The Educational Psychology Program offers a number of graduate programs leading to a master’s (MA), Educational Specialist (EdS), and PhD degree. The mission of the program is to provide students with a thorough understanding of the theory and research related to the nature of the learner and to the processes of teaching and learning. All degree programs reflect this mission and prepare students for careers as faculty members, researchers, and school practitioners.
The PhD is an advanced research degree and is designed specifically for students interested in careers within academic and research settings. PhD students may develop areas of study in:
- learning
- motivation
- human development
- educational neuroscience (an established PhD concentration)
The PhD in Educational Psychology with a concentration in Educational Neuroscience is based on an emerging transdisciplinary field that incorporates findings, methods, and theoretical perspectives from various fields, including cognitive neuroscience, learning sciences, cognitive science, and educational psychology. The concentration is currently open only to educational psychology PhD students. However, graduate students from any program can enroll in the courses offered.
Admissions
In addition to the minimum Graduate School admission requirements, to be considered for regular admission an application must include:
- A curriculum vita
- Three reference letters
- A Statement of Purpose that indicates a preferred track (i.e., learning, motivation, development, or educational neuroscience)
The Educational Psychology Ph.D. Program does not require GRE scores for admission, and applications without GRE scores will be given a full review. However, applicants are encouraged to submit GRE scores, especially if they are applying without a master’s degree, and/or if they do not have previous post-undergraduate research experience.
We will start reviewing all applications on December 15th for fall admission. Please contact the graduate program coordinator if you have any questions.
Curricular Requirements
A total of 66 credit hours (including 18 dissertation hours) is required to complete the coursework requirements for the Educational Psychology PhD Program.
| Code and Title | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| Doctoral Required Core Courses (18 hours minimum) | ||
| BEP 500 | Adv Educational Psych | 3 |
| HD 500 | Lifespan Human Development | 3 |
| BEP 501 | Proseminar in Ed. Psychology (in the first year of PhD or MA studies) | 3 |
| BEP 541 | Learning and Cognition | 3 |
| Choose TWO 3-hour Educational Psychology Core courses (typically 500-level BEP and HD courses; e.g., BEP 505, BEP 561, BEP 565, BEP 570) | 6 | |
| Specialization or Concentration Courses (12 hours minimum) | ||
| Choose courses based on specialization. Educational Neuroscience Concentration students need to choose four of these courses: BEP 570, BEP 645, BEP 651, BEP 660, BEP 670, BEP 671, BEP 674, BEP 675., including but not limited to BEP, HD, PY, and BEF courses. | 12 | |
| Foundations Courses (6 hours minimum) | ||
| These courses should inform student research at a foundational level, especially covering philosophy, history, or broad epistemological/methodological topics. Such courses may include, but are not limited to BEF offerings. | ||
| Quantitative Analysis | 3 | |
| Foundations course (500-or 600-level) | 3 | |
| Research Courses (12 hours minimum) | ||
| These should be courses that will help students conduct research and data analysis for their research, including but not limited to BER courses. | ||
| Quantitative I (BER 540 is suggested.) | 3 | |
| Quantitative II (BER 640 is suggested.) | 3 | |
| Research course (600-level course is suggested.) | 3 | |
| Research course (600-level course is suggested.) | 3 | |
| Dissertation Research | 18 | |
| Total Hours | 66 | |
Educational Neuroscience Concentration
Concentration Courses
Students in the Educational Neuroscience concentration are expected to fulfill all requirements of the Educational Psychology PhD Program. In addition, they are expected to complete the concentration courses and/or other relevant courses offered by other departments (e.g., human development, psychology, anthropology, and computer science). For the concentration students, the recommended progression is BEP 570 Found. of Ed. Neuroscience and BEP 670 Methods & Trends in Ed. Neuro..
Students choose a combination of courses to meet the minimum credit requirement (15 credits) to complete the Educational Neuroscience concentration. Students will choose from the course list shown in the table below. This list is not exhaustive, and students are encouraged to work with their advisors to develop a suitable plan-of-study.
| Educational Neuroscience Concentration Courses | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| BEP 570 | Found. of Ed. Neuroscience | 3 |
| BEP 670 | Methods & Trends in Ed. Neuro. | 3 |
| Select One of the following BEP Courses | 3 | |
| Learning and Cognition | ||
| Dev Cognitive Neuroscience | ||
| Neuroscience of Morality | ||
| Embod Situated Approaches Edu | ||
| Reading, Language and Brain | ||
| Introduction to fMRI | ||
| Comp. Methods in Cog. Neuro. | ||
| Cognitive Electrophysiology | ||
Other 600-Level BEP courses with advisor approval | ||
| Select Two of the following courses or consult with your advisor for a course that will best prepare you for the dissertation topic. | 6 | |
Other 600-Level BEP courses with advisor approval | ||
| Cognition and Learning | ||
| Seminar in Cognitive Psych | ||
Courses selected with advisor consultation | ||
| Total Hours | 15 | |
Transfer Credit
Students may transfer up to 24 credit hours of coursework from previous graduate studies, including a completed master’s degree, contingent upon the relevance of the coursework and the approval of the advisor and the department chair.
