INDEX:
    1.1 Startup and timelines
    1.2 Definition and locations
    1.3 Degree Requirements
    1.4 Registration Application
    1.5 Roles of Advisors, Mentors, Students
    1.6 Advisors
    1.7 APA Notations
    1.8 Copyright Laws for GTEP
    1.9 Project Phases
         Specialization Topics
         Appendixes

1.1 Startup and timelines

Students apply to register for any of the Field Experience Project courses by submitting a completed online application.

For APR 0650, APR 0750, and RED 0588 (3-credit) can be taken as a site-based class or online via FasTRACK (OLP 0688), all of which last one term (16 weeks). Minimum implementation time for these projects is 8 weeks after the proposal is approved.

All 6-credit research projects (APR 0688, RED 0588 in Nevada, INED 0691/0692 are independent studies. Students are assigned 9ndividual advisors and must implement their approved project for a minimum of 12 weeks. In Nevada, students may meet as a class for a minimum of two class meetings with the AFE Administraror (or designee). This project registration is for a 1-year schedule, but students must be aware of the local school year to complete within the 1-year timeline.

• Students who work in 10-month schools must keep in mind the number of weeks of implementation needed to complete the Implementation Phase in their applied research project. Therefore, if students in a 10-month school plan to implement in the spring, a completed proposal must be approved by the advisor/coach no later than the beginning of March.
  
• Students who use private centers for implementation can adjust their implementation start time to fit the needs of the center. This means, for example, that if the setting provides for 12 months of regular operations—as in hospitals, residential care facilities, juvenile detention centers, tutoring centers, or large organizations—implementation can begin at any time of year after the Advisor/Coach approves the proposal. The important thing to keep in mind is the length of time available with the target group.

1.2 Definition and Locations

The applied research project is a practical experience for the GTEP master's degree and educational specialist programs of study. It can be completed for 3 or 6 credits, as prescribed on individual program outlines. The project provides students with an opportunity to apply knowledge and skills as a problem solver, while taking an active role in a workplace improvement project. It is expected that the project will effect positive change while enhancing professional development and leadership skills.

Locations

A GTEP applied research project must take place in an educational setting. It can be at the student's school, the school district, state department of education, or other education-related agency or setting. Options within a  project may range from remediation of skills to enrichment, and from curriculum development to emergent needs. The resulting statistics may include increase in students achievement, change in school behavior, creation of new focus for the school, or even community involvement. Therefore, the project design can best be  determined through negotiation with mentor and the project Advisor/Coach and is based on individual needs, career objectives, and goals. GTEP students may apply to register for the project any time after completing 24 credits of their program of study (33 credits in ESE) and within the entire GTEP degree program timeline.

Applied Research Project Variations

• The 6-credit applied research project is an independent study course guided by an individually-assigned project advisor. A full proposal, implementation, and final report are required, in that order. Up to one year is allowed for completion without additional charges. Students must submit an online application in order to register. (See link below.)
• The 3-credit site-based applied researchproject is a peer supported course, conducted in a cluster format with a group project advisor/instructor. Meetings are held at the local sites. Implementation is completed at the student's workplace. A modified proposal, modified implementation (8 weeks) and full final report are required.Students must submit an online application to register. (See link below.)
• The  FasTRACK Project  is a fast track, totally online course with documents completed online. The structure includes online seminars and peer consultative groups used for discussing assignments. Assignments are the equivalent of a proposal. These projects are advised by experienced project advisors, called "coaches."  The timeline for completion is 16 (one term). The course is are available for Fall I and Winter I in cluster format. There is no resulting paper document as in the regular project. Implementation time of a minimum of 8 weeks. Students must submit an online application to register. (See link below.)

Special Projects

*Research Project, with an NSU professor is possible at various times. Any master's or educational specialist student can participate in an ongoing research project with an NSU program professor (full time GTEP professor) with prior arrangements of the professor and the GTEP applied research administrator. Students must submit an online application to register.

