UTS course code: C04179
Testamur title: Master of Education in Adult Education
Abbreviation: MEd
Course fee: HECS/$200 per cp (local); $6,900 per semester (international)
Total credit points: 48

Overview
Course aims
Admission requirements
Advanced standing
Attendance
Course duration
Course structure
Assessment
Articulation and progression
Other information

Overview

The Master of Education in Adult Education is designed to meet the specific educational development needs of a broad range of practitioners whose work includes helping adults to learn. Students in the course typically come from a diverse range of fields of practice including human resource development, community adult education, TAFE, non-formal education, health education, community services, adult basic education, career education, higher education, adult religious education, vocational education and training and the armed forces.

The open structure of the course allows flexible patterns of study enabling you to choose a pathway through the subjects on offer which fits your particular interests and career needs.

Course aims

Underlying this course is a coherent pedagogy, which is practitioner centred and geared towards education at the post-compulsory level.

The aims of the course are for you to:

• develop expertise in understanding and managing adult learning
• acquire new and more advanced knowledge in designing, implementing, and evaluating educational programs for adults
• use adult education to contribute to the development of a democratic and socially just society
• expand and evaluate the personal capacity to be self directed in learning
• develop an analysis of the social, political and economic context of adult education
• develop and apply techniques of critical inquiry to your adult education practice
• conceptualise and criticise epistemological frameworks underlying theory and practice in adult education
• exhibit scholarly rigour in research, critique, evaluation, design and implementation of adult learning
• be a force for innovation in adult education, and
• acknowledge the multiple perspectives that individuals bring to any learning situation as a result of their gender, ethnicity, class, age, sexuality and/or physical abilities.

Admission requirements

Entry to the program requires a Bachelor's degree and evidence of involvement in adult education in either a professional or voluntary capacity.

Advanced standing

Advanced standing is granted to students who have previous postgraduate qualifications (Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma and Master's degrees) in related fields. These fields include education, human resource development, IT, health and the social sciences. We also consider granting advanced standing to students who have extensive and impressive scholarly, work and other achievements that are judged to be the equivalent of postgraduate study.

To seek advanced standing you should complete an application form for subject exemptions. This form can be obtained from the Faculty Student Services Office, or directly from the Faculty website:

www.education.uts.edu.au
or
email education@uts.edu.au

You are required to attach documentation to the application form. If you are seeking exemptions for previous credentialled learning it is a fairly straightforward process. There is no need to write a covering letter. If you are seeking exemption for uncredentialled learning you should first liaise with the Program Director before proceeding.

Attendance

Three main delivery modes are used: (a) weekly on campus, (b) intensive weekend block with distance study, and (c) full distance study. A non-refundable administration fee applies to all subjects where students choose distance mode (to apply from 2004). This fee is $50 per distance subject (pending final UTS approval).

Not all subjects are available in every mode. Consult the subject availability list on the Faculty website (under Timetable) for details of subjects available in a particular semester.

Course duration

Most students do one or two subjects per semester. There are eight subjects to be completed. Students who do two subjects per semester complete the degree in four semesters, i.e. two years. Students who do one subject per semester complete the degree in eight semesters, i.e. four years. But there is freedom to vary the pace of your study. You might do one subject in the first semester, two subjects in the second semester, and three subjects in the following semester, and so on. The course can also be completed full time over two semesters.

Course structure

You need to complete eight subjects in order to graduate with a Master of Education in Adult Education.

There is one core subject to complete: 013332 Understanding Adult Education and Training. This can be studied either in the weekly program or by distance.

You can do the core subject when you choose but we recommend you complete it as near to the commencement of your degree as possible.

The criterion you use to choose subjects should be shaped by both intellectual and career considerations. When choosing subjects you also have to take into account when subjects are offered. The frequency of when a particular subject is offered is constrained by practical considerations such as level of student demand, staff availability and University resources.

The Faculty Student Services office has one-page subject outlines. You can request them from:

email education@uts.edu.au

telephone (02) 9514 3900

Another very good source of information is other students who have done the subjects.

Generally you should not do more than four subjects per semester. In order to study three or four subjects per semester you would need to be free of, or at least have minimal, work commitments. Most students who are working full time or part time (be it in the paid workforce, family or community) do one or two subjects per semester.

Three or four subjects per semester are regarded as full-time study. One or two subjects per semester are regarded as part-time study.

There is no standard 'class' time. It varies across subjects as the timetable indicates. Weekly classes require attendance on campus for 13 x two-hour sessions. Weekend classes vary from one-day intensive workshops to a series of evenings. Some distance subjects have workshops, and some do not.

You should spend at least the equivalent of three to four hours per week reading and investigating for each subject. You then also spend intensive blocks of time at different times during the semester writing your assignments. You are required to write about 6,000–7,000 words for each subject.

You can do distance study one semester and attend weekly classes the next semester. You might attend one weekly class and do a subject in the weekend program in the same semester. Any combination of study modes is possible.

Core subject

You are required to undertake one core subject:

013332 Understanding Adult Education and Training

In addition all students are advised to take 013348 Research Perspectives as a foundation for understanding the research basis for educational theory and practice. Anyone interested in pursuing a postgraduate research degree after completion of their Master's studies needs to take both 013348 Research Perspectives and 013349 Research Design in order to demonstrate their capacity for research.

Students with a Bachelor of Education in Adult Education, Graduate Certificate in Adult Education in Training or Graduate Diploma in Vocational Education and Training can not enrol in 013332 Understanding Adult Education and Training. These students need to take another elective instead.

Electives

Elective subjects are available in the following areas:

• adult learning and program development
• adult communication and management
• vocational and workplace learning
• leadership in educational organisations
• experience-based learning
• popular education.

Electives may also be selected from postgraduate programs in the following areas offered by the Faculty of Education:

• e-Learning
• language, literacy and numeracy, and
• education in the creative arts.

You are free to choose your seven elective subjects from any number of interest areas. If you wish to graduate with a designated major in Human Resource Development you need to include at least four subjects from the following list (not all subjects are available each year):

013332 Understanding Adult Education and Training
013343 Adult Communication Management and Interpersonal Relationships
013344 Adult Communication Management and Organisational Development
013206 Adult Communication Management and Organisational Frames
013205 Adult Communication Management and Teamwork
013367 Cultural Diversity in the Workplace: Management and Learning
013337 Managing Change in Educational Organisations
013389 Mentoring in the Workplace
013372 The New VET Practitioner
013378 Constructing Effective Programs for Learning
013210 Skill Learning and the Development of Expertise
013339 Skills, Technology and Workplace Learning
013363 Supporting Workplace Learning and Reform
013368 The Psychology of Adult Development
013356 Independent Study Project 1

Assessment

Some subjects are assessed on a Pass/Fail basis, others are graded according to the range of grades adopted by the University.

Articulation and progression

Progression to Master of Education (Honours) thesis or doctoral degree study depends on obtaining assessment feedback that satisfies the requirements of the higher degree selection committee

Other information

For further information about this course, contact:

telephone (02) 9514 3900
email education@uts.edu.au