The Advantages of the Cohort Format for Advanced Professional Education

This master’s degree in education is offered in the CSUN cohort format. Cohorts at the master’s level generally comprise 25 to 40 participants, who enter the program and proceed through the pre-determined program of study as a group. This cohort forms a cohesive learning community that enhances the learning dynamics for all. Further, participants are guaranteed admission in all of the courses required for program.

The cohort format is a powerful approach for designing and teaching advanced professional education programs. It allows curriculum for this master’s degree to be crafted as a comprehensive and integrated educational experience so that the program moves participants forward, covering important content and cultivating and challenging the development of advanced conceptual skills for professional practice at a senior level. For this master’s degree, faculty worked together to develop the program as a whole. This approach is distinctive to CSUN, and it has a high value for those seeking effective advanced professional education. With this approach, courses

in this master’s degree become components of the overall program’s larger educational purpose and learning goals. Faculty teach the cohort using sophisticated instructional strategies for more extensive student engagement in the educational experience because program participants and faculty take an educational journey together from the start to the end of the program.

CSUN also uses the cohort format because it increases the level of success of those enrolled in the program, when measured in terms of successful on-time program completion. The on-time successful graduation rate for CSUN cohorted master’s degree programs is well above the national average, with most at or above an 80% on-time graduation rate, and some reaching over 90%. For anyone investing in their own advanced professional education, successful program completion is the key feature determining whether or not that investment provides the envisioned return.

The cohort format supports this level of success because each cohort becomes a tightly knit community in which students share their learning experiences, and faculty members can plan and teach in ways that provide and reinforce strong links between lectures, assignments and courses. The assigned program manager also works with the students in each cohort from application through graduation to provide the encouragement, guidance and administrative support needed to allow program participants to focus on their academic work and successfully move forward in the program.

Those who enroll in this online master’s degree will have a memorable and powerful educational experience as a member of this program’s next cohort.

The cohort forms a cohesive learning community that  enhances the learning dynamics for all.