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Course Requirements
The Master's of Education in Curriculum and Instruction with an Emphasis in Teaching and Learning for Health Sciences Education is designed to be completed in two years, includes either thirty semester credit hours of coursework and a capstone project or thirty-six semester credit hours of coursework that includes a master's thesis. The program coursework consists of:

Foundations of Education Courses
Students are required to complete three Foundations of Education courses, also known as “Core Courses.” To satisfy this requirement, students may choose to complete the three core courses—nine semester credit hours—that the Program offers at the Texas Medical Center campus:

• CUIN 7391 - Principles of Curriculum Development
• EPSY 6300 - Introduction to Educational and Psychological Measurement
• EPSY 6340 - Principles of Human Learning

With the consent of their academic advisor, students may take other core area courses that are taught at the main campus of the University of Houston.

Instructional Studies/Program Area Courses
Students are required to complete a minimum of five courses (fifteen semester credit hours) from the Instructional Studies/Program Area category, or similar courses approved by their academic advisor. Some of the Instructional Studies and Program Area courses taught at the Texas Medical Center include: 

• CUIN 7389 - Digital Media
• CUIN 6371 - Models of Teaching
• CUIN 7390 - Instructional Design
• CUIN 6378 - Instructional Evaluation
• CUIN 7316 - Design of Online Educational Resources
  

Approved Electives
Students may complete the courses requirements by taking elective courses. Elective courses that are approved for the Texas Medical Center master's program include:

• SAER 8321 - Survey Design
• CUIN 7305 - Design, Development & Evaluation of Presentations
• CUIN 7356 - Issues in Distance Education
• CUIN 7368 - Advanced Digital Imaging in Education
• CUIN 7376 - New Tools for Creating Online Educational Materials
• CUIN 7392 - Internship (Practicum)
• CUIN 6398 - Special Problems (Independent Study)
  

Descriptions of many of the courses may be found by online at:
course-descriptions.html

Other Course Options
With the consent of their academic advisor, students may also take courses not listed here that are offered at the University of Houston campus or are taught online. Some of the courses that students have taken on the main UH campus include:

• ELCS 7322 - Descriptive Statistics
• ELCS 6370 - Research for Educational Leaders
  
  

Master's Thesis Option 
Students who choose to complete a Master's Thesis must take a minimum of six hours of thesis credit and at least three hours of thesis credit must be taken in the semester in which the thesis is completed and orally defended. Students may take the two thesis courses in the same semester or split them up and take them in two different semesters. Students who opt for the thirty hours of coursework and a master's thesis are expected to complete six hours of coursework in completing the thesis and one additional course, as shown below.

• CUIN 6399 - Master's Thesis 1
• CUIN 7399 - Master's Thesis 2
• One Additional Course Listed Above or Approved by Student's Academic Advisor

More information about the master's thesis may be found online in the following documents:

UH College of Education Master's Degree Program Guide
http://coe.uh.edu/current-students/documents/cuin_ma_guide.pdf

Thesis and Dissertation Guide
http://coe.uh.edu/current-students/grad-student-resources/_pdf/Thesis_Dissertation_Guide_2010_5.pdf

Non-Thesis Option 
Students who plan to complete the thirty-six hours of coursework without competing a master's thesis must take the comprehensive examination are expected to complete three additional courses approved by a student's academic advisor.

Transfer Credit
With the approval of the advisor, department chair and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, a maximum of three courses (nine semester hours) of graduate work with a grade of A or B or its equivalent and relevant to the planned program may be transferred from another University into the masters program.

Degree Plan
Students enrolled in the program are required to submit a degree plan which lists the specific courses that will be taken to complete the course requirements for the master's degree. The degree plan should be completed in the early stage of a student's program and each student should make an appointment  with their academic advisor to discuss course requirements and options and complete the College of Education Master's Degree Plan form online using the MyAdvisor system, at: https://www.coe.uh.edu/MyAdvisor/login.cfm  

Once the degree plan is approved and signed by the student's academic advisor, it is submitted to the Chair of the Department  and the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies for their approval.

Any changes to a student's degree plan must be submitted on MyAdvisor and approved by the student's academic advisor, the Chair of the Department, and the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies.

Retention in Degree Program (Continuous Enrollment)

To maintain their status in a degree program, students must be enrolled in consecutive fall and spring semesters each calendar year, starting with the date of admission. Students who cannot register each semester must apply for a leave of absence or they will be dropped from the degree program. Students dropped from the degree program must petition and be approved for reinstatement.

Petitions may be submitted on MyAdvisor and paper forms will not be accepted.

Comprehensive Examination
The Comprehensive Exam is offered twice per year, once in the fall and once in the spring. Students may take the exam at any time after they have completed six courses (18 semester hours) of coursework. Students must complete an application to take the Comprehensive Exam on MyAdvisor and the application deadline as well as the date of the exam itself will be posted online at: important-dates htm

A degree plan must be submitted and approved before a student is eligible to take the Comprehensive Examination.

Students who would like to take the exam in a semester in which they are not enrolled in courses, or have completed all coursework, will need to submit a petition to take the Comprehensive Exam.

The exam is normally given on a Saturday morning from 9:00am to noon in the College of Education building on the main UH main campus. However, in most years, students are able to take the Comprehensive Exam in the Texas Medical Center and may choose to take the exam in either location. Specific dates and times that the exam will be held, will be will be posted online on the following page: important-dates.htm

The Comprehensive Examination is a 3 hour test that consists of three questions, one each from three different faculty members from whom the student took a course. At least one of the exam questions must be related to one of the Foundations of Education courses ("core area courses") and the student may select the topic for the other two questions. Students should contact the faculty members to request that they provide an exam question (be sure to indicate the topic area/course for the question) and if the faculty member agrees to provide a question, ask that she/he also inform you about how to prepare for the exam.

All three questions must be answered within a three hour time limit. 

Students who take the exam in the medical center are allowed to use a computer to type their answers in Microsoft Word, however they are not be allowed to access the Internet or any other programs on the PCs. At the end of the exam period, the Word documents are printed out and a copy of the files are transferred to a Flash drive belonging to the instructor who is proctoring the exam.

Students must pass all 3 questions and will have two opportunities to do so. If any of the three questions are failed the first time, students are allowed to retake just that question or a similar question from the same general area and this can be done the next time the comp exam is offered. 

The faculty members who wrote the questions will receive the answers and are required to grade them within 15 working days. Each question will be scored as Pass or Fail. After the exam is graded, students will be notified in writing of the results by the Executive Associate Dean of the UH College of Education.

Low Grade Policy 
As described in the University of Houston Graduate Catalog Online, at:
http://www.uh.edu/grad_catalog/garr/low_grade_policy.html 

A student who receives a grade of C+ or lower in 12 semester hours of credit attempted at this institution for graduate credit or for application toward the graduate degree, regardless of the student's classification, whether or not in repeated courses, is ineligible for any advanced degree at this institution and will not be permitted to re-enroll for graduate study. The Termination of Enrollment section specifies other regulations.

A summary of University Regulations and Requirements is available in the UH Graduate Catalog, at:http://www.uh.edu/grad_catalog/garr/university_regulations.html

Minimum Grade Point Average
A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.00 (B) for all graduate courses attempted is required for all graduate degree programs at the University of Houston. Failure to maintain a 3.00 GPA may result in a warning, probation, suspension, loss of financial support, or dismissal. Students with a conditional admission status must earn a minimum GPA of 3.00 during the first 12 hours of graduate level course work attempted at the University of Houston.