Welcome message from Dean Colleen Willard-Holt:

Dear Prospective Master of Education Applicant,

I am delighted to announce a very exciting new Master of Education Program at Wilfrid Laurier University, which accepted its first cohort of students in May, 2011. This program has a number of innovative features which are responsive to the needs identified in our feasibility study.

First, the program is interdisciplinary: students will choose electives from a wide range of courses in other Laurier Faculties which bear upon their selected area of inquiry.

Second, a thread of inquiry connects the courses of the program into a cohesive program, responding to students’ particular areas of interest and enriching the experiences of the cohort as students share their individual discoveries.

Third, the program will be delivered in a blended format, with some face to face and some online components.

Fourth, the program will start each year in May.

The program is aimed toward practicing education professionals. Students may choose to study part-time or full-time, and may do a thesis option or a course-based option culminating in a portfolio. Cohorts of 15-20 students will provide students with a great deal of individual attention, and faculty advisors will carefully monitor each student’s progress. Upon graduation, students will be further prepared as leaders in learning communities, whether in a classroom, a principal’s office, a Board office, or a doctoral program.

The Master of Education Program at Wilfrid Laurier University has received enthusiastic support from the University community as well as the contiguous School Boards. Members of School Board leadership from eight surrounding districts are involved in shaping the direction of the program through the Graduate Advisory Program Partnership, a body unique to Laurier.

Please take a look through our website and determine whether this program will help you to meet your professional goals. Thanks for considering Wilfrid Laurier’s Faculty of Education!

Dean Colleen Willard-Holt