Graduate Studies Reports Access

Graduate Course Proposal Form Submission Detail - EEX7815
Tracking Number - 2650

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Current Status: Approved by SCNS - 2012-05-14
Campus: Tampa
Submission Type: Change
Course Change Information (for course changes only): Two credit hours have been added to this course in order to allow coverage of primary research design principles including the completion of a full research proposal and the development and implementation of a collaborative research study that is coordinated by the seminar instructor. Both the students research proposal and findings from the collaborative research study are presented at the second year Doctoral Research Symposium.
Comments: to GC 4/2/12; to USF Syst 4/5/12; to GC 4/16/12; to SCNS 4/16/12. SCNS appd eff 6/1/12


Detail Information

  1. Date & Time Submitted: 2011-10-31
  2. Department: Special Education
  3. College: ED
  4. Budget Account Number: 172800
  5. Contact Person: David Allsopp Ph.D.
  6. Phone: 8139743274
  7. Email: Dallsopp@usf.edu
  8. Prefix: EEX
  9. Number: 7815
  10. Full Title: Research Seminar/Field Study
  11. Credit Hours: 1-9
  12. Section Type: D - Discussion (Primarily)
  13. Is the course title variable?: N
  14. Is a permit required for registration?: N
  15. Are the credit hours variable?: Y
  16. Is this course repeatable?:
  17. If repeatable, how many times?: 0
  18. Abbreviated Title (30 characters maximum): Research Seminar/Field Study
  19. Course Online?: C - Face-to-face (0% online)
  20. Percentage Online: 0
  21. Grading Option: R - Regular
  22. Prerequisites: None
  23. Corequisites: None
  24. Course Description: Research Seminar is a sequential series of courses that are offered during the first and second years of the doctoral program. These courses encourage student development in SPED knowledge base as well as improve outcomes for children with disabilities.

  25. Please briefly explain why it is necessary and/or desirable to add this course: Needed for program/concentration/certificate change
  26. What is the need or demand for this course? (Indicate if this course is part of a required sequence in the major.) What other programs would this course service? This course is required as part of the special education

    major. All students in the special education doctoral program take this course.

  27. Has this course been offered as Selected Topics/Experimental Topics course? If yes, how many times? No
  28. What qualifications for training and/or experience are necessary to teach this course? (List minimum qualifications for the instructor.) Doctorate
  29. Objectives: 1. Students will identify a major professor, doctoral committee members, and develop an approved program of study with their committee.

    2. Students will complete an in-depth analysis of the current state of the field in Special Education research and report their findings.

    3. Students will write an integrated literature review of research on an assigned topic area in Special Education.

    4. Students will successfully complete training on Human Subjects Protection and obtain certification.

    5. Students will increase their understandings of important elements of research design.

    6. Students will use indicators of quality research and basic design principles (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods) to critically evaluate research and related literature in Special Education.

    7. Students will increase their understandings of the processes of research synthesis and meta-analysis and their uses in Special Education with respect to the development of an evidence base.

    8. Students will develop understandings about funding sources in special education and the grant writing process.

    9. Students will develop understandings of the peer review process related to publishing in peer reviewed journals.

    10. Students will develop appropriate research questions grounded in the research/literature base.

    11. Students will write a research proposal on a topic of interest and present the proposal to a panel of faculty.

    12. Students will complete a collaborative research study, collaboratively write a manuscript reporting the results of the study suitable for submission to a journal, and collaboratively present the findings to a panel of faculty and peers.

  30. Learning Outcomes: 1. Students will identify a major professor, doctoral committee members, and develop an approved program of study with their committee.

    2. Students will complete an in-depth analysis of the current state of the field in Special Education research and report their findings.

    3. Students will write an integrated literature review of research on an assigned topic area in Special Education.

    4. Students will successfully complete training on Human Subjects Protection and obtain certification.

    5. Students will increase their understandings of important elements of research design.

    6. Students will use indicators of quality research and basic design principles (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods) to critically evaluate research and related literature in Special Education.

    7. Students will increase their understandings of the processes of research synthesis and meta-analysis and their uses in Special Education with respect to the development of an evidence base.

    8. Students will develop understandings about funding sources in special education and the grant writing process.

    9. Students will develop understandings of the peer review process related to publishing in peer reviewed journals.

    10. Students will develop appropriate research questions grounded in the research/literature base.

    11. Students will write a research proposal on a topic of interest and present the proposal to a panel of faculty.

    12. Students will complete a collaborative research study, collaboratively write a manuscript reporting the results of the study suitable for submission to a journal, and collaboratively present the findings to a panel of faculty and peers.

  31. Major Topics: Seven areas of development will be emphasized across the sequence of seminars:

    a) Students’ progress in their program

    b) Understanding & critically evaluating research

    c) Scholarly writing and communication

    d) Understanding the Special Education research base

    e) Students’ personal research focus

    f) How to engage in research

    g) Understanding research funding

  32. Textbooks:
  33. Course Readings, Online Resources, and Other Purchases: Additional Course Readings

    During each seminar a folder for each week will be made available via Blackboard that identifies any additional readings pertinent to that week’s topic. It is expected that students will complete these readings in addition to assigned readings from the required texts. Students should review the Blackboard course site at least weekly to find supporting readings/resources for the upcoming week’s class/topic.

