Leveraging Flexible Trajectories to Meet the Needs of Non-Traditional Graduate Students in Master of Education Degree Programs

Program coordinators/faculty members of two Master of Education Degree programs at a university in the United States of America meets the needs of nontraditional graduate students through flexible trajectories related to course sequence, program progression, and course formats. These Master of Education Degree programs for teachers (licensure and non-licensure) have transitioned from strict cohort models to specialized course sequences codesigned between the program coordinator and each student. Each program has undergone course format changes based on student need. The licensure (secondary education) M.Ed. program originally started with mostly onsite classes and transitioned to utilizing a mix of course formats to meet student needs – onsite, asynchronous online, and hybrid. The non-licensure M.Ed. program used to offer students a choice of two course formats- onsite or asynchronous online; however, due to course enrollment trends, the program transitioned to all asynchronous online coursework. As a result of these programmatic changes, students have benefited and the programs have grown, combatting challenges of recruitment and retention at the university.