Reviewing The CSUCI Masters In Education Program As A Disabled Student

Now that I have finished the CSUCI Master's In Education with an Emphasis in Disability Studies program, I want to share my top 5 favorite things, and 5 things I wish they would change. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in this program, as I think I am a better disability advocate and researcher for having done so.

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Pros

1: Small Class Sizes

I had a few large classes with 12 students, and my small classes had 4 students. This allowed me to get individualized feedback and participate fully in class discussions. I feel like I got to tailor many of my projects to my interests, and I had time to ask questions, get feedback, and have one-on-one conversations with professors.

2: Writing Center Staff

The writing center employs a writing tutor with a doctoral degree in education, so when I need help editing a final project, I can get specialized help. This makes it easy for me to make additional edits I might not have seen if I only edited my papers by myself. I finally started using the writing center because of a class in my first semester in this program, and it has been helpful to have extra eyes on my work. While I am confident in my writing overall, I like getting additional, detailed feedback and confirmation of my writing skills.

3: Community

I am really lucky that I found community in my program. To everyone who has been a friend, shown support, reached out during my hospitalization and new diagnosis, and otherwise been supportive throughout the two years, thank you. It is so helpful to be able to message people during the program to talk about classes, research interests, and other aspects of being a grad student. Thank you, and I really hope we all stay in touch.

4: Research Opportunities

I have gotten so many research opportunities. Stay tuned for when I can talk about that in more detail after publication, which can take a long time. But I am so thankful to have been given the opportunity, and I don't know if I would have been able to do that at another school. I am enjoying the research I get to do and the advocacy I get to do as a result.

5: Professors

All of my professors have been kind, professional, skilled, and understanding. I couldn't have asked for better professors to learn from. A bonus is that this program has no tests, so I really got to focus on improving my writing and research skills. Thank you to all my professors, research partners, and thesis advisor for creating a safe and fun learning environment where I could grow my skills.

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Things I Would Change

1: Disability Representation In The Curriculum

I've shared this a lot in previous semesters, so I think it's important to highlight it here. I had to ask for disability representation in relevant curriculum that was not an elective for my disability studies emphasis. For example, in a class about diversity, equity, and inclusion, disability was only given half of one class meeting, while race was given over four class meetings' worth of discussion. Disability identity intersects with race, gender, and sexuality, and could have been integrated more into the curriculum in order to foster important conversations for educators working with disabled students. *Side note- every educator works with disabled students, even if they don't specifically teach special education.

2: Classes Were Not Asynchronous

Now, I didn't need every class to be fully online. However, some semesters I had to meet for class three days a week, which made maintaining a social life with friends who work 9-5 jobs challenging. It also made it harder to schedule appointments around class time, because I was also managing my homework workload. I wish there had been a better balance, because I was able to complete several class assignments well ahead of their due dates.

3: Class Offerings Were Scarce

Due in part to low enrollment, most classes were offered only once a year. I couldn't keep any sense of a schedule for any other nighttime obligations I might have wanted to do because I could not control when my classes would meet. I wish I had had more options for when to take a class so I could have a small sense of control over my schedule. At one point, I tried to have a consistent Tuesday night obligation that got completely canceled after my first semester because I had a class on Tuesdays for a year. Now that I'm single, I no longer need that night free, so I guess it didn't matter too much. But I would have liked to be able to commit to anything after about 3:30 pm, before knowing my schedule.

4: Exposure To Writing Findings and Discussion Sections

This is definitely for me in the thesis track, but by the time I had to write chapters 4 and 5 of my thesis, I felt so overwhelmed because I didn't have much practice. I felt really overwhelmed, because writing a thesis can be time-consuming and hard. I enjoyed growing as a researcher, but wow, it is a hard project that takes a year and a half of planning and coordinating to complete. If I had had more time in my intro to research class, or in another class dedicated to understanding these sections, I might have saved myself a grad-student-induced panic or two.

5: Parking

There is not enough ADA accessible parking on my college campus. It is that simple. There needs to be more, because I could not rely on consistent parking on campus for all of my semesters, and regularly had to park farther away than the closest parking lot with disability parking. I think there could be more ADA stalls, and any spot, even for staff and faculty, should allow ADA parking passes to use it because being disabled is not a choice.

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Thank you for reading about my overall review of my master's program at CSUCI. If you have any questions or comments, please comment on the blog, reach out at @Anniekrollblog on Instagram or Facebook, or email me at Anniekrollblog@gmail.com. I hope to see you next week!