*Access to the Internet is the personal responsibility of the student.

APPLICATION

•     Master of Science Requirements (M.S.)

Most GTEP master's degree candidates may opt to use any of the project variations that are explained herein. The project is a project that is implemented on the job, and immediate changes can readily be seen. Students often receive promotions after their schools and school districts become aware of the impact of these creative projects. The on-site administrator is selected by the student from among the available administrators at the workplace.

Proposals must include all required Table of Contents items, including the review of at least 15 primary source education articles from the current professional literature.

• Educational Specialist Degree Project Requirements (Ed.S.)

The educational specialist degree candidate has the same requirements that the master's degree student enjoys. However it is required to complete a project that has greater scope and impact than that of a master's project. The number of primary resources required is a minimum of 30. Two target groups must be addressed, one that affects the other group, and a leadership role be taken in the student's area of specialization. This can easily be done with the assistance of the on-site administrator.

Required Educational Specialist Conventions:

1. The participating subjects must be comprised of a minimnum of two target groups with whom the student will be interacting. Data must be provided for both groups. .
   
2. The  topic must address an issue of significance to the educational community, rather than one restricted to the setting alone. Students should attempt, within this project, to extend their influence beyond the boundaries of their current professional responsibilities.  
   
3. Students must review a minimum of 30 primary sources.
   
4. Students must conduct formative procedures prior to or during implementation, so immediate procedural needs or adjustments to the setting can be addressed early in implementation. The formative procedure can be stated as an objective if it is completed during implementation rather than while collecting preliminary data.

The educational specialist candidate is permitted three revisions of the proposal and two revisions of the final report while working with the Advisor/Coach. One project office revision is permitted under special circumstances to achieve a passing grade.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Requirements

IThe purpose of this course is to provide the student with first-hand experience with the research process. All work produced from this porject is for the purpose of completing the requirement of this course. No product from this course may be used outside of this course for any purpose (e.g., presentation at a conference or meeting; submission for publication). If the student intends to use any product from this course, he/she will be required to complete the IRB process. This will include the ADvisor/Coach and the student completing the online training module and submitting the required IRB forms for review before implementation can begin. This may delay the student's implementation start date.

1.4 Registration Directory

APPLICATION

1.5 Roles: Advisor/Coach*, Administrator/Verifier, Student

The project involves the student in a close collaborative effort with a GTEP project advisor/coach, with an administrator/verifier, and with other professionals working in the educational setting. The project advisor/coach is a qualified GTEP faculty member with extensive expertise in education. All advisors on the Advisor/Coach Lists have earned doctorates and have been approved by the Applied Field Experience Administrator to advise project students.

The Advisor/Coach is responsible for approving each phase of the project. Therefore, students must begin working with Advisors/Coaches soon as possible after receiving the assignment letter or email message. The Advisor/Coach facilitates the proposal development, its contents, the form and style of writing, and insures that the various parts are linked in a logical design.

*The 6-credit Students and their Advisors meet at their mutual convenience.
*The 3-credit site-based courses meet during the first week of the term at the site and select specific dates for future meetings. There is a minimum of three meetings for this course.
*The FasTRACK practicum Students meet online with their coaches for instruction once a week for the first six weeks of the course, then for four more chats near the end of the course.

The GTEP project administrator/verifier is an administrator at the project setting with whom the student meets to discuss possible project topics. The administrator's role is to act as a consultant and to provide permission to implement all parts of the project: a needs assessment, implementation, and evaluations. The administrator completes the consent to conduct the proposed project before implementation can be started. The administrator also serves as the verifier that the project took place as written after project completion. GTEP administrators/verifiers sign (and have notarized) the Project Verification Form that is submitted with student documents. The students are responsible for submitting these documents

The student should contact the administrator/verifier early in the process to discuss and identify problems that may become the subject of the project. Students should recognize that the administrator/verifier might be able to assist the student with scheduling or in working with other professionals on team assignments.

