If you are a Ph.D. student, you must take at least 18x4 unit courses. Only a few are required courses. All your elective course choices should fit into your own, individualized "stream" of coursework. The stream--to be decided upon in consultation with your advisor--is designed to allow you to follow areas most allied with your own interests. In choosing your courses, be certain that at least six of the core and elective courses are numbered in the 200s, signifying that they are theoretical courses appropriate to Ph.D. training.

The division requires you to take at least one course in each of two core areas: Cognitive and Social. Almost certainly, you will want to do this your first year. The courses you choose will be determined with your advisor so as to help provide the foundation for your further coursework. You may take more than one course from each area. For example, if you are particularly interested in social development, you may choose to take the social development, personality, and motivation courses. We encourage you to speak with your advisor in order to determine which choices are most appropriate for your interests. Any additional course beyond the one required for the core area will count as one of your elective courses. The core area choices are as follows:

Cognitive. Take at least one of these three courses:

2) Statistics and Methods Courses

SRM Courses. By divisional regulation, you must take at least five methods courses. These courses must be taken in a 3+2 plan, i.e., this plan must be comprised of the three courses from one of the two methods sequences: 230A, B, C or 222A, B, C. The remaining courses of the plan must be comprised of two courses from the sequence that was not previously taken (eg; Option 1: Take 230A, B, C and 222A, B, or Option 2: Take 222A, B, C and 230A, B). Faculty in the Division of Social Research Methodology (SRM) generally teach these methods courses. These courses offer basic (tier 1) and higher-level (tier 2) quantitative statistics and methods information, as well as qualitative methods. Knowledge gained in these courses will be used in all research, both in the earlier years and in the dissertation phase.

230A "Introduction to Research Design and Statistics" (tier 1) is generally the prerequisite for 230B and C (unless the student achieves a passing score on the screening exam). 230B and C "Linear Statistical Models in Social Science Research" (tier 2) will provide an integrated and unified approach to the application of statistical models in regression, analysis of variance, and experimental and quasi-experimental designs.

222A "Introduction to Qualitative Methods and Design Issues in Educational Research" is a prerequisite for 222B "Participant-Observation Field Methods", and 222B is a prerequisite for 222C "Qualitative Data Reduction and Analysis". These courses focus on qualitative research in educational settings.

Some of our students take several more advanced statistics and methods courses (tier 2) beyond the 230 and 222 sequence. You should work closely with your advisor to decide which courses best prepare you for the kinds of research you are likely to do. You should also obtain from SRM a listing of the UCLA courses that satisfy the departmental requirement and of the courses that fall into tier 1 and tier 2.

299s. An important part of the PSE division's PhD graduate training involves its 299 series. This series introduces students in our division to professional and methodological issues. It consists of 3 courses. The 299A course is offered in the Fall and is taken only by PhD students in their first year. It is organized as a proseminar where all PSE faculty come and make presentations about their research. The 299B course focuses on methodological issues, and facilitates writing up the 2^nd year proposal. The 299C course (involving applied data analysis) comes when most students should be analyzing their 2^nd-year project data. The 299B course is taken in the Fall of the 2^nd year and 299C is taken in the Spring of the 2^nd year.

For students who were in the PSE MA program and are now in the PhD program, 299A & B may be taken concurrently upon written consent from the advisor (Please contact OSS for further details).

Four additional activities accompany or follow your 299A experience. First, during the Fall quarter while taking 299A, you will enroll in and attend the Research Apprenticeship Course (RAC) of your faculty advisor. (See below) Second, during 299A, you will have an opportunity to meet all PSE faculty and learn about their individual research projects. At the end of 299A, you will select one of those faculty as your research mentor and advisor (that person may or may not be your initial advisor). Third, during Winter and Spring of your first year, you are required to work approximately 8-10 hours per week on supervised research with your faculty mentor. Fourth, all first and second year students are required to attend the weekly PSE colloquium that takes place in the Winter and Spring quarters each year.

3) ED 288 RESEARCH APPRENTICESHIP COURSE

During the Fall quarter you will enroll in and attend the Research Apprenticeship Course (RAC) of your faculty advisor. The RAC, listed as Ed 288, is a weekly seminar that involves training in independent research. You must be enrolled for 3 quarters to receive 2-unit credit. 288 does not count toward the total of 18 courses required to graduate.

4) ED 499 FIELD PRACTICUM

This field practicum is designed to provide you with on-site experience in the application of educational psychology theory and research to educational practice. This experience is supervised through regular meetings with your advisor or another faculty member who is advising you on the practicum. You should plan on devoting about 100 hours to the practicum (e.g., 10 hours a week over a 10-week quarter). Enroll in 499C during the quarter in which you plan to complete the practicum final report (see below). The practicum must be completed before taking the Doctoral Written Qualifying exam.

1. ED 499 Field Practicum Proposal: Before beginning the practicum, you need to write a two-page proposal that describes your site, contacts, working hours and arrangements, and expected educational gains. This proposal must be approved and signed by your advisor before submitting it to the Field Practicum Coordinator, the faculty member who serves as the instructor of record. Please check with the division�s administrative assistant (AA) for the latest coordinator.

2. ED 499 Fieldnotes/Journal: You are required to maintain a written record of your experience during your practicum, in the style of fieldnotes or a journal. You will need to complete a one-page typed entry in your journal for every 10 hour period spent at your site. That will total 10 evenly spaced entries over the 100-hour practicum. Each entry must be turned in to your advisor on a regular basis. (e.g. every 2-3 weeks) You will turn in the entire journal as an appendix to your final report.

The purpose of the journal is to have you continuously reflect on a) the lessons you have learned from your experience; and b) how the practices you observe and participate in at this site are related to the theories you are learning in your coursework. The entries may be organized as formal field notes that combine empirical observation of what happened with analytic notes, or as more informal journal entries that explore your own reactions and interpretations of events through the lens of particular theories.

3. ED 499 Final Report: Upon completion of your field practicum you need to submit a final report. This report (between 7-10 pages) should contain the following sections:

a. Information about field practicum site and contacts

b. Description of field practicum activities

c. Reflection about on-site experiences and their application to educational psychology and your future research

Once your advisor has approved the final report, it should be submitted to the division AA to obtain signatures from the Instructor of Record. Please note that the field practicum is a separate course and the final report should not be used to satisfy the requirements of other courses taken at the same time.

4. ED 499C Archive: Your final report will be added to the 499C archive and serve as a reference for new PSE students interested in 499C opportunities.

5) Cognate Courses

You must take at least three graduate-level courses from one or more Ph.D.-granting academic departments outside of Education. These courses should enhance your expertise in areas closely related to your likely dissertation research and professional life. Ordinarily, most or all cognate courses are taken during your second year. Plan them with your advisor. Then get a Cognate Course Petition (Ph.D.) from the Office of Student Services (OSS) and fill it out. You, your advisor, and the division head must sign this petition to show approval of the proposed courses. Then turn it in to OSS for approval by its Director.

6) Elective Courses

We've now accounted for 15 to 16 of the required minimum of 18 courses you'll take during the first two years of the Ph.D. program. The remaining 2 or more courses are electives chosen primarily from those taught by faculty in the Division of Psychological Studies in Education and secondarily from those taught by faculty in other divisions of the Department of Education. The courses may cover a variety of topics, but each should fit into your chosen stream and enhance the development of your particular intellectual interests. Work with your advisor to identify the elective courses that will help achieve your goals.