Educational Psychology (Non-Thesis) (M.Ed.): Learning Sciences (48 credits)
Offered by: Educational & Counselling Psych (Faculty of Education)
Degree: Master of Education
Program credit weight: 48
Program Description
The M.Ed. in Educational Psychology; Non-Thesis - Learning Sciences focuses on the study of applied methods and data science and on teaching and learning in formal and informal contexts, including cognitive, social, and affective processes. Application in methods and data science include data mining and machine learning. Application in instructional design includes the use of technology, program/curriculum development and evaluation. The program includes two streams: Applied Methods and Data Science, and Science of Learning and Instruction.
Required Courses (15 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EDPE 555 | Introduction to Learning Sciences | 3 |
Introduction to Learning Sciences Terms offered: Fall 2025 Introduction to foundational theories of the learning sciences. Implications of theory on methodologies for the learning sciences in general, and for educational and instructional contexts in particular. | ||
| EDPE 635 | Theories of Learning and Instruction. | 3 |
Theories of Learning and Instruction. Terms offered: Winter 2026 An analysis of the relationship between theory and research about learning and teaching from a historical perspective. | ||
| EDPE 636 | Motivation and Instruction. | 3 |
Motivation and Instruction. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Instructional effects on motivation and emotions and their implications for educational practice, with particular emphasis on socio-cultural and constructivist practices, classroom interaction, and teacher impact. | ||
| EDPE 640 | Emerging Technologies for Educational Change. | 3 |
Emerging Technologies for Educational Change. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Interdisciplinary learning theories; working with and evaluating emerging digital technologies and interfaces that impact teaching and learning. | ||
| EDPE 663 | Learning Environments. | 3 |
Learning Environments. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Research on digital environments and tools (e.g., online, mobile) that support learning and developing expertise. Evaluation and application of theory and research on technology-rich educational environments focusing on underlying cognitive and social processes. | ||
Complementary Courses (33 credits)
3 credits from the following:
Methods
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EDPE 602 | Uses of Research Findings in Education. | 3 |
Uses of Research Findings in Education. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Basic concepts of educational research for the student who is likely to be a regular consumer of research but only an occasional generator of research and will be able to use common tools of information retrieval. | ||
| EDPE 605 | Research Methods. | 3 |
Research Methods. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Research methods and designs, planning and evaluating research, relations between research and statistical designs, interdisciplinary and nonquantitative approaches, meta-analysis, and the use of computers beyond computation. Ethics, scholarly writing. | ||
Statistics
3 credits from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EDPE 575 | Statistics for Practitioners. | 3 |
Statistics for Practitioners. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Understanding and interpreting basic statistical procedures used in basic and applied research, including graphs, measures of central tendency and variability, hypothesis testing, and correlations, t-tests, and basic ANOVA designs. | ||
| EDPE 676 | Intermediate Statistics. | 3 |
Intermediate Statistics. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Concepts and procedures of conducting basic descriptive and inferential statistics, including analysis of variance, correlation, and regression models. Provides experience with data-analysis tools. | ||
15 credits from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EDPC 502 | Group Processes and Diversity. | 3 |
Group Processes and Diversity. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Theories and exploration of group development and processes, including an examination of research, and how intersectional and universal design have implications for group work. | ||
| EDPC 504 | Communication and Critical Conflict Resolution . | 3 |
Communication and Critical Conflict Resolution . Terms offered: Winter 2026 Applying a social justice framework this course will give students the opportunity to develop the critical communication skills necessary when addressing difficult dialogues and conflict. | ||
| EDPC 507 | Advocacy, Outreach and Leadership. | 3 |
Advocacy, Outreach and Leadership. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Exploration of the roles of advocacy, outreach and leadership in developing inclusive and accessible environments, including the complex interactions between individuals and the diversity of systems in which they live. | ||
| EDPC 540 | Social Responsibility and Relationships in Digital Age. | 3 |
Social Responsibility and Relationships in Digital Age. Terms offered: Summer 2025, Winter 2026 The complex way in which living in a digital age affects social relationships and its influences across generations in everyday lives. | ||
| EDPC 542 | Leadership and Support Roles of the Teacher. | 3 |
Leadership and Support Roles of the Teacher. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Theory and practice in inclusive teacher leadership and support for all members of the school community. Leading and supporting interpersonal communication, group dynamics, self-care and resilience, and classroom management in diverse educational and community settings. | ||
| EDPC 562 | Career as a Lifelong Process. | 3 |
Career as a Lifelong Process. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Career exploration for teachers, students and others across the lifespan. Creating inclusive and safe working environments, valuing diversity, career awareness, career growth and development, career decision-making, transferable skills, and school-to-work transitions for all. | ||
| EDPE 502 | Theories of Human Development. | 3 |
Theories of Human Development. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Life course developmental theories to form a foundation for policy and for empirical and applied work with diverse groups, including disability and other equity-seeking groups. | ||
| EDPE 664 | Critical Thinking | 3 |
Critical Thinking Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Foundational and current research on the development of critical thinking in formal and informal educational settings, exploring cognitive, interpersonal, and socio-cultural dimensions. Introduction to methodologies for analyzing data related to cognitive processes. | ||
| EDPE 668 | Advanced Seminar in Learning Sciences. | 3 |
