EdD in Educational and Professional Practice: Social Emotional Learning
Location: AU Distance and Extended Education
Credits for Degree: 60 semester credits
Standard Mode of Instruction: Low-residency
Standard time to completion: 36 months
Program Overview
The Ed.D. program is designed to prepare change-oriented professionals who use educational practice in the service of more just and inclusive schools, organizations, and communities. Through a transdisciplinary curriculum that includes shared seminars in a diverse learning community, and individualized work within the chosen specialization, students will enhance their ability to address issues of equity, ethics, and social justice.
Students specialize in one of the following transdisciplinary areas of inquiry: Critical Pedagogy; Environmental and Sustainability Education; Humane Education; Multicultural and Anti-Racist Education; Social Justice Leadership; Waldorf Education; Social Emotional Learning; or Self-Designed.
The specialization may be composed of seminars and individualized study. Students may also choose to take courses in other Antioch programs and to transfer in credits from previous graduate work, pursuant to program requirements. Each student’s dissertation topic will fall within the chosen specialization.
The program’s culminating project will be a Practice-Based Dissertation that establishes students’ standing among scholar-practitioners who seek workable solutions to complex issues in schools, communities, and national and global settings.
Social Emotional Learning Specialization
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which young people and adults develop a set of skills for becoming emotionally literate, are able to combine thinking and feeling to make optimal decisions, deepen and maintain healthy relationships, solve problems, and reach personal and collective goals. SEL also comprises the strategies and processes for promoting and infusing SEL into the fabric of an educational community.
Educators who practice and promote these SEL competencies enable students to learn, grow, and thrive, with more positive social behaviors, increased academic performance, and greater engagement with peers and adults. Longitudinal studies affirm that SEL programs promote positive youth development, with student outcomes reflecting school, career, and life success, along with commitment to community.
The field of social emotional learning has blossomed over the past several decades and is increasingly recognized as an essential component of education in K-12, higher education, and community settings. This SEL specialization will lay the groundwork for educators in school and community based organizations and independent SEL consultants to advocate for, develop, implement, and assess social emotional learning instruction, curriculum, policies, and procedures. Acknowledging that the scope of SEL is broad, the SEL specialization allows for much flexibility in focus while maintaining consistency and rigor with a deep inquiry into the broad range of SEL scholarship and practice. All students in the SEL specialization will develop scholar/practitioner and leadership, assessment, and intervention skills, applicable in all educational settings. Benchmarks for SEL implementation include all students and adults developing SEL skills, SEL integrated into classrooms to enhance academic learning, and the whole school using SEL to build a thriving learning community. Students in this specialization will also explore the intersectionality of SEL with equity, cultural competence, and social justice.
Throughout the program, students will continue to develop and deepen their own SEL skills for greater self-awareness, intentionality, and purpose, essentially “walking the talk.” Through assessments, self-reflection, and cohort discussion, students will develop their own SEL competencies, allowing for more meaningful relationships with their own students and colleagues, reducing stress and burn-out, and modeling SEL behaviors and attitudes for students and the community.
Current Tuition and Fees
University Tuition and Fees
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