Course Listing
Please check the Class Schedule or contact the center for specific course availability for each semester.
Program Courses:
- ITSF 4013Literacy and development
This course examines common assumptions about the relationship between literacy and cognitive and/or social, political and/or economic development.
Instructor: Lesley Bartlett
- ITSF 4014Urban situations and education
An introduction to the anthropological study of the sociocultural patterns of populations residing in urban settings, with emphasis on domestic, ethnic, class, and educational relationships.
Instructor: George Bond
- ITSF 4015Introduction to computers, language, and literacy
Sociocultural implications of computer use in education; viability of software use in the light of language learning theories; evaluation of electronic materials for use by bilingual, ESL, and native- and foreign-language learners. Materials fee: $20.
Instructor: JoAnne Kleifgen
- ITSF 4018Anthropology and Development in Africa
This seminar considers issues and problems of development in sub-Saharan Africa. It examines specific development projects from different theoretical and empirical perspectives.
Instructor: George Bond
- ITSF 4025Languages, society, and schools
This course studies the role that languages play in different societal contexts. It examines the language policies of different societies and looks at how these policies are enacted or not in different institutional contexts by diverse speakers. In doing so, the course pays attention to diverse language ideologies as well as to the relationship between language and identity. Languages and literacies in schools, especially educational language policy in multilingual contexts, receive special consideration.
- ITSF 4034Dynamics of family interaction
An introduction to communication patterns inside families, with a special emphasis on both their complexity at the interpersonal level and their simplicity within the social structure of a community. Class time is dominated by cross-cultural data on family structure and videotape analyses of communication patterns within American families.
Instructor: Herve Varenne
- ITSF 4054Education and strategic planning
Educational planning within the context of national economic planning; the methods, assumptions, validity, and usefulness of the major approaches; examples mainly from the less developed countries.
- ITSF 4090Issues and institutions in international educational development
This course explores theoretical approaches to the study of education in international development and uses these approaches to consider current topics and debates in the fields of international and comparative education. This course also introduces students to institutions involved with educational development in diverse global settings, such as the United Nations and the World Bank. This course is also offered at the doctoral level (ITSF 6581).
Instructor: Monisha Bajaj
- ITSF 4091Comparative education
Introduction to theories in comparative education, cross-national comparative analysis, educational indicator research, educational transfer and borrowing, and the relation between culture and education. This course is also offered at the doctoral level (ITSF 6580).
Instructor: Lesley Bartlett
- ITSF 4092Qualitative research and evaluation in international education
The study of qualitative methodologies appropriate to various kinds of educational programs, issues, and problems in diverse research settings.
Instructor: Lesley Bartlett
- ITSF 4093International educational development: Curriculum and pedagogy
This course explores the problems, issues, and approaches in the development of curricula, preparation of instructional materials, and training of educators internationally.
- ITSF 4094Educational planning in international educational development
Point allocation to be determined by topic each time course is offered. Topic courses explore issues related to the socioeconomic and cultural context of educational planning and policy studies. They consider the relation to specific issues of various approaches to planning and their attendant outcomes. Topics vary and may include any of the following, Education in the Middle East, Educational Development in the Muslim World, Emergency Education, Gender, Education, and International Develop-ment, Human Rights, International Education Policy, and Education in Post-Conflict Settings.
Instructor: Lesley Bartlett
- ITSF 4096Strategic planning and organizational change in international and national educational settings
The seminar uses theories and methods of social network analysis for examining regional and global policy networks. Besides reading and discussing sociological texts and policy studies literature, we will conduct collaborative empirical analyses of policy networks and policy entrepreneurs. Willingness to conduct empirical research (content and reference analyses) is a condition for participating in this seminar.
Instructor: Gita Steiner-Khamsi
- ITSF 4098Educational Development and Policies in China
Historical and national development contexts of educational development in China. Key policy issues in education by level and across levels.
- ITSF 4160Human rights education in Africa: Politics, policies, and pedagogies
Students examine the historical conditions that give rise to human rights violations and the efforts to protect rights through policy and education. They explore different approaches to human rights education, apply them to case studies of specific African countries, and develop human rights education curricula.
- ITSF 4190Communicative practices: intercultural perspectives
A topical course exploring language as situated social practice and focusing on communication within and across national boundaries. Domains examined include schooling, work, community, and the public arena. Both spoken and written modes are considered.
Instructor: JoAnne Kleifgen
- ITSF 4195Academic literacies
This course is designed to help students develop the professional knowledge and skills necessary for effective communication through such genres as research projects, conference presentations, contributions to journals, grant proposals, and evaluation reports.
- ITSF 4603Human and social dimensions of peace
This course focuses on issues of human rights, global ethics, and various aspects of structural and cultural violence. Students are introduced to examples of nonviolent social movements and reflect on the process of peaceful transformation. Another course in human rights may be substituted for the concentration in peace education.
Instructor: Monisha Bajaj
- ITSF 4611Education for global security
Explores issues of peace and violence from various perspectives, among them global security culture and militarism. Emphasizes alternative security systems such as disarmament, international and gender justice, ecological and human security. Not offered every year.
