Twenty-eighth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

The Doctor of Arts (DA) degree was launched in the 1960s as a degree that prepared students for university teaching careers. Within the DA, teacher preparation is centralized through coursework built into every student’s curriculum (including a teaching internship and externship under the supervision of a master teacher). Features of the DA degree have elicited discussion over the years, and it remains absent from the list of degrees in the National Association of Schools of Music handbook. Falling under the heading, Degrees with Unique Orientation, it has been approved and accredited. Two universities offer the DA in music in the United States: the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, and Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. These programs are of similar size (about 400 students each), but they are not identical in degree requirements or in areas of academic focus. This paper pays special attention to the program at Ball State while offering some comparisons with UNC. Information about the structure and content, applicability and usefulness of the DA degree in the 21st century is a primary goal. Of particular interest is the revision of some other school’s doctoral degrees to include features of the DA. BSU’s graduate music program of approximately 90 students includes about 25% international students from several counties. The strengths of the DA degree allow our students to be better prepared for college and university teaching in a global environment, and to learn from one another. Information about our successful placements, post graduation, are shared.