Self Designed Master's Degree (M.A. or M.Ed.)

Self Designed Master’s Degree students are required to complete 36 credits, including a Thesis that serves as a culmination of the program and demonstrates the student's mastery of the chosen specialization or discipline. Students will participate in three online colloquia during the course of the program, during which students work on research and writing skills, enhance their critical thinking skills, and present papers and final projects.

Students design their program in either a Team Based Model or in a Course Based Model.

• In the Team-Based Model students work closely with a core Faculty Advisor, and two experts/professionals throughout their program. These experts provide mentorship and review and critique the learning. Students typically have 3-4 team meetings throughout their program. These meetings typically occur on-campus, but may also occur through teleconferencing or web conferencing.
• In the Course-Based Model students work closely with a core Faculty Advisor, to either design independent study courses or to determine which courses at Lesley University will support their area of specialization. Students in this model are required to design at least six credits (two courses) of independent study.

CORE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

GSDMD 6111
Colloquium I: Degree Plan
SDMD colloquia are offered each academic year, and are attended by students, faculty, and staff. Students are required to attend three 1-credit colloquia during their master's programs. During colloquium #1 students work on the development of their degree plans in an interactive competency-based course: Degree Plan. This course is required in the first semester.

GSDMD 6112
Colloquium II: Ways of Knowing: How We Make Meaning
SDMD colloquia are offered each academic year, and are attended by students, faculty, and staff. Students are required to attend three 1-credit colloquia during their master's programs. During colloquium #2 students work on understanding the roots of western intellectual history in an interactive competency-based course: Ways of Knowing: How We Make Meaning. This course is required in the second semester.

GSDMD 6113
Colloquium III: Thesis Theory into Practice
SDMD colloquia are offered each academic year, and are attended by students, faculty, and staff. Students are required to attend three 1-credit colloquia during their master's programs.  During colloquium #3 students work on designing and researching their culminating master's study in an interactive competency-based course: Thesis: Theory into Practice. This course is required in the semester prior to thesis.

GSDMD 6002
Self Designed
Students work with their faculty advisor to design a 2-credit independent study that supports their Degree Plan. Components may include reading, research, creative and experiential academic activities.

GSDMD 6003
Self Designed
Students work with their faculty advisor to design a 3-credit independent study that supports their Degree Plan. Components may include reading, research, creative and experiential academic activities.

GSDMD 6005
Self Designed
Students work with their faculty advisor to design a 5-credit independent study that supports their Degree Plan. Components may include reading, research, creative and experiential academic activities.

GSDMD 6006
Self Designed
Students work with their faculty faculty advisor to design a 6-credit independent study that supports their Degree Plan. Components may include reading, research, creative and experiential academic activities.

GSDMD 6008
Self Designed
Students work with their faculty advisor to design an 8-credit independent study that supports their Degree Plan. Components may include reading, research, creative and experiential academic activities.

GSDMD 6009
Self Designed
Students work with their faculty advisor to design a 9-credit independent study that supports their Degree Plan. Components may include reading, research, creative and experiential academic activities.

GSDMD 6011
Self Designed
Students work with their faculty advisor to design an 11-credit independent study that supports their Degree Plan. Components may include reading, research, creative and experiential academic activities.

GSDMD 6012
Self Designed
Students work with their faculty advisor to design a 12-credit independent study that supports their Degree Plan. Components may include reading, research, creative and experiential academic activities.

GSDMD 7500
Thesis
This course is intended to help students in constructing the culminating thesis/project of their SDMD master’s degree. This course will review graduate-level research methodology, interviewing skills, thesis formatting and mechanics, the responsibilities of second readers and team members, the use of critical reflection, and the construction of a proper “thesis” and “argument.” Students will be engaged with faculty and peer review to investigate and narrow the focus of their work.

MINDFULNESS CORE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

 GINTD 6042

Mindfulness and Professional Practice
In this course students examine the theory of mindfulness and engage deeply in the practice. Mindfulness draws on the innate wisdom of our minds and bodies to develop calm, concentration, and insight, and to foster personal growth.  We will engage in several forms of mindfulness practice, and discuss related writings, including recent studies reporting new findings about the potential benefits of mindfulness practice to improve health and to promote equanimity and overall well-being, including enhancement of brain function. Students will focus on the application of these transformative practices in their own daily, academic, and/or professional lives.

GINTD 6047
Mindful Communications: Theory and Practice of Insight Dialogue
This Mindfulness Studies course is designed to examine and critique the theory, practice, and potential of Insight Dialogue, or interpersonal mindfulness, and its roots in the Buddhist concept of “right speech.”  Implications of Insight Dialogue for enhancing communication, including in difficult conversations, will be examined. Insight Dialogue will be contextualized within examination of prominent philosophies of dialogue and dialogic practices intended to promote communication across race, class, gender, and ideology.

GINTD 6048
Principles of Mindful Leadership
This course provides students with an opportunity to explore how Buddhist ideas underlying mindfulness can be extended into the realm of leadership and engagement with the contemporary world. Students will gain a nuanced understanding of principles of mindful leadership through close readings of translations of classical Buddhist teachings and current mindfulness texts.  Students will investigate the meaning of these teaching in direct experience and apply them to social, cultural, historical, organizational, and political case studies.

GINTC 6049
Inter-Group Conflict Transformation
The course is an interdisciplinary inquiry into the analysis and transformation of intergroup conflicts. Students will be introduced to different ways of analyzing and transforming conflicts, grounded in theories of peace -building, social-psychology, religion, and philosophy to provide core concepts, values and knowledge that form the basis for a conceptual framework. Culture will be at the center of these discussions. Both in the way that conflicts get played out and in lenses and practices that are adopted to analyze and transform it, culture plays a central role. Connections between culture, conflict and conflict transformation will be explored.