Virtual Open House Master of Education in Special Education and Graduate Certificates Transcript

George Mason Online Admissions: Alright. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to our online virtual open house

George Mason Online Admissions: tonight we will be talking about our master of education in special education, our graduate certificates in autism, spectrum disorders and applied behavior analysis.

George Mason Online Admissions: We’ll just give it about 2 more minutes or so to let others

George Mason Online Admissions: make their way in.

George Mason Online Admissions: I

George Mason Online Admissions: speak

George Mason Online Admissions: 1 s.

George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, we’re gonna go ahead and get started

George Mason Online Admissions: as soon as this Powerpoint moves.

George Mason Online Admissions: Bear with me.

George Mason Online Admissions: Okay.

George Mason Online Admissions: Dr. Bartold.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yes. Hi.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: my apologies, you’re gonna hear a little bit of barking. My dog is

Christine Hoffner Barthold: is a covid puppet. So oh, hold on! Just 1 s.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Dr. Dick, do you wanna start her.

Jodi Duke: As I say, why don’t I start while you work on the pup? And yes, I’m Jody Duke. I am the academic program Coordinator for the autism graduate program at Mason and am happy to be here with everyone. So thanks for joining tonight. It’ll be great to tell you a little bit about our programs, and to answer any questions that you all have

Jodi Duke: and

Jodi Duke: what else? I’ve been at Mason since 2,008. It’s been a little while and I also coordinate our general education special education program general access and

Jodi Duke: And so this is a wonderful program that

Jodi Duke: that I’m excited to talk with everyone about. And my research area of focus is examining supports and services for autistic students who are leaving the secondary Ed and going into post secondary life. And specifically looking at college supports which works well as someone working at Mason.

Jodi Duke: Chris.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Hi, I think I have her settled.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: I’m Dr. Chris Barthold. I am the academic Program Coordinator for the Applied behavior analysis program.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: I’ve been at Mason since 2014

Christine Hoffner Barthold: and

Christine Hoffner Barthold: my area of focus. I have 2. Is

Christine Hoffner Barthold: interventions with individuals with disability, but also working in health, wellness, and fitness.

George Mason Online Admissions: Next slide.

George Mason Online Admissions: So again. Thank you all for attending our virtual open house. There’s a couple of different ways that you can choose to participate tonight. The first one would be the chat instruction. So.

George Mason Online Admissions: as you can see in the little bubble in your control panel at the bottom of the window. You’re going to click, chat, for the chat window to appear, and then you’re going to go ahead and insert your message. You can also raise your hand. Once you raise your hand in the webinar control we’ll go ahead and

George Mason Online Admissions: prompt. You will go ahead and give you the opportunity to speak. And of course we will need to unmute you. And the last one is the question. So there’s going to be a. QA. In your webinar control to get access to the QA. Window. Towards the end of our presentation. If we do not, or or if we’re not able to answer your questions. During

George Mason Online Admissions: the middle of the virtual open house, we will definitely get to your questions towards the end.

George Mason Online Admissions: and then meet our wonderful presenters, Dr. Judy, Duke and Dr. Christine Barthold. Thank you so much for joining us tonight.

George Mason Online Admissions: Who would I love to hand this over to Dr. Duke or Dr. Bartholt.

Jodi Duke: Sure. Yeah. I think we already told you a little bit about ourselves. And so as we go tonight, I’ll talk about the autism program, and Dr. Bartel will talk about the Aba program. And and that way you have an opportunity to learn a little bit about each.

George Mason Online Admissions: Next slide.

Jodi Duke: Maybe the next slide. Yeah.

Jodi Duke: so I think I’ll just take a few of these, Dr. Bartel, and then I’ll

Jodi Duke: throw it to you. How’s that? So? You know, our special education program here at Mason is

Jodi Duke: is unique for for many different reasons. But we we like to highlight, just a few as we starts to tell you about the the opportunities here. So the first is that we are designed to be a part time program. The format is part time, and yet we, we really work hard to offer you and what we call like an immersive student experience. So

Jodi Duke: we first of all acknowledge that everyone is coming into these programs with very full adult lives. And so that’s important. We know that you have work and family commitments and and a lot of things happening. So our goal is to really make the programs as accessible to you as possible. And that that looks different for each program, and we’ll talk through that this evening. And as we talk about the delivery

Jodi Duke: but it is, it is still very important to us to have a rigorous program, a high quality program.

