Introductory Message Program Audience Programs of Study Degree Requirements by Concentration Course Offerings Learning Resources Faculty PROGRAMS OF STUDY Master of Education in Educational Leadership Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership Master of Science in TESOL Welcome to the Center for Education and Literacy People of all nations are interested in education and the quality of their schools and in many ways, a nation's progress is often equated with the success of its educational system. People expect their schools to assist their young to become well educated citizens and the future leaders of their society and they rely upon their schools to guide their young people through life's chances in a way that will mold their lifelong attitudes and skills in effective preparation for their life's work. Because of its vital importance to the survival of any culture, most nations expect their young to continue in their education from the age of 6 through 18, and encourage the capability to complete a college degree. Indeed, the opening of the schools in Afghanistan signaled to the world that this is a nation in progress. In fact, education is so important to these nations that huge amounts are spent each year to support and maintain the educational enterprise. Financially, in the United States alone, more than $400 billion is spent on education each year, an amount approximating seven percent of the total gross domestic product (OECD: 1995:66 in Brint, 1998, 4). Over the past two decades new technologies and the internet have brought access to education to millions of people around the world whose countries previously faced illiteracy issues. In the United States higher education online, currently an acceptable mode of learning, is the engine driving the current massive explosion of higher education enrollments. According to a recent report of the National Center for Education Statistics, released in 2006, in the period between 1993 and 2003, the increase of post secondary staff which included administrators, faculty, and support personnel had grown faster than the civilian labor force over the same period. The civilian labor force grew by 13 percent over the period while the postsecondary institutional employees grew by 22 percent. Student enrollments grew by 16 percent. (Audrey Williams, Chronicle of Higher Education, 8/3/06). The Center for Education and Literacy is designed and intended to serve the needs of professionals wishing to enter, benefit from, and excel within the field of Education and its many exciting and rewarding personal and professional experiences. The principal areas of study within the Center cover educational leadership and human resource studies, educational policy and social studies, curriculum and instruction, adult and continuing education, and worldwide literacy. A primary goal of the center is the advancement of learning worldwide through educational technology transfer, improvement of leadership, and expansion of effective educational policies, curriculum and instructional techniques. Studies in Educational Leadership and Human Resource Studies include but are not limited to, educational leadership, public school administration, postsecondary administration, human resource development and management, pupil personnel and staff personnel, educational planning and advancement, and educational law. Worldwide Literacy includes offerings in literacy in the developing world, English as a Second Language, TESOL/TOEFL, foreign language acquisition, technology in literacy, international literacy campaigns, and literacy and human rights. Reference: Steven Brint, Schools and Societies, Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press, 1998. Margaret Morabito, Ph.D. Program Director, TESL/TEFL/TESOL Dr. Morabito is the founder and director of the Computer Assisted Learning Center (CALC), an international online learning center. CALC opened in 1986 and now provides secondary and postsecondary programs through the Internet at CalCampus.Com. Dr. Morabito received her BA in English from University of Miami, her M.Ed. in Secondary English and English as a Second Language from Keene State College, and her Ph.D. in Distance Education and Technology from American Coastline University. Dr. Morabito is a certified and experienced English educator in New Hampshire and has taught off-line and online for many years, including for the Naval Academy Preparatory School, Fitchburg State College, The Army, and CALCampus. She is the author of numerous articles dealing with the use of computers in education and online learning and is working on a book about the history of online education. Dr. Morabito has helped to train dozens of classroom teachers to become effective online educators. Return to Top PROGRAM AUDIENCE At Akamai University we believe the study of education and literacy to be the foundation of all other disciplines. The programs offered through the Center are intended to prepare professional for high level achievement in essential educational fields including: Educational Administration and Governance Curriculum Planning and Instructional Development Education of Special Needs Students Adult and Family Literacy Educational Development Teaching (at all levels of education) Instructional Technology Distance Education It is assumed that students applying to this program will be familiar with standard theories and practices associated with teaching and other important aspects of education. It is also assumed that students seeking admissions to this program will have demonstrated professional experience and expertise in the field of education and literacy with either formal or non-formal education and training activities. Return to Top LITERACY and TESOL Program Majors and Degree Requirements Course Offerings Lead Faculty Literacy is the capstone upon which the balance of advanced culture is built. Countries with low levels of literacy are easily overtaken by political and economic powers beyond their borders. Citizens with low levels of literacy are likely to play an ineffective role within the leadership of their home country and are not likely to have a substantial voice in the growth of their culture. The poorest countries have the lowest levels of overall literacy and have the greatest degree of major problems: disease, malnutrition, homelessness, underemployment, and underdeveloped economic bases. In fact, poor literacy is related to high infant mortality rates, and a generally low standard of living overall. Improved literacy is essential to the betterment of the human condition. Primary Faculty Margaret Morabito, Ph.D. Program Director Dr. Morabito is the founder and director of the Computer Assisted Learning Center (CALC), an international online learning center. CALC opened in 1986 and now provides secondary and postsecondary programs through the Internet at CalCampus.Com. Dr. Morabito received her BA in English from University of Miami, her M.Ed. in Secondary English and English as a Second Language from Keene State College, and her Ph.D. in Distance Education and Technology from American Coastline University. Dr. Morabito is a certified and experienced English educator in New Hampshire and has taught off-line and online for many years, including for the Naval Academy Preparatory School, Fitchburg State College, The Army, and CALCampus. She is the author of numerous articles