Master's of Science in Extension Education Degree
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Master's of Science in Extension Education Degree |
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The Master's of
Science in Extension Education degree is designed
primarily for people who currently (or would like to) work with the
cooperative extension service or in other informal education settings
such as the Peace Corps, international development, farm museums, rural
development, USDA, agricultural missionary work, sustainable
agriculture, nature centers, etc.
Student's gain an in depth knowledge of the context and content of
informal education with a major emphasis on extension education.
Student's also learn how to plan and conduct research. This degree program is 36 semester hours in length. This program is designed to be completed on-campus. At least 27 of the hours must be completed on-campus. The other 9 hours can be completed by distance education. Students applying to this progam must take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). The requirements for the Master's of Science in Extension Education degree are: 1. Complete the seven core required courses (21 hours)
Students can take 9 hours of elective courses. The courses are chosen based upon the career goals of the student. One could choose courses in Family and Consumer Science, Youth Development, Animal Science, Crop Science, Horticulture, Agricultural and Resource Economics, Entomology, Forestry, etc. The student can also take additional courses in agricultural and extension education. 3. Complete and defend a thesis.Students are to
conduct original research on a problem of significance to the field of
extension education. This will results in a thesis, which is
typically a 50-150 page research report. Typically a thesis is divided
into five chapters:
Some of the recent theses written in our department have focused on the educational needs of sustainable agriculturalists, how to make an arboretum more educational, developing paddle trails for rural tourism, and knowledge of young people involved in 4-H horse programs. The students often present the results of their research at regional and national meetings and publish their research in the leading professional journals. And our students have won more than their fair share of awards for outstanding graduate student research. Students receive 6 hours of credit in AEE 695 Master's Thesis Research for their thesis. MS students will often choose to enroll in AEE 579 Research Design. This is an extremely useful course for students writing a thesis. 4. Prepare a professional portfolio As
a part of the quality control measures employed in the department and
for USDA and Graduate School evaluation purposes, all Master's students
are required to have a professional portfolio. This portfolio contains
examples of the student's work during the program and from work
settings for those
who are currently employed in an informal education setting. This
portfolio will be presented to the
student's advisory committee during the Master's comprehensive exam.
More detail about this requirement can be obtained from your advisor.
While you will probably never need to know this--the Graduate School code for this degree program is AEE (MS). A table comparing all five Master's degree programs offered by the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education can be found at http://www.ncsu.edu/cals/agexed/grad/masterschart.html. Return to the Graduate Degrees page |