- ITSF 4613Fundamental concepts in peace education
This course provides a grounding in the theory, pedagogy, and practice of peace education. It draws from the international literature of the field as it has been developed over the past three decades, and reviews teaching practices relevant to various cultures and learning settings. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Monisha Bajaj
- ITSF 4614International Organizations, Civil Society and Peace Education
This course reviews and assesses the work of the world organization and how it facilitates the learning necessary to an integrated global society. The area of emphasis and problem of focus vary from semester to semester. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Monisha Bajaj
- ITSF 5001Ethnography and participant observation: fieldwork, analysis, reporting
Permission required. ITSF 5000 or equivalent required. Emphasis on the issues arising out of ethnographic research as they arise during a pilot project from entry into the field to the writing of the results.
Instructor: Herve Varenne
- ITSF 5002Ethnography and participant observation: Comparative and qualitative analysis
Permission required. ITSF 5000 or equivalent required. Issues of comparative and quantitative analysis of data generated by ethnographic/participant observation inquiries.
- ITSF 5003Communication and culture
Introduction to major theories of human communication and culture as they relate and build on each other.
Instructor: Herve Varenne
- ITSF 5005Interdisciplinary study of the family
Critical examination of the interaction of internal and external forces and their effects upon individuals and families, drawing upon perspectives of various social science disciplines.
Instructor: Herve Varenne
- ITSF 5006International Education Policy Studies
This course helps students to understand the rationale and to apply the techniques underlying education sector strategies of low-income governments.
Instructor: Gita Steiner-Khamsi
- ITSF 5008Gender, education, and international development
In this seminar students will be introduced to education and social issues in Latin America and the Caribbean since the consolidation of national systems of public education during the twentieth century.
Instructor: Regina Cortina
- ITSF 5023The family as educator
Permission required. Analysis of the family as educator and its interrelations with schools and other educational institutions. Emphasis on inquiry deriving from educational practice and behavioral science theory.
- ITSF 5026The family and television
Permission required. An analysis of the impact of television on the family’s educative functions, with special attention to the process by which the family mediates television.
- ITSF 5090Education and Demographic Change
This course examines the relationship between education and demographic change in international educational development. It focuses on historical and cultural changes in the areas of fertility, migration, mortality, and sustainable development.
Instructor: Lesley Bartlett
- ITSF 5120Education in community settings: Museums
Permission required. A review and an analysis of educational issues and opportunities in various community settings. Special fee: $5.
Instructor: Hope Leichter
- ITSF 5121Education in community settings: Community centers
Permission required. A review and an analysis of educational issues and opportunities in various community settings. Special fee: $5.
- ITSF 5500Education Across the Americas
In this course students will be introduced to education and social issues in Latin America and the Caribbean since the consolidation of national systems of public education during the twentieth century.
Instructor: Lesley Bartlett
- ITSF 5519Research in language and literacy I
Research in such areas as spatial, temporal, textual, and social deixis in language, with particular attention to culturally variant norms and their implications for educational practice. Materials fee: $20.
- ITSF 5520Research in language and literacy II
Research in the varieties of language used in literate expression, with particular attention to culturally variant norms and their implications for educational practice. Materials fee: $20.
- ITSF 5580Postcolonial studies of education
Prerequisites or corequisites: ITSF 4090 and ITSF 4091. This course explores the impact of missionary, colonial education, and neo-colonial education on school reform both in dependent countries and in former colonial countries.
Instructor: Gita Steiner-Khamsi
- ITSF 5590Education and the development of nations
Prerequisites: ITSF 4090/6580 or ITSF 4091/6581. This seminar explores the politics of education in international and transcultural contexts. Course topics include educational equity and quality as well as the role of international donors in transplanting particular “best practice†or reform packages from one national context to another.
Instructor: Monisha Bajaj
- ITSF 5691Colloquium on international education and the United Nations-Goals and content: Major world developments and their implications for education
The course presents the history as well as the current strategies and initiatives of various international organizations. The general introduction attempts to highlight, from a critical perspective, the logic of donors and the rationale for external assistance. Several trends will be analyzed in greater detail: knowledge banks, demands for good governance, post Cold War studies, south-south transfer, and the War on Terror and U.S. assistance. To enable a comparative perspective, international organizations discussed in this course are not restricted to U.N. organizations but also include development banks, international NGOs, bilateral assistance programs as well as other international organizations. A few representatives of international organizations are invited as guest speakers.
- ITSF 5692Colloquium on international education and the United Nations-Theory and teaching techniques: New trends in international education
Permission required. Enrollment limited. Through class interchange and use of United Nations human and material resources, participants develop innovative teaching materials suitable for their own educational systems.
- ITSF 6125Research issues in communicative practices
A critical review of selected research directions and paradigms for the analysis of spoken and written communication.
- ITSF 6520Seminar in families and communities as educators
Permission required. A research seminar in the family and the community as educational systems.
Instructor: Hope Leichter
- ITSF 6580Advanced seminar in international education I
This course will focus on the history, methods and theories in the field of international and comparative education.
Instructor: Monisha Bajaj
- ITSF 6581Advanced seminar in international education II
This course will focus on issues, institutions, and applications in the practice of international and comparative education.
Instructor: Monisha Bajaj
- ITSF 6590Doctoral seminar in international and transcultural studies
Permission required. Presentation of research in progress and examination of professional roles.
Instructor: Lesley Bartlett