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Master's of Agricultural
Education Degree (Distance Track)
The Master's of
Agricultural Education degree (Distance Track) is a non-thesis
degree and is designed for a wide array of individuals. This degree is a
broad based degree designed for extension agents, agricultural
teachers, community college instructors and other related professionals
in agriculture. The term "Agricultural Education" encompasses both
informal and formal education in agriculture. Some people may be
confused by the title because they associate it only with high school
instructional programs in agriculture. The USDA uses the term
"Agricultural Education" to mean all instruction in agriculture
including collegiate instruction and extension education. This degree
is based on the USDA definition of agricultural education.
Individuals who might be interested in this degree are those who
currently (or would like to) teach agriculture at the middle school,
high school and/or community college level. It is also designed forpeople 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. This degree has enough flexibility to be custom designed to
meet the needs of the students enrolled in the program.
This degree program is 36 semester hours in length. This program is
designed to be completed using distance education technologies. It is
possible to complete the degree and never set foot on campus. This is a
non-thesis degree.
Students
applying to this progam must take the Graduate
Record Exam (GRE).
It should be noted that nothing on the diploma or transcript indicates
that this is a distance education degree. As far as the university is
concerned, this degree is identical to the degrees that are campus
based.
The
requirements for the Master's of Agricultural Education degree
(distance track) are:
1. Complete the core required courses (18-21 hours) depending upon your
program emphasis
Teaching Emphasis
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Extension Emphasis
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Specialized Emphasis other
than Teaching or Extension
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AEE 501 - Foundations
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AEE 501 - Foundations |
AEE 501 - Foundations |
AEE 578 - Scientific Inquiry
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AEE 578 - Scientific Inquiry |
AEE 578 - Scientific Inquiry |
AEE 505 - Trends and Issues
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AEE 505 - Trends and Issues |
AEE 505 - Trends and Issues |
AEE 526 - Information Technology
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AEE 526 - Information Technology |
AEE 526 - Information Technology |
AEE 535 - Teaching Agriculture
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AEE 523 - Adult Education
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AEE 560 - Leadership |
AEE 529 - Curriculum Development or
AEE 595E - Ag Program Management
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AEE 521 - Program Planning
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AEE 530 - Priority Management
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****
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AEE 577 - Program Evaluation
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***
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2. Complete elective
courses (15-18 hours)
The electives
chosen are based upon the career goals of the individual. Students are
encouraged to take elective courses outside of the department. In
addition to courses in the technical aspects of agriculture, one should
consider courses taught by the Family and Consumer Science faculty and
the 4-H and Youth Development faculty The student's graduate
committee will provide advice regarding which courses should actually
be taken.
3. 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. If one
desires a North Carolina "M" teaching license, the professional portfolio will focus on teaching. If
the focus of the graduate program is not concerned with teacher
licensure, your advisor will provide details about the portfolio
requirements. All students who graduate in the Spring of 2009 or later
are required to have a professional portfolio.
4. Complete the comprehensive Master's Examination
There is 1 1/2 - 2 hour oral
comprehensive exam. This examination is based upon the student's
courses work and focuses on the ability to synthesize and apply the
information that has been taught. .
If desired, a student
can receive a "M" (Master's level) teaching license to teach
agriculture in North Carolina at the end of the program. However, one
must first have the initial teaching license (the "A") before
applying for the "M". If one does not have the "A" license it is
possible to work on that license while in the graduate program. This is
done by enrolling simultaneously in the NCSU LEAP program.
In order to qualify for the advanced (M) teaching
license in North Carolina, one must complete 12 hours of course work
that can be classified as subject matter or technical courses. The
Department of Agricultural and Extension Education defines subject
matter courses to be those containing substantial content that could be
taught to high school agricultural students. Therefore nearly any
course taught in the traditional fields of agriculture such as Animal
Science, Crop Science, Horticulture, Agricultural and Resource
Economics, Entomology, Forestry, etc. fit this definition. There are
some courses that are taught within the Department that also contain
content that could be taught to high school agricultural students. The
AEE courses that qualify as subject matter courses include:
- AEE 503 Youth Organization Management
- AEE 522 Experiential Learning in Agriculture
- AEE 595 Teaching Biotechnology
- AEE 530 Priority Management
- AEE 507 Comparative Agricultural and Extension Education
- AEE 560 Organizational and Administrative Leadership
- AEE 595V Marketing
While you will probably never need
to know this--the Graduate School code for this degree program is ATZ
(MR).
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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