Bellarmine University’s Master of Arts in Education (MAEd) programs are an affordable way to enhance your teacher certification and boost your salary with an advanced degree. You can earn your Bellarmine MAEd in just four or five semesters with our 30- or 36-hour, cohort-based programs that are offered completely online. The program is asynchronous to maximize flexibility. Bellarmine offers the MAEd in three areas: 

• STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) Education
• Trauma-Informed Practices
• Literacy Specialist 

 “We wanted to focus on areas where teachers have authentic opportunities to lead,” said Dr. Elizabeth Dinkins, dean of the Annsley Frazier Thornton School of Education at Bellarmine. “We know that building capacity around literacy is beneficial to students, but with the help of our stakeholders we also saw needs around STEAM and trauma-informed practices emerge. It felt very important for us to recognize these needs and address them.” 

In the STEAM Education program, you’ll learn how to engage more diverse learners by emphasizing the arts to explore personal expression within every discipline. STEAM instruction allows students to take a deeper dive into content and learn to solve problems across and beyond disciplinary boundaries. It prepares learners to be innovators, designers and creative problem-solvers who will one day help navigate complex global issues.

 Education in Trauma-Informed Practices is not just for counselors or teachers whose students are known to have a rough home life. It’s for principals, deans, instructional coaches—really, anyone who wants to create a trauma-informed class or school in an equitable way. Trauma can exist in many forms, whether it’s caused by socioeconomic differences, community violence, or family expectations that don’t align with a student’s academic journey. Knowing how to address these challenges can support the well-being of all students. Literacy is a lifelong skill, so the Literacy Specialist program has the potential to appeal to educators at any point in their career. Along with courses on linguistic development of emerging and developing readers, diagnostic assessments and corrective interventions for students struggling to learn, students in this program study techniques for teaching comprehension and writing development. This also helps instructors who aren’t necessarily English teachers think differently about literacy across content areas. Upon passing the state Praxis exam in the content area, teachers in this program earn a K–12 literacy endorsement. “We always work to be responsive to what’s happening in K-12 schools and to foster the innovation and creative work of teachers,” Dinkins said. “These three areas offer exciting opportunities to do just that.”   The MAEd programs are designed to be affordable, at just $410 per credit hour. Cognate-only programs consisting of four courses in either Trauma-Informed Practices or STEAM Education are also offered. For information, visit Bellarmine University’s Graduate Admission Office.