1.6 Advisors
Project advisors/coaches are experienced educators holding doctoral degrees in education. They have been approved and selected by the Applied Field Experience Aadministrator. All project advisors have participated in training for preparing GTEP project documents at the master's and educational specialist levels.

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Working with the Advisor/Coach

Students must have official assignment letters or NSU email messages from the Applied Field Experience office before beginning to work with their advisors. Students must select a problem related to their specialization area for this degree. A project should be designed to solve a real problem that has potential for adaptation to other settings. A proposed project must show potential for accomplishing the stated purposes within the time limits and with available resources.

Students should submit each section/chapter of the proposal to the assigned advisor as each is completed. With the Literature Review chapter, the References list should be included.

The Advisor/Coach can answer most questions during the study. The Advisor/Coach may accept a chapter/section, reject it, or ask for necessary revisions. Most proposals can be completed in three to four drafts. When the proposal is ready for final evaluation, the student sends one copy to the project Advisor/Coach. The Advisor/Coach communicates to the student about the quality of the proposal on the Proposal Evaluation. The Advisor/Coach also may provide written comments on a Project Action Form advising appropriate revision for those items judged as "no" or "unclear." The Advisor will send one copy of the finished proposal to the projects office for a second reading. The Advisor/Coach will set the date for beginning implementation.

Matching specializations and projects

Action Research

A GTEP elementary education specialization student must design a project that applies to grades 1-6 (K-8 in Nevada only). The project can be done in one classroom or at school level or district level, unless seeking certification in a new area. Then the target group must be students (1-6 or K-8)

Example 1: Improving Comprehension Skills of At-Risk Fourth Grade Students (M.S. degree)

Example 2: Imporving Math Word Problem Skills in 8th Grade Students through Home-School Collaboration (Ed.S.-two groups: parents and students)

Example 3: Creating and Implementing a Teacher-Administrator Team Training Model in Exceptional Student Education (Ed.D.-two groups-teachers and administrators)

In a proactive project, students may seek to remedy an emergent problem in the workplace. Students sometimes develop computer programs, new curricula, and/or training programs to meet emergent needs.

Project Design and Target Groups

The project presents a single group pretest/posttest design (two groups for education specialists). This is to be a criterion-referenced project. Students are expected to select and recombine solution strategies that have been proven effective by others, rather than "trying out" a strategy to "see whether or not it works." It is expected that, whenever possible, students will build their solution strategies on work that has been done by others in the professional field. This is accomplished by consulting the most current journals and documents in the specified field.

Students should select a target group of not fewer than eight subjects. If it appears that a smaller group is all that is available to a student, the Advisor/Coach will contact the Applied Field Experience Administrator for permission to proceed. This must be done prior to approving the finished proposal for implementation. If several target groups are involved in implementation, they may be of varying sizes. It is not appropriate for a student to attempt to work personally with unwieldy numbers of students, such as an entire grade level, without a second target group of teachers or tutors to assist with implementation. It is never appropriate to work with only one target subject, such as in a case study.

1.7 APA Notations

• Set 1” margins on all sides.
• Use left margin justification
• Set the font for 12 pt with New Times Roman or other serif font.
• Use no bold or underlining. Underlining may be used for URLs if requested for certain assignments.
• Use no running heads or page headers or footers
• Use the “Insert” function to insert Arabic page numbers at the upper right corner, with the same font as the text (no italics, periods, hyphens, underlining, or bold).
• Use white paper

It will contain no page number.

Top section:

Title of the Assignment
Upper and Lower Case Style as inThis Example

Middle section:

by
Full Name
Course code and CRN (e.g. APR 0650)
Title of Course Bottom section: Nova Southeastern University
Month, day, year (September 23, 2005)

 
The Abstract is page 2, followed by the Table of Contents on page 3, and the Body of Text will start with the page that follows the Table of Contents.

• Indent ½” for each new paragraph, the default on most word processors.
• Text is to be double spaced.
• For headings and subheadings, follow current FSEHS style.
  
