Educational Psychology

EDPY 903 (★3)

Course Overview 

There are four course-based Master of Education routes in Educational Psychology: 


Each of them offers a version of EDPY 903 with expectations specific to the area of professional interest. The information below offers an introductory explanation of each course, but additional details and expectations will be communicated by the course instructor. 

Measurement, Evaluation, and Data Science

The capping project is the culminating activity for students in the course-based Master of Education program in Measurement, Evaluation, and Data Science. The purpose of the course-based program is to provide students with a solid foundation in measurement, evaluation, and data science through extensive coursework. The program also requires a capping project which is intended to help students integrate the knowledge and skills acquired through their coursework into a final project. 
The capping project is not a thesis. Hence, it does not require that students conduct independent research. Rather, the capping project is intended to be a flexible exercise where students select a topic of interest and study that topic in-depth using the outcomes from their coursework as the foundation. The capping projects within a cohort of students are expected to be diverse in order to reflect students’ background, goals, and interests. The most common formats for the capping project in MEDS include a literature review, a demonstration, or an instructional module. But other formats are permissible. In sum, the capping project allows students to apply the outcomes from their coursework toward a project that is of particular interest using a flexible structure and format. Each project is supervised by the Capping Project coordinator. The final manuscript produced for the capping project is evaluated by the Capping Project coordinator.

Special Education

The Capping Exercise is a culminating activity for the Course-Based Master of Education in Special Education degree. It is an opportunity to integrate the academic knowledge and skills you have acquired during your coursework in the program, apply them to an issue in which you are interested, and produce a practical professional product that reflects research or evidence-based practices in Special Education.

There are THREE options available to students completing a course-based Masters:

(i) Literature Review

(ii) Research Paper

(iii) Professional Development Presentations


(i) Literature Review 

This option provides you with the opportunity to apply the knowledge, skills, and judgement acquired during your coursework in the program to an area of professional interest. It will involve a comprehensive review of the relevant literature that describes “where the field currently stands” regarding an issue relevant to the practice of Special Education, and includes application of research or evidence-based concepts. 

(max 40 pages).


(ii) Research Paper 

This option provides you with the opportunity to present results from research you are conducting. This option MUST be negotiated with the supervising Faculty member. The format will follow quantitative or qualitative manuscript components. (max 40 pages). 


Please Note: Any student may choose the Literature Review or Research Paper options but it may be particularly important for any student planning to continue graduate studies at the doctoral level to choose one of these options.


(iii) Professional Development Presentations

This option involves taking knowledge you have learnt over the course of your program and translating it for teachers. It will involve taking projects you have completed or knowledge you have acquired in the individual courses and developing THREE one-hour professional development presentations.


For each PD presentation your submission will include:


Counselling Psychology

At or near the end of their MEd program, students will complete a capping project. The project should be an investigation of an issue relevant to professional practice that arrives at a practical conclusion. It must be grounded in the field of counselling psychology and can be an intervention, evaluation or consultation. The project must not involve research as defined by the Tri-Council Policy Statement on Research Involving Humans. The capping project is intended to prepare students for professional practice and is carried-out under the guidance of a course instructor who will assist in identifying a topic, deciding on the form, and writing-up of the project.

Teaching English as a Second Language

The objective of this course is to create a research-informed project that will be of interest to the wider ESL teaching community. The students will demonstrate the ability to conduct scholarly work, synthesize information from different sources, and present it in a clear, user-friendly manner. The final capping project in TESL should be a challenging piece of work that integrates the skills and concepts students have learned during their tenure in the Master's program. The goal of the project is for students to learn about an issue in substantial depth.