Program Statistics
Visit PhD Program Statistics for statistics such as program admissions, enrollment, student demographics and more.
Learning Sciences
Degree Types: PhD, MA
The Interdisciplinary Learning Sciences Program prepares researchers, developers, and practitioners to advance the scientific understanding and practice of teaching and learning.
Through coursework and research apprenticeships, students engage in three facets of learning sciences research and theory:
- Cognition: Scientific models of the structures and processes of learning and teaching.
- Sociocultural context: Social, organizational, and cultural dynamics of learning and teaching.
- Design: Building environments for learning and teaching.
Students participate in frontier investigations in schools, workplaces, and other settings. The program emphasizes the design and use of technologies as a component of innovation and educational reform.
Learning Sciences faculty consider learning and teaching from a diversity of theoretical and methodological perspectives including artificial intelligence, cognitive and developmental psychology, computer science, and educational research.
Additional resources:
Program Contact
Contact Megan Redfearn
Director, Faculty Support and Doctoral Student Affairs
847-467-6519
Degree Requirements
The following requirements are in addition to, or further elaborate upon, those requirements outlined in The Graduate School Policy Guide.
PhD
Total Units Required: 15
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| Required courses: | |
| Foundations | |
| LRN_SCI 403-0 | Foundations of the Learning Science |
| Cognition | |
| LRN_SCI 401-0 | Knowledge Representation for the Learning Sciences |
| Sociocultural Context | |
| LRN_SCI 402-0 | Social Dimensions of Teaching & Learning |
| Design | |
| LRN_SCI 425-0 | Introduction to Design for the Learning Sciences |
| And two of the following Design courses: | |
| LRN_SCI 426-0 | Design of Technological Tools for Thinking and Learning |
| LRN_SCI 429-0 | Design of Learning Environments |
| COMP_SCI 430-0 | Design of Interactive Learning Environments |
| LRN_SCI 472-0 | Designing and Constructing Models With Multi-Agent Languages |
| Methods | |
| LRN_SCI 404-0 | Methods and Epistemologies for the Study of Learning 1 |
| LRN_SCI 405-1 | Methods and Epistemologies for the Study of Learning II |
| And Three of the following Methods Courses: | |
| LRN_SCI 415-0 | Field Methods |
| LRN_SCI 416-0 | Advanced Qualitative Methods |
| LRN_SCI 410-0 | Quantitative Methods I: Probability and Statistics |
| LRN_SCI 411-0 | Quantitative Methods II: Regression Analysis |
| Program seminars or University graduate-level courses (4) | |
| Note: Changes to the methods requirements are pending administrative approval by TGS. This is anticipated Fall 2021. | |
Other PhD Degree Requirements
- Examinations: written qualifying exam taken during summer after second year
- Research/Projects: research presentation and paper after second year; pre-dissertation research project
- Teaching: serve as teaching assistant for at least two courses
- PhD Dissertation: based upon independent research
- Final Evaluations: oral defense of dissertation research
Master's
The department does not admit students for the MA degree, but will award the MA to a PhD candidate if deemed in the student's best interest. At least two years of graduate courses, plus any supplementary courses and/or examinations recommended by faculty, are required.