Graduate School information on Transfer Credit.
Doctoral Plan of Study
All Ph.D. students entering the program will be allocated a major advisor who will represent the student’s major area of study.
Doctoral students are required to file official program of study forms with the Graduate School at the beginning of graduate studies. These forms require each student and her or his advisor to list the specific course requirements necessary for the student’s completion of the degree. Doctoral programs of study may not be completed until the student successfully completes doctoral screening. Although a master’s degree is not required for initial admission into the doctoral program, the completion of a master’s degree is required before any student may complete and file the official program of study form. Doctoral programs of study are approved by the program advisory committee, area head, and assistant/associate deans of the College of Education.
Graduate School information for the Doctoral Plan of Study.
Comprehensive Exam
All degree students in the Educational Psychology program are required to successfully complete written comprehensive examination before the degrees will be granted. To be eligible to take the comprehensive examination for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, a student must have completed the majority of their coursework, especially all required Educational Psychology Core Courses and all areas of specialization courses, and received approval from their advisor. The Educational Psychology program’s comprehensive examination is designed to assess the development of the student's competencies and skills according to the following criteria:
- Written: Students review current and historic literature in two of the four major areas of educational psychology (learning, motivation, development, or neuroscience). Responses should highlight seminal papers and people. Each response should include 10-12 pages of text and approximately 40 references.
- Oral: Students review the existing literature and propose a novel study in their specialty area. Students should prepare a written document or “prospectus” and give an oral presentation. The document should include 20-25 pages of text and approximately 50 references. Note that the prospectus is intended to serve as the basis for the dissertation proposal.
Scoring of the Comprehensive Exam
- Written: Written exams are scored by faculty members. There are seven scoring categories: evidence of knowledge, accuracy, adequacy, depth, organization and flow, grammar, and format (e.g., APA style). Each category is scored 1-5, but the first five categories are weighted two points while the other two are weighted one point. A student must average 3.0 or more on each response to pass the written exam.
- Oral: Oral exams are scored by prospective dissertation committees (see Dissertation Proposal subsection below for further details about the committee composition). Each committee member votes (pass/fail) at the end of the student’s presentation. A student must receive a majority “pass” votes to pass the oral exam and be deemed to be capable of conducting independent research.
For further details about the timeline and deadlines, refer to the program website.
Graduate School information for Comprehensive Exams.
Admission to Candidacy Requirements
PhD students advance to PhD candidacy when they pass their comprehensive exam.
Graduate School information on Admission to Candidacy.
Continuous Doctoral Research Hours Registration
Graduate School Policy on Continuous Doctoral Research Hours Registration.
Dissertation Requirements
Dissertation Proposal
Upon preparation of a dissertation proposal, students should form their dissertation committee and the committee should be approved by the Graduate School. A dissertation committee, with the director of the dissertation as its chairperson, supervises the preparation of the dissertation. If the committee chair is not a faculty member of the Educational Psychology Program, then the co-chair of the committee should be a program faculty member. The committee shall have not fewer than five members, all of whom are appointed by the dean of the Graduate School. At least two committee members should be Educational Psychology faculty members. All members of a dissertation committee must hold Graduate Faculty status at UA and must represent at least two academic departments. The chair of the committee must be a full member of the Graduate Faculty. A majority of the Dissertation Committee members must be regular UA faculty.
The proposal involves writing the first three features of the dissertation – introduction, literature review, and methods. The proposal needs to be presented orally to the dissertation committee who will provide feedback and decide whether or not the student can progress to the next stage by becoming a PhD candidate. This is known as the proposal defense. Similar to the prospectus, the student will need to take account of the following:
- The student will need to send the proposal to their dissertation committee to read 10 working days before they attend an oral presentation of it.
- The student will need to book a room and check availability of their dissertation committee who all need to attend a presentation by the student of their proposal.
- The student will need to present their proposal to the committee and receive their signatures from all members of the committee.
- After successfully passing the proposal defense, the student will need to consult with their advisor about dissertation committee feedback, apply to the IRB if it is necessary, start to conduct their project, and write their dissertation.
