Teacher Preparation

The Interdisciplinary Studies Department (IDS) provides prospective early childhood, elementary, and special education teachers with a unique, multi-disciplinary, essentially liberal arts and sciences Bachelor of Science degree, which leads in the fifth year to graduate study in the Darden College of Education; this fifth year program culminates for teacher candidates in a Master of Science degree in Education and with licensure to teach in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

As the department charged with administering this undergraduate program, we strive:

• To foster teacher candidates' understanding and appreciation of the multi-disciplinary, licensure-requirement-driven curriculum, facilitating retention and dual-degree program completion; to maintain a supportive advising environment in which future teachers find their academic and life goals clarified and made more accessible; and to encourage teacher candidate achievement and excellence.
  
  
• To foster among diverse faculty in many disciplines across the University an understanding and appreciation of the IDS curricula and teacher candidates; to provide opportunities for these de facto teacher preparation faculty to discuss courses, curricula, pedagogy, and other relevant issues with each other, IDS staff, and teachers at school systems in the region and state; to support faculty development.
  
  
• To facilitate increased consideration of IDS teacher candidates' interests in upper-level course scheduling and delivery among academic departments across the University, especially in the College of Arts and Letters, the College of Sciences, and the Darden College of Education; to facilitate curricular & course development to strengthen our programs.
  
  
• To facilitate the unique and hybrid delivery of a quality teacher preparation program through Teletechnet, the distance-learning program at Old Dominion University.