. The committee submits the completed Comprehensive Examiniation Form and the student's three papers to the Office of the Director. The Faculty of Graduate Studies is notified with the appropriate form and signatures.

Projects, Theses, and Doctoral Dissertations
Each of the CCFI programs culminates in an opportunity for students to engage in self-relective practice or research. M.Ed. students complete their program by taking two consecutive courses and work together to create, enact, and represent an inquiry project investigating an aspect of their own professional practice. M.A. and Ph.D.students complete original research projects, guided by research committees.

Participating in Community Learning
All CCFI students are invited to participate in a learning community as part of their program. Graduate students learn together in core courses, structured to foster collaboration and community. At the same time, all students are encouraged to participate in events, workshops, brown bags, and seminars throughout their program of study. The learning that happens in-between the spaces of courses is vital to the program's commitment to creating a co-evolving community of scholars and educators. The intent is to create a community of scholars within which dialogues and opportunities for collaborative and reciprocal practices will inform understanding and influence choices of future action. The planning and content of the activities will be generated by participating students in response to areas of expressed interest, questioning, proactive engagement and/or curiosity.

Professional Development for Doctoral Students
In the CCFI program, on-going doctoral seminars and workshops are offered to assist students through the doctoral process. In addition, additional, advanced-level doctoral seminars investigate critical issues and/or theorists in depth in relationship to students' own research and participation in the academy. In addition to participating in these doctoral seminars, students are encouraged to take advantage of teaching and research opportunities available in the form of teaching or research assistantships.

Educational Insights
All CCFI students are also invited to join the editorial and production team of Educational Insights, an on-line journal that explores new ways of intertextual and theoretical (re)presentations.

www.educationalinsights.ca