Dissertation
The dissertation involves completing 5 features of the dissertation – introduction, literature review, methods, results, and discussion. The dissertation needs to be presented orally to the dissertation committee who will provide feedback and decide whether or not the dissertation of the student is accepted to get a PhD degree. This is known as the dissertation defense. Similar to the proposal, the student will need to take account of the following:
- The student will need to send the dissertation committee to read 10 working days before they attend an oral presentation of it.
- The student will need to book a room and check availability of their dissertation committee who all need to attend a presentation by the student of their dissertation.
- The student will need to present their dissertation to the committee.
The student will need to consult with their advisor about dissertation committee feedback, make necessary corrections on their thesis, get signature from the committee on the presentation form to submit it to the graduate school, and submit their thesis to ProQuest.
The dissertation defense is the culminating experience in the doctoral program. The student and committee chair are responsible for setting a defense date that allows all committee members to participate and to have adequate time to read the dissertation, determine its suitability for a defense, and engage in scholarly dialogue about how to best improve the document.
To promote these priorities, the scheduling of the defense follows a series of steps. The first step is to schedule a tentative defense date. Guided by the dissertation chair, students may schedule a defense date before they submit their final document to their dissertation committee. The second step is for students to submit their dissertation to the dissertation committee so that the committee may read the document and determine its readiness for a defense. Students must submit their completed dissertation to the dissertation committee at least 30 days prior to their scheduled defense date. Students may proceed with this second step after they receive expressed written consent from their dissertation chair(s).
The third step is for dissertation committee members to read the completed document. Dissertation committee members have 10 working days from the date of receipt to determine the dissertation’s readiness for a defense, with readiness defined as general consensus (i.e., at least 4 of 5 committee members) that the dissertation can be filed with the Graduate School with only minimal revisions (e.g., minor editorial changes, minor substantive enhancements, and formatting). When readiness is agreed upon by the committee (i.e., 4 out of 5 committee members consent to a defense), the fourth step is for the Dissertation Chair to notify the student of the committee’s disposition that a defense may occur. Once notified by their Chair(s), student may proceed with filing a public announcement of the defense. At this point, the dissertation defense date is formally confirmed.
Committee members who believe that a dissertation is not suitable for a defense should inform the Dissertation Chair within 10 working days of receiving the dissertation. The detail of their concerns should be submitted to the committee chair within the next 5 working days (if not sooner) so that the student is aware of those concerns and can address them before or during the defense. In cases where disagreements persist about student readiness to defend the dissertation, students and their dissertation chairs should consult with the Department Head as soon as possible. The Department Head will then work with the COE Dean’s office and the Graduate School to determine an appropriate course of action.
All faculty members in the College of Education are to receive the announcement of the pending dissertation defense and may observe the dissertation defense. Following the student’s presentation and committee examination, persons other than the committee members will be asked to leave the room before the committee conducts any discussion and subsequent voting. Positive votes by Committee members indicate that the dissertation can be filed with the Graduate School with minimal or no revisions.
Graduate School information on Dissertation Requirements.
Time Limit for Degree Completion
Graduate School information on Time Limits.
Student Progress Requirements
Annual Review
As a way to provide students with evaluation about their progress and appropriate feedback on the direction of their studies, the program faculty conduct a progress review for each student at the end of each academic year. Review materials, including a summary of achievements in domains of teaching, research, and/or service and an up-to-date CV should be submitted to the Educational Psychology program coordinator at the end of each academic year. A request for these materials and a submission deadline will be provided during the Spring semesters. Once the faculty have reviewed these materials, they will make recommendations regarding the student’s continued progress in their Program of Study.
Additional Academic Requirements
- Obtain a grade of A or B in all coursework
- Produce one research or evaluation effort (e.g., presentation of a paper to a professional conference or have an article accepted for publication). Note that this is a minimal requirement—consult with your advisor to develop a more optimal plan
- Pass First Year Review
- Plan Ph.D. program with Program Chair and Program Committee
- Pass written and oral comprehensive examinations
- Pass defense of dissertation proposal to be admitted into Ph.D. candidacy
- Complete dissertation
- Successfully defend the dissertation
Doctoral students are required to participate in and conduct research, and faculty members work closely with doctoral students to help them complete their research requirements. Each doctoral student takes a number of research courses and seminars and is required to participate in ongoing research projects prior to dissertation.
Academic Misconduct Information
Graduate School information on Academic Misconduct.
Academic Grievances Information
Graduate School information on Academic Grievances.
Grades and Academic Standing
Graduate School information on Grades and Academic Standing.
Graduate School Deadlines
Information on Graduate School Deadlines.
Application for Graduation
Information on Application for Graduation.