    The following resources may be helpful to students as they participate in this seminar:

    1. Scientific Research in Education, National Research Council

    2. Consilience: the Unity of Knowledge (1998), E.O.Wilson. Random House

    3. The National Center for Special Education Research - http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/

    4. Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study (SEELS) - http://www.seels.net/grindex.html

    5. National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 - http://www.nlts2.org/

    6. The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement - http://www.centerforcsri.org/

    7. Center on Instruction - http://www.centeroninstruction.org/

    8. Institute for Educational Sciences - http://ies.ed.gov/

    9. What Works Clearinghouse - http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/

    10. The Best Evidence Encyclopedia - http://www.bestevidence.org/

    11. The Campbell Collaboration - http://www.campbellcollaboration.org/

  34. Student Expectations/Requirements and Grading Policy: Grading Criteria

    Letter grades will be assigned in the following way:

    A = 90-100 points

    B = 80-89 points

    C = 70-79 points

  35. Assignments, Exams and Tests: Seven areas of development will be emphasized across the sequence of seminars:

    a) Students’ progress in their program

    b) Understanding & critically evaluating research

    c) Scholarly writing and communication

    d) Understanding the Special Education research base

    e) Students’ personal research focus

    f) How to engage in research

    g) Understanding research funding

  36. Attendance Policy: Course Attendance at First Class Meeting – Policy for Graduate Students: For structured courses, 6000 and above, the College/Campus Dean will set the first-day class attendance requirement. Check with the College for specific information. This policy is not applicable to courses in the following categories: Educational Outreach, Open University (TV), FEEDS Program, Community Experiential Learning (CEL), Cooperative Education Training, and courses that do not have regularly scheduled meeting days/times (such as, directed reading/research or study, individual research, thesis, dissertation, internship, practica, etc.). Students are responsible for dropping undesired courses in these categories by the 5th day of classes to avoid fee liability and academic penalty. (See USF Regulation – Registration - 4.0101,

    http://usfweb2.usf.edu/usfgc/ogc%20web/currentreg.htm)

    Attendance Policy for the Observance of Religious Days by Students: In accordance with Sections 1006.53 and 1001.74(10)(g) Florida Statutes and Board of Governors Regulation 6C-6.0115, the University of South Florida (University/USF) has established the following policy regarding religious observances: (http://usfweb2.usf.edu/usfgc/gc_pp/acadaf/gc10-045.htm)

    In the event of an emergency, it may be necessary for USF to suspend normal operations. During this time, USF may opt to continue delivery of instruction through methods that include but are not limited to: Blackboard, Elluminate, Skype, and email messaging and/or an alternate schedule. It’s the responsibility of the student to monitor Blackboard site for each class for course specific communication, and the main USF, College, and department websites, emails, and MoBull messages for important general information.

  37. Policy on Make-up Work: All assignments are expected to be completed by the assigned due date. In cases of emergency, it is the student’s responsibility to contact the instructor to see if alternative arrangements may be made.

    Academic Dishonesty:

    Plagiarism is defined as "literary theft" and consists of the unattributed quotation of the exact words of a published text or the unattributed borrowing of original ideas by paraphrase from a published text. On written papers for which the student employs information gathered from books, articles, or oral sources, each direct quotation, as well as ideas and facts that are not generally known to the public-at-large, must be attributed to its author by means of the appropriate citation procedure. Citations may be made in footnotes or within the body of the text. Plagiarism also consists of passing off as ones own, segments or the total of another persons work.

    Punishment for academic dishonesty will depend on the seriousness of the offense and may include receipt of an "F" with a numerical value of zero on the item submitted, and the "F" shall be used to determine the final course grade. It is the option of the instructor to assign the student a grade of "F" of "FF" (the latter indicating dishonesty) in the course.

    Detection of plagiarism: It is very important to state in your syllabus that you plan to submit student assignments to SafeAssignment.com in order to detect plagiarism. This will give you the legal right to submit student assignments to SafeAssignment.com. If you plan to submit to Safe Assignment, use the statement below:

    The University of South Florida has an account with an automated plagiarism detection service which allows instructors to submit student assignments to be checked for plagiarism. I reserve the right to 1) request that assignments be submitted to me as electronic files and 2) electronically submit to SafeAssignment.com, or 3) ask students to submit their assignments to SafeAssignment.com through myUSF. Assignments are compared automatically with a database of journal articles, web articles, and previously submitted papers. The instructor receives a report showing exactly how a student’s paper was plagiarized.

  38. Program This Course Supports: PH.D. Program Curriculum and Instruction-Special Education
  39. Course Concurrence Information: This course does not service other programs.


- if you have questions about any of these fields, please contact chinescobb@grad.usf.edu or joe@grad.usf.edu.