Advanced Seminar in Learning Sciences. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Critical analysis and synthesis of contemporary theoretical and empirical research in educational psychology and cognate areas. Topics addressed for each offering may change as a function of current debates and issues in the educational literature. Examples of topics would be motivation, assessment, epistemology, self-regulated learning, and metacognition. | ||
| EDPE 699D1 | Special Activity. | 6 |
Special Activity. Terms offered: Fall 2025 A project relevant to improving educational practice. It may be an internship, a research project, or an innovation in teaching supervised by the student's advisor and with the approval of the department. It is completed by the submission of a project report, monograph, or production. | ||
| EDPE 699D2 | Special Activity. | 6 |
Special Activity. Terms offered: Winter 2026 A project relevant to improving educational practice. It may be an internship, a research project, or an innovation in teaching supervised by the student's advisor and with the approval of the department. It is completed by the submission of a project report, monograph, or production. | ||
| EDPI 526 | Supporting Students' Strengths and Talents. | 3 |
Supporting Students' Strengths and Talents. Terms offered: Winter 2026 The psychology and practice of supporting the strengths and talents of all students across educational and community settings . Strength and talent-based programs and activities, assessments to discover student strengths and talents, classroom adaptations, application of strength and talent-based approaches to curriculum design. | ||
| EDPI 527 | Creativity and its Cultivation. | 3 |
Creativity and its Cultivation. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Recent research, theory, and educational practice concerning creativity, with special attention to creativity in students and educational settings. | ||
| EDPI 539 | Field Work 1. | 3 |
Field Work 1. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Supervised experience in an approved relevant educational setting. | ||
| EDPI 540 | Field Work 2. | 3 |
Field Work 2. Terms offered: Fall 2025, Winter 2026 Supervised experience in an approved relevant educational setting. | ||
| EDPI 654 | Instruction/Curriculum Adaptation. | 3 |
Instruction/Curriculum Adaptation. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Adapting instruction and curriculum for students with special needs; developing individualized programs and methods; building curriculum that addresses both academic and social needs of students. | ||
12 credits from one of the following two streams:
Stream 1: Science of Learning and Instruction
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EDPE 535 | Instructional Design. | 3 |
Instructional Design. Terms offered: Winter 2026 This course draws on the fields of learning theory, developmental psychology, and measurement to focus on the tasks of constructing instructional materials. Areas to be considered include behaviour analysis, concept formation, and test construction. | ||
| EDPE 656 | Applied Theory/Methods in the Learning Sciences. | 3 |
Applied Theory/Methods in the Learning Sciences. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Foundational and current theories and methodologies applied to understanding human cognition and learning. An overview of experimental, observational, and physiological research designs, methods, and analyses. | ||
| EDPE 666 | Advanced Topics in Learning Sciences | 3 |
Advanced Topics in Learning Sciences Terms offered: Fall 2025 Advanced topics on theory and research on the interdisciplinary study of the learning sciences. Focuses on cognitive-psychological and social- psychological foundations of human learning, as well as on the design of learning environments. | ||
| EDPE 670 | Educational Assessment and Evaluation. | 3 |
Educational Assessment and Evaluation. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Theories and models of evaluation as applied to educational programs and instructional systems. Current theories of aligning assessment with curriculum and instruction goals based on the cognitive competencies required in specific practices. | ||
| EDPI 665 | Teaching of Reading. | 3 |
Teaching of Reading. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Reviews contemporary research on reading acquisition and associated language development with a focus on research and theory as the basis for examining current evidence-based practices for supporting learning in diverse classrooms. | ||
Stream 2: Applied Methods and Data Science
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EDPE 510 | Machine Learning in Society | 3 |
Machine Learning in Society Terms offered: Fall 2025 An overview of key topics and broader issues in machine learning. An exploration of machine learning algorithms to make predictions and provide explanations from the decision structures inferred from the data. An introduction to programming languages to exemplify fundamental machine learning algorithms and techniques. | ||
| EDPE 561 | Machine Learning: Theory & Applications | 3 |
Machine Learning: Theory Applications Terms offered: Winter 2026 An examination of the principles underlying the current practice of machine learning,emphasizing the conceptual underpinnings of the fundamental machine learning algorithms applied to education and other domains. The critical use of data to develop rigorous data models. The mapping of algorithms to learning tasks. The visualization, evaluation, and interpretation of performance measures and results. The identification of model strengths and limitations. | ||
| EDPE 682 | Univariate/Multivariate Analysis. | 3 |
Univariate/Multivariate Analysis. Terms offered: Winter 2026 General linear model as a unified data analytic system for estimation and hypothesis testing that subsumes regression, analysis of variance, and analysis of covariance for single dependent variables. Introduction to generalizations involving multiple dependent (criterion) variables. Applications oriented toward education, educational psychology and counselling psychology. Experience with data-analysis tools. | ||
| EDPE 684 | Applied Multivariate Statistics. | 3 |
Applied Multivariate Statistics. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Principal methods, models, and hypothesis-testing procedures for the prediction and analysis of patterns, structure, and relationships in multivariate data (e.g., factor and path analysis, structural equation modeling, multi-level modeling). Applications oriented toward education and educational and counselling psychology. Provides experience with data analysis tools. | ||
| EDPE 687 | Qualitative Methods in Educational Psychology. | 3 |
Qualitative Methods in Educational Psychology. Terms offered: Winter 2026 The logics of design and selection of phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, case study and mixed design methods with emphasis on data analysis in light of issues of research purpose, epistemology, reliability and validity. | ||