AP 500 | FOUNDATIONS OF GRADUATE PROFESSIONAL STUDIES | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This four-credit hour graduate course provides participants with a solid foundation on which to build a professional future. Participants will hone and apply advanced skills in collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing literature and resources in their respective area(s) of practice as they conduct thorough career mapping and research into the current state and future of their professional field. The combination of career field research and articulation of key aspects of professional identity allow students to prepare for their graduate school journey knowing it will provide solid foundation of key topics, debates, and emerging issues in their professional area. Students will also become familiar with the requirements of their track: Educating Adults; Organizational Leadership; Social Change, or Custom Track. Each student will have access to a Track Champion and an Academic Advisor throughout the course of their studies.
AP 501 | PROFESSIONAL PLANNING SEMINAR | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This seminar explores the aims of graduate education in relation to each student's focused program of study. In furthering the foundation for the Master of Arts degree in Applied Professional Studies, primary emphasis is placed on: a) enhancing facility with graduate level learning in the service of goals for personal/professional development; b) identifying paths and learning modalities available to in SCPS MAAPS; and c) selecting and developing a fitting focus area, to be expressed in a working draft of a detailed learning plan. To create the MAAPS learning plan, students build on their knowledge of content, standards, and issues in their field of professional study (Focus Area) and consider how Elements of Better Practice will impact their professional work. Structured track students will be introduced to the requirements of their track and all students will set up an Academic Committee that consists of the student Chairperson, the Faculty Mentor, and a Professional Advisor (an experienced professional in the student's Focus Area).
Status as a MAAPS student or departmental permission is a prerequisite for this class.
AP 504 | RESEARCHING PROFESSIONAL PATHWAYS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This four-credit hour graduate course provides participants with a sound foundation on which to build a professional future. Participants will hone and apply advanced skills in collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing literature and resources in their respective area(s) of practice as they conduct thorough career mapping and research into the current state and future of their professional field. The course provides opportunities for meaningful self, career, and values assessment and reflection on aspects of one's evolving professional identity. The combination of career field research and articulation of key aspects of professional identity culminated in the major deliverable in this course, the five-part Professional Portfolio: a planning document students will use in the creation of their MAAPS Learning Plan in AP 501 and one which they will expand and update throughout their graduate careers.
AP 506 | WRITING FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
This course provides students with the strategies they need to successfully meet the expectations of graduate-level academic writing. With a focus on genre, conventions, style, and mechanics, students will advance beyond undergraduate-level research writing to deepen their understanding of scholarly writing and strengthen the critical reading, research, writing, and revision skills necessary to meet the rigors of graduate level writing. Students will learn how to effectively contribute to the conversation in their discipline. To demonstrate their learning, students will design a research plan for a topic of their choice and write a scholarly article complete with literature review and abstract.
AP 508 | APPLYING SYSTEMATIC INQUIRY | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
Through this seminar, participants explore the design and implementation process for engaging systematic inquiry in professional practice. Given the focus on qualitative inquiry, emphasis is placed on developing interest-based questions; aligning questions to data-collection sources and methods; selecting design methodologies; and creating a systematic plan for an applied area of inquiry.
AP 592 | GRADUATE CAPSTONE PROJECT | 4 quarter hours
(Graduate)
As a culmination of students' graduate studies, the Capstone Project demonstrates integration of theory, systematic inquiry, and practice in the field. Each student carries out an applied project that makes a meaningful contribution in their area of focus. Students also deliberate on the development of their professional identity and their abilities as a reflective practitioner. Prerequisites: AP 500, AP 506 and AP 508.
AP 500 and AP 506 and AP 508 and status as a MAAPS student or departmental permission is a prerequisite for this class.