Purpose Statement
The Graduate Program provides distinctive pathways of personal and professional development for servant leaders.
The Graduate Program’s Academic Goals
Graduates of WLC’s Masters programs:
- Lead by serving others in the home, workplace, and community;
- Apply analytic skills through collaborative inquiry, research, and reflection on personal experience;
- Achieve personal and professional goals through application of new learning.
Master of Arts in Education Learner Outcomes
Graduates of the Master of Arts in Education:
- Lead with personal integrity and professional ethics to create a shared vision for results-oriented success;
- Mentor people and manage resources through collegial approaches that foster shared leadership;
- Engage in data-driven assessment practices to create high-performing academic programs measured by achievement in learning;
- Promote a learning community that engages in reflective practice and action research;
- Demonstrate content knowledge and implement appropriate instructional strategies that maximize learning for all students, regardless of their age or instructional environment;
- Integrate technology into the design, delivery, and assessment of learning environments and experiences;
- Foster an environment of culturally-responsive adaptive practice that values diversity for the realization of collective potential;
- Communicate through collegiate level writing and speaking skills and with transparency to engage students, parents, and others in the advancement of the school, community, and corporate learning environment.
The Master of Arts in Education (MA) Program
The Master of Arts in Education provides the graduate student an opportunity to experience a program of study centered on a particular focus or specialty that is in alignment with professional leadership goals for current or future careers. Wisconsin Lutheran College offers graduate degree specialties in High Performance Instruction, Leadership and Innovation, Instructional Technology, Transition to Teaching, and Special Education (Additional Teaching Licensure or Administrative Licensure).
Specialties
Additionally, professional development opportunities are planned around specially designed single course offerings or certificate programs in online teaching and instructional coaching. Regardless of whether a student completes one course, a certificate of three courses, or a full program, WLC is committed to making a positive impact on education, one learner and one instructional environment at a time. Our curriculum is focused on increasing learner achievement–regardless of the age of the learner-and developing influencers and leaders who play important roles in raising the standards of education wherever and whenever they may serve.
Four Pillar Framework
Each graduate degree program of 36 credits is planned around a Four Pillar Framework: Foundations, Applications, Research, and Reflection. The Foundations courses provide the theoretical and historical underpinnings for the specialties. The Applications courses focus on the best practices and practical insights. The Research course formally instructs on the knowledge and skills needed to plan and conduct action research, curricular design, or projects. Finally, the Reflection experience or Capstone course brings the elements together in that student designed and implemented project or action research.
Certificate Programs
Two certificate programs, each nine-credits, are also offered within the graduate program for those who are looking for additional professional development and/or credentials:
- The Instructional Coaching Certificate focuses on enhancing instructional methodologies and strategies that can be used to improve one’s own practice and that of others. Candidates examine techniques to improve student learning and develop skills for mentoring and coaching to collaboratively strengthen achievement and data-driven practices for all types of learners from the K-12 classroom to the corporate training venue.
- The Online Teaching and Learning Certificate examines the foundational best practices for equipping learners to be successful in online courses. Candidates also research best practices in strategies and technologies that enhance the delivery of content to facilitate optimal learning. Finally, students build and assess their own designed online course in which they demonstrate their acquired skills.
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