Published Monday, March 22, 2004
Individualized Programs Vanish
Cohorts Bring Structure and Community, Officials Say
By Courtney Young
APPIAN STAFF WRITER

Ten years ago, 60 percent of masters students at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) enrolled in the individualized program, which meant they chose their courses with few restrictions or required courses.

Today, that number is 10 percent, according to James Stiles, associate dean for degree programs.

This organizational shift is part of what former Academic and Acting Dean John Willett calls a “sea change in way the school perceives masters programs” that includes building up targeted masters programs to facilitate community and effective learning.

Stiles said the shift grew out of a desire to give students a better balance of choice and structure in degree plans.

“During the mid-’90s, the faculty began to see that students programmatic and faculty research interests were converging around a series of focused Ed.M. programs,” Stiles said. “This trend continued due to student demand and faculty interest in assisting students to better plan their one-year academic work at HGSE and their eventual re-entry to the job market.”

In the 1993-94 academic year, there were only five masters programs: language and literacy; risk and prevention; mid-career math and science; teaching and curriculum; and individualized.

Students in the individualized programs were allowed to declare a concentration in administration, planning and social policy; human development and psychology; learning and teaching; or higher education, but these were not cohort-based programs.

During the last five years, each of these concentrations has become a “new program” with suggested or required curricula and a cohort of students with similar interests.

Increasing the enrollment and strength of targeted masters programs has been a positive change for students and faculty, according to Susan Moore Johnson, the Pforzheimer Professor of Teaching and Learning. “They are meant to respond more directly to students' particular professional interests and to provide more cohort experiences.”

While these programs often have requirements, they are not meant to limit students, but to help focus them, Stiles said.

“Most of our EdM programs still offer enormous flexibility with regards to course selection, but having students in particular programs has many tangible benefits for students, faculty and the school,” he said. “It allows students to integrate into a new environment more quickly, faculty to get to know a smaller group of students, and it allows the school to better plan for student and programmatic needs. I also think that having dedicated faculty and staff who work with the same group of students from admissions to graduation and beyond creates a stronger sense of community.”

Richard Reddick, a current HGSE doctoral student, graduated from the Individualized masters program with a concentration in higher education in 1998. He said he and his peers at the time formed “an unofficial Higher Ed cohort” who benefited both from their common area of study and the flexibility of pursuing their own directions.

“Judging from interactions with folks in the Higher Ed cohort, there are great advantages to the program—there is a sense of connection among the students and a shared experience,” Reddick said. “That certainly happened my master’s year, but that had so much to do with the fact that we individually took steps to connect with one another. While I think we enjoyed making the extra effort, I also think that it’s great that now the cohort structure allows for the institutionalization of the network.”

Numerous students agreed that the cohorts provided a strong connection to the school.

Lisa Kahn, a 25-year-old masters student in the higher education administration program, said she couldn’t imagine not having a cohort of students to rely on for support.

“The cohort gives you a group of people to go through the experience with,” she said. “You have a group that knows what you’re going through and supports you. You don’t have to be involved in everything the group does, but you have a connection to each other because you all have a common understanding and experience.”

Willett also emphasized the importance of community in cohorts. “The most vital programs are targeted programs,” Willett said. “People with ‘homerooms’ are really keen on their programs.”

Coordination provides valuable guidance to students who sometimes floundered without a clear path, Willett said.

“In individualized masters programs, we let them in and let them do what they wanted,” Willett noted. “They told us that they weren’t serviced and lacked guidance so we’ve changed the nature of the entry pool by requiring them to say what they want to study.”

Students must now express clearly and succinctly what they intend to study in the specialized program and must be sure that their academic interests could not be served by a targeted masters program.

Administrators do not plan to discontinue the specialized masters program, but they do want to limit it to a small percentage of students.

“For students who know what they want to study at HGSE and who can identify a set of courses that meet their needs, the self-designed program can be ideal.” Johnson said. “We know that it is not ideal for everyone and that some students in the past have found the lack of an organized curriculum overwhelming. We are not phasing out the self-designed program, but we are trying to ensure that all students who enter it really are suited for it.”

David Klevan, a 35-year-old masters student in the specialized program, believes there is a need for flexibility for some students who work in nontraditional educational environments.

“I wanted to have the maximum freedom to choose from different concentrations and different schools,” he said. “It’s been a huge asset because it has allowed me to more freely consider what the possibilities were.”

But Klevan did acknowledge that the lack of a cohort made it difficult to find a community.

“There is no feeling of solidarity,” he said.

Courtney Young, a student in the Higher Education Program, is a staff writer of The Appian.