dealing with the use of computers in education and online learning and is working on a book about the history of online education. Dr. Morabito has helped to train dozens of classroom teachers to become effective online educators. Merton Bland, Ed.D. Language Dr. Bland is an Advisor to the National Teachers College in Conakry, Guinea, West Africa. He holds a BFA in Art History from University of Illinois at Urban, Master s degrees in French from Middlebury College (Vermont) and Linguistics from George Mason University (Virginia), a Graduate Certificate in TESOL from George Mason, and a Doctor of Education degree with emphasis in foreign language testing from UCLA (1966). His professional career has included elementary and secondary school teaching (California), foreign service, USIA (Ghana, Zaire, Madagascar, Guinea, Pakistan, Australia, and Washington, DC), and ESL/EFL teaching and teacher training (Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, China, former East Germany, Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam, and Morocco. Dr. Bland has been active in numerous professional (WATESOL, KOTESOL, Phi Delta Kappa, NEA, NAFSA), service (Rotary, Rotaract), and religious organizations, and has especially focused on international exchange of persons programs. Dr. Bland is a dedicated author with several books and articles to his credit. He is married with four children and nine grandchildren. Stephen Schackne, MS Mr. Schackne has been involved in international education for more than 20 years. He received his Master of Science degree in Applied Linguistics (TESOL) from the State University of New York and has taught content and skills courses at the tertiary and secondary level, both in the United States and abroad. Mr. Schackne has directed two ESL programs, one for a university and another for an educational foundation. He has published and presented worldwide and is best known for his website Schackne Online. Anthony Payne, N.M.D., Ph.D., M.D. (honorary) Dr. Payne holds earned degrees in physical anthropology (B.S., M.A. with honors, Columbia Pacific University), and doctorates in nutritional medicine (N.M.D., Aksem Oriental Medical School) and pastoral psychology (Ph.D., Romano Byzantine Catholic College). He served as editor-publisher of Biological Medicine Newsletter and co-hosted two radio talk shows during the 1980s. Dr. Payne was on staff at one of the largest integrative medical diagnostic and treatment clinics on the west coast, Steenblock Medical Center now dba as Brain Therapeutics Clinic (www.strokedoctor.com). During the 1990s, he wrote two books, plus numerous popular and technical articles. Dr. Payne also served as an AOL Community Leader and was appointed Texas state chancellor of the International Association of Educators for World Peace (United Nations NGO). He carried out laboratory research for Inter-Cal, Inc. and BioProducts, Inc., pursued product development work for the PCT Company, Inc. and Pacific BioLogic, and served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Earthrise Corporation. He also served on the Board of Directors of Barotech, Inc. and spent 5 years as Superintendent of Academic Affairs of the Orthodox Catholic Education System. Dr. Payne made pioneering inroads in the metabolic pathway treatment and eradication of solid tumors, a body of work published in the Townsend Letter for Doctors (1995) and the British Naturopathic Journal (2000). These endeavors culminated in the award of an honorary MD degree and two international medals in science and medicine by the Faculty Senate of Open International University during the mid-1990s. In addition, Dr. Payne has done commercially subsidized product development research (R & D) aimed at producing a viable skin rejuvenation treatment system. Dr. Payne has published many scholarly papers, some of which have appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Medical Hypotheses and the Mensa Bulletin (2002). In 1997, the National Institutes of Health brought Dr. Payne to Washington to participate in a major conference covering parameters for testing of nonstandard novel, but promising cancer treatment regimens and therapeutic agents. From 1999-2003 Dr. Payne taught courses at Asia University (Tokyo), Teikyo University of Science & Technology (Uenohara, Japan), numerous major Tokyo-area corporations, as well as the Toshiba College Institute of Education and Culture (Shin-Yokohama, Japan). During March 2003, Payne and his Japanese wife, Sachi, relocated to the USA where he took a staff research position with the Steenblock Research Institute located in San Clemente, California USA. Dr. Payne is a member of the international high IQ society, MENSA, and is a tribal member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He is a member of numerous professional societies, and is listed in Who's Who in American Universities & Colleges (1987), Marquis? Who's Who in Science & Engineering, Who?s Who in American Healthcare, Who's Who in American Education, and Who's Who in the World. Revalyn Faba-Sack, Ph.D. Revalyn Faba Sack is a committed educator, administrator and therapist with many years of international experience, spanning three continents. She continues to research the impact of nature connecting therapy on children and adults facing learning, emotional and psychological challenges on a day-o-day basis. She promotes the use of such therapy as a supplement to existing more traditional therapies. She is an educational consultant for the IB organization and believes that international education should promote open-mindedness and a willingness to accept traditional and non-traditional programs of study, intervention and recreation. Pam Fitzgerald , Ph.D. Dr. Fitzgerald was born in Sydney, Australia and undertook her schooling through the New South Wales public education system. She studied at Armidale College of Advanced Education where she earned an undergraduate degree in Primary (Elementary) Teaching. With further local training, Dr. Fitzgerald gained entry into secondary schools to teach all core subjects in Years 7-10. Her experiences in teaching adolescents lead to a particular interest in teaching of students with learning disabilities. Dr. Fitzgerald completed a Graduate Diploma in Resource Teaching, which was her first formal qualification in Special Education. Her Master's degree soon followed, with specializations in Literacy and Special Education. Dr. Fitzgerald resides with her husband, two children and a variety of animals in a rural area outside Sydney. She has recently earned her Ph.D. in Education from the University of Western Sydney with a focus on the literacy development of intellectually disabled adolescents. Her qualifications and experience span a range of educational settings with students ranging from young children to adults, across both mainstream and special education setting. Dr. Fitzgerald taught at elementary schools in South Australia, comprehensive public secondary schools in South-Western Sydney, a special school for students with emotional disturbances and behavioral disorders, and a private secondary school for girls. She particularly enjoys working with teachers in an advisory role on teaching students with learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities in classroom settings. Dr. Fitzgerald's research interests include assessment of language skills. Return to Top