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Master's of Science in
Extension Education Degree
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)
- AEE
501
Foundations
of
Agricultural and Extension Education
- AEE
505
Trends
and
Issues in Agricultural and Extension Education
- AEE
526
Information
Technologies
in Agricultural and Extension Education
- AEE
521
Program
Planning
in Extension Education
- AEE
523
Adult
Education
in Agriculture
- AEE
577
Program
Evaluation
in Agricultural and Extension Education
- AEE
578
Scientific
Inquiry
in Agricultural and Extension Education
2.
Complete 9 hours of electives
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:
- Introduction
to
the
Study
- Review
of
the
Literature
- Research
Methodology
- Research
Findings
- Conclusions
and
Recommendations
The
student's advisory committee will provide guidance and direction to the
study. At the conclusion of the research process, the student will
present the results of their research to their graduate committee.
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.
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