Jodi Duke: You can see here, we’re ranked number 7 for online special Ed programs in the us and and we work really hard. To maintain that. That ranking

Jodi Duke: so you will still have full time, professors. You know we are all full time. Mason. Professionals. You will have some adjunct faculty who we hire in our programs as well. They are part time professors, and we hire them

Jodi Duke: in order to keep our field the current field practices available to you all, and make sure that you have a mix of of us who are working in higher Ed and those who are working and engaged in the field. And so

Jodi Duke: I think that’s one of the big pieces about the immersive experience. Each of our programs offers different ways of sort of exploring the practical applications of the theory that you’ll learn. And so we’ll talk about that as we go on also. But I think that also lends that lends itself to that immersive idea of really just making sure that even though we know you’re doing this part time you’re engaged, and you have a lot of opportunities for growth and learning.

Jodi Duke: Dr. Bartol.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Thank you.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yes, I think Dr. Du covered most of it here that both of both programs really

Christine Hoffner Barthold: work very hard to make sure that you have a high quality experience in the Aba

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Arena. We’re preparing you to take and hope and pass the

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Behavioral Certification Board exam. We are a verified course sequence with the Association for Behavior Analysis, international

Christine Hoffner Barthold: and

Christine Hoffner Barthold: this is very much a program where we try to give you a variety of activities and learning experiences. To maximize your learning.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: And so, as Dr. Duke said, we’re ranked number 7 for best online special education programs.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: And I will talk about that. It does say, designed to benefit learners with disabilities throughout their entire lives. But the Aba program is really designed to benefit people

Christine Hoffner Barthold: throughout their entire lives. Not just learners with disabilities. And

Christine Hoffner Barthold: we’ll talk a little bit if you’re on the fence between the OP. Excuse me, the autism program and the Aba program. What makes us unique and give you some ideas to help you as you make your decision as to which one is right for you.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: I can take this one. I’ll start first.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: This is a flexible curriculum. But is chock full of information. If you decide that. You’re going to go for the masters in special education

Christine Hoffner Barthold: with an emphasis in either Asc or Aba, you’ll be required to take these core courses here.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Introduction to special education.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: computer applications, universal design for learning, that is.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: including people with disabilities into everyday life, using designs that really benefit everybody, not just the individuals with disabilities.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: A research seminar and a capstone.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: I’ll jump into the Aba track, and then

Christine Hoffner Barthold: you can jump into the Asd one

Christine Hoffner Barthold: is that okay?

Jodi Duke: Sounds good. Yes, go for it.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yes, so Aba does have one extra

Christine Hoffner Barthold: course. There is 7 courses in the Aba track. They are required by the behavior analyst certification board.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: So you start off with the basics.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: principles, procedures, and philosophy. So you get a good foundation. There.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: then you’ll go to empirical basis is your course where you’re gonna learn about behavior analysis, research designs. We are a data, heavy field. So you’ll learn about data collection, how to analyze data, all those types of things.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Edsee, 6, 22. We’ll talk about a little bit later. It is my absolute favorite and that is where you’re going to learn about basic research and studies that involve rats and pigeons and humans, assessments and intervention. That’s where you’re gonna learn how to do functional assessment. And plan interventions for your learners.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Applications. I tend to call that the kitchen sink course. Because we cover all kinds of stuff in that course. We cover.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: we we cover applications for individuals with disabilities. We also cover stuff about organizational behavior management.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: which is the application of behavior analysis to organizations and business

Christine Hoffner Barthold: verbal behaviors kind of self-explanatory. And then you’ll have an ethics course as well.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: that’s if you take the Apa track. And Dr. Duke, what happens if you do? The Asd track.

Jodi Duke: Great. So we have 6 courses on our track, and the first one actually in order of of how we roll you through is Edsee 6, 34. So we introduce you to the characteristics of individuals.

Jodi Duke: Autistic individuals. And that class does a lot of examination of

Jodi Duke: the Dsm 5. Diagnostic criteria, the different levels of autism diagnosis, and then going through each of the areas of the characteristic social behavioral communication. You then go into 6 20, which is a class I teach, and love, which is supporting the behavior and sensory needs

Jodi Duke: a and that one is exactly what it sounds like we dig into behavior. We use some of the principles of of Aba for this course. So you do get a little bit but definitely a very different way of looking at behavior in terms of

Jodi Duke: positive behavior change. And then what are some of the sensory needs of autistic individuals. And how can we build in sensory support, star behavior work?

