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This fall semester, The 91ɫ��Ƭ91ɫ��Ƭ University will officially launch their fully online 91ɫ��Ƭ of Education degree, complementing the Pearl S. Wismer School of Education91ɫ��Ƭ highly successful fifth-year Teaching Credential Program.

The degree format allows graduate students to complete 33 units in two years by offering two eight-week modules per semester and three semesters (fall, spring and summer) per year. Those who have completed the fifth-year Teaching Credential at TMU will be able to transfer 13 units into the program and take the five remaining M.Ed. classes in only one year.

“On-ground, in-class master91ɫ��Ƭ programs don’t work for a large group of people,” said Dr. Mitch Hopewell, dean of the School of Online Education. “We will always need face-to-face programs, but there is a growing need for alternative methods.”

“As a teacher, you don’t have the opportunity to go back to school yourself due to the demands of your schedule. But, the opportunity to attend class on your own time—which for a busy teacher means you can fit classes into lunch, evenings and weekends—is highly valuable.”

Working teachers understand that the most valuable graduate education is not only flexible but also intensely practical. Many graduate tracks are focused on doctoral preparation, dealing more with theory than practice. TMU91ɫ��Ƭ program is tailored for teachers in the trenches.

“Here our professors have actually taught recently, unlike my time in graduate school,” said Dr. Jordan Morton, dean of the School of Education. “This means it91ɫ��Ƭ practically oriented, not theory based. You get the Christian worldview plus focus on a practitioner91ɫ��Ƭ view.”

The program had a soft launch this spring semester, and Morton has observed that “students in the small cohort of alumni that began the M.Ed. this Spring are reporting overall that the courses are helping them grow as teachers and improve their teaching practice, which is the ultimate purpose of the program.”

Finding a great teacher, one that can open up the world for a student and inspire an insatiable desire for learning, is like finding a Californian who makes a full stop at stop signs. The author John Steinbeck phrased it like this: “School is not so easy, and it is not for the most part very fun, but then, if you are very lucky you may find a teacher. Three real teachers in a lifetime are the best of luck. I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of arts since the medium is the human mind and soul.”

This is what the Pearl S. Wismer School of Education ultimately sets out to accomplish. The goal is to make each graduate a truly great teacher, because teachers are the influencers, the ones who have power to shape the minds of children and young adults.

Imagine the influence for learning and for Christ one great teacher can have.