  In the following cases, single spacing will be used.
   
• Table of Contents
• Abstract
• Block quotes
• Table titles
  
  The References list will start on a new page after the main body; pagination should be continuous throughout the main body and the References section.

  The title is to be centered at the top of the page on the first available line.

• Use hanging indent and single spacing for each reference item. 
  Hanging indent can be found in MS Word by clicking on “Format,” selecting “Paragraph,” and choosing “Indentation,” under “Special,” change to “Hanging.” 
  Double space between items.
• References are listed in alphabetical order according to first word in the entry and follow the current APA format.

1.8 Copyright Laws

Laws:
Copyright laws are very specific about what can be placed in a personal document without written permission of the publisher. Project documents and class assignments for NSU are personal documents.

Citations:
Students should cite authors in their project documents (and written class assignments) by surnames and copyright dates - without given names or titles - exactly as written on the Reference List. In writing citations, students should not change the order of authors' names when citing an article by two or more authors. The citations must match the References list items. Consult APA for citing items that do not have identified authors.

Copies of copyrighted documents:
Copyrighted documents that CAN be included in personal documents (project and other assignments) with only a reference at the bottom of the page are:

• one page of a longer original document
• one page of a workbook sample.

• original documents of others
• photocopies of entire copyrighted documents
• document copies permitted for classroom use
• retyped or rearranged copies of original documents
• redesigned materials originated by anyone other than the student
• Standardized tests or copies of any of their pages

If the school, school district, facility, or student has purchased commercial materials, there is no need to secure permission for USE in that setting. Permission is needed only for placing copies of those copyrighted materials in the student's personal document

Appendixes:

Appendixes should include copies of any survey forms, interview questions, and other teachert-made materials related to the document or project. Any copies of materials not created by the student may be placed in appendixes only with written permission of the publisher (Copyright Law-see list above).

1.9 Phases

MAPPING THE PROJECT TIMELINE AND THE THREE PHASES
These three phases must be completed in the following order.

Phase I, Proposal
The student must first look carefully within the specialization, and-with the help of the administrator/verifier-identify a problem or a situation at the setting that needs improvement. The student and advisor/coach select the topic, and the student writes a complete proposal for its solution. The student follows the Table of Contents and specifications provided by this Project Guide document.

The Advisor/Coach assists the student with preparation of the proposal document, including a comprehensive review of professional literature related to the problem. Each student is encouraged to remain open to suggestions from the literature for possible solutions. This is a key component of an applied research project. The Advisor/Coach guides the student in selecting solution strategies that are based on the reviews and approves the completed proposal. Then the Advisor/Coach submits the proposal to the Applied Field Experience office for review by a second reader for 6-credit projects.For 3-credit project proposals, the proposal is approved by the advisor/coach.

Phase II, Implementation:
Implementation with the target group follows for an advisor/coach-approved period of time (minimum 8weeks for 3-credits; minimum 12 weeks for 6-credits). The student is expected to keep a personal log of events during this time for assistance in preparing the report. Any changes to the original implementation plan and the ratiuonale for making these changes as well as what worked well would be reflected in the daily logs. The proposal should be saved as "proposal" and then saved again as "final report."

Phase III, Final Report:
The Advisor/Coach gives the student permission to start on the final report some time after implementation begins. Corrections to the proposal suggested by the Advisor/Coach and NSU Reader are used in constructing the report. By working on the newly saved, "final report" edition of the proposal, students can start making changes during the implementation period without overwriting the original approved proposal. The student completes the report and submits it to the Advisor/Coach for review and evaluation after adding the tables containing  pre/post data on each member of the target group. A recommendations/reflections chapter is aded to complete the document. The Advisor/Coach submits the corrected report to the Applied Field Experience office for grading. The project is considered completed when the Final Report has been received at the projects office and has been graded.

Students can graduate every month of the year.
Official transcripts are available from the Registrar's Office after degree conferral
Nova Southeastern University holds one annual commencement ceremony in Fort Lauderdale.

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