Jodi Duke: And then, 6, 35 is an intervention course that each week you examine a different domain or skill area? And an evidence based practice within that domain. So we look at everything from video modeling for independence to social narratives for social interaction. And each week you get

Jodi Duke: I always tell students we’re filling your toolbox there, you just get all these tools that are are grounded in research and found to be effective.

Jodi Duke: Edsee, 6, 36 is the communication and literacy course.

Jodi Duke: This one’s really important for a number of reasons. But we dig into a lot of the communication needs and interventions, communication devices. It pairs this class pairs nicely with Edsc. 5, 17, where you start to learn a little bit about some of the different assistive technology. And in our course we do some augmentative and alternative communication devices here as well.

Jodi Duke: We also do quite a bit on literacy. A lot of autistic individuals are hyper lexic. So they decode the words really well. They can read, read the words, but they don’t always comprehend very, very well. And so we we spend time on on practices and strategies. To address that

Jodi Duke: 6 37 is one of the courses that makes our program unique, which is that we have a lifespan focus. And so we are going to take you in this course all the way from birth through aging.

Jodi Duke: and there’s a module on each sort of phase of life, and in each module you look at some of the different areas of need, some of the things that in terms of resources, interventions, and in your own region or area. You will then do an examination, looking at supports, resources so that you are equipped to hand to kind of help, advocate and and support in your own communities.

Jodi Duke: And then the final course in our program is our newest course, which is issues and assessment and intersectionality. So in this course we go into much more depth about the assessment and evaluation process. Looking at different areas of assessment. Again, that social behavioral communication, those domains come into play, and then we also examine what we talk about is intersectionality. So we are finding that

Jodi Duke: any other identity that a person has intersects with autism and changes their life experience with autism.

Jodi Duke: We have a very high rate of autistic individuals who identify as Lgpd queue. And so that’s one thing that we look at in terms of how does that impact? Their autistic experiences? And what supports or special considerations can we put into place race, ethnicity? All of these different marginalized identities come into play in that course.

Jodi Duke: of course. And I think my favorite part about that course is that that’s the course where faculty we set we step back a little bit, and we are really working hard to highlight all the autistic voices that are out there in the world. And

Jodi Duke: And so you will just get a lot of experience in that course with videos and blogs and webinars of all different autistic folks who are sharing about their own experiences. Which we think is really valuable and important and important to elevate.

Jodi Duke: So, regardless of your track, you have a really comprehensive program, it can be paired well with those masters, core courses, and regardless of which one you pick, you will move through sort of as a cohort. So we see the groups stay together, which is really nice. Also it it allows you to build a nice sense of community with some of your colleagues and peers.

Jodi Duke: so, yeah, those are the programs

Jodi Duke: we go on to the next slide.

George Mason Online Admissions: Sure.

Jodi Duke: Okay? So the autism spectrum disorders. And if you are choosing a certificate track, which means that you’re not going to do a full master’s degree. This is something like an add on certificate. And essentially, we are working to prepare you as a professional, to work in just about any field with autistic people.

Jodi Duke: It’s funny. When we started this program several years ago, we really expected we would get a lot of educators and service professionals who worked in schools and things like that. But what we have found is that we are

Jodi Duke: working with people from all different occupations. We get a tremendous number of family members who have a loved one with autism, and they want to learn about how to support and be an ally for them. So it’s been really exciting to see. We have graduates in a range of different fields related to autism, which is wonderful.

Jodi Duke: And actually, I’m seeing now. This is one in 44, but we’re up to one in 36 under. Unfortunately, children are being diagnosed with autism, so you can see what a huge need it is in terms of

Jodi Duke: preparing a professional force who can work with autistic individuals and not just children. But these children are growing up. They’re going to college. They’re in the workforce and we need to make sure that we’re creating a world that is

Jodi Duke: autism, friendly and educated about autism. Very important.

Jodi Duke: And

Jodi Duke: yeah, the fields. It’s just been really amazing. As as I’m learning more about

Jodi Duke: all of the changes in our field. I’m constantly learning and finding more information. I think one of the coolest developments in the in the world of autism is that employers are seeking autistic employees. This is something where there are, there are hiring initiatives. There are programs to recruit kids right out of college who are autistic because the characteristics that we see of

Jodi Duke: of being routine, driven perhaps, or being you know, a very detail, oriented thinker. Those are things that are great for jobs. Those are things that are really desirable. And when you’re looking for employees. And so in our program, we do a really big job of a a really big I think we focus on celebrating autism. And looking at this from a strength space perspective, which I think is is really important.

Jodi Duke: Chris, you want to talk about yours.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Sure. Sure. I think this is a good time to kind of talk a little bit about if you’re on the fence and you’re going. I think I wanna do the aba track, or I’m not sure. Maybe I wanna do the autism track. I think

Christine Hoffner Barthold: the best way to talk about the differences between the programs. Dr. Duke did a really nice job of talking about how in depth they get about autism across the lifespan.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: if you’re looking to learn those types of things. If you’re looking to learn about autism interventions with autism.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: yeah, how you can best support people with autism. Dr. Duke’s program is the place for you.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: If you’re more interested in learning about the science of behavior.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: and how behavior analysis can be used with multiple populations. We you might want the Aba program.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: The Apa program. We’ve been very intentional that Dr. Duke’s program is where you learn about autism. And our program is where you learn about behavior analysis. So

Christine Hoffner Barthold: we’re very intentional that we are going to teach you the basics of all

Christine Hoffner Barthold: you need to know about behavior analysis.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: We’re also going to

Christine Hoffner Barthold: start to prepare you for your national boards for the Bac. Exam. I’ll talk a little bit a little bit later about why the time is right. If you’re thinking about, I don’t know if I want to do this, you want to probably do it right now.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: We are a verified core sequence with the Association for Behavior Analysis international. I think I talked about that a little bit earlier.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: So we do meet the course work requirements, not the field work requirements, but the course work requirements to sit for your national board. So if that credential is something that’s important to you, that might be something you want to consider.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: We are one of the oldest Aba programs designed to meet the Bac standards.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: There were lots of there. I wouldn’t say lots. There were a few Aba programs before the Bac came around.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: And we’re one of the oldest ones. To meet those Bac standers we’ve we’ve been around since, I believe, 2,002

Christine Hoffner Barthold: and we’ve been online since 2012.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: So you can rest assured that we’ve done this a few times, and that there’s always, you know, room for growth. There’s always room to learn.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: you know. And as Dr. Duke said, you know, we’re learning right along with you as as we are teaching you.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: because our clients teach us every single day. But if you’re looking for a high quality program to prepare you to become a behavior analyst, we are welcome to have you

Christine Hoffner Barthold: so that is Aba. And I think we’re ready for the next slide.

Jodi Duke: If it’s okay, Dr. Bertold, I’ll take this one cause. This is one of my former students. So when we’re talking about the career outcomes for our different programs. For the autism program. Again, we’re seeing people from all different areas. This is a quote from an alumni Beth Felson, who’s in Northern Virginia and owns

Jodi Duke: a private company called Spectrum Transition Coaching. She actually works with high school students and their families, autistic high school students and supports them as they decide what they’re going to do after high school and begin to make that transition. And her work is really cool, because it’s not just

Jodi Duke: about finding a college or finding a job, but she is really hands on with engaging with clients and their families and teaching skills and using the interventions that she learn in this program. So everything is is in play. So she said. The faculty were very engaged with the students and clearly interested in our success. They were very knowledgeable in the subject area, clearly passionate about their field. They were incredibly responsive to questions as well.

Jodi Duke: and this is, you know, in the autism program we have 3 full time faculty members. And this is just what we love. And we love to talk about and engage with our students about just about anything. So I was just messaging a former student today who is

Jodi Duke: now a special Ed teacher in Fairfax County, and was sending me some questions about a student and an IP. They were trying to do you know, the connections stay strong. And and so that’s, I think, one of the one of the assets of E of both of our programs.

Jodi Duke: probably next slide. I think. There we go. Oh, see, I just totally transitioned that I didn’t even know this one was next but so there are 3 of us in autism. You’ve met me. Dr. Grace Francis is pictured here. She’s an incredible researcher and scholar. Her focus is family professional partnership. So she teaches for us our community communication and literacy course, and she teaches

Jodi Duke: the the course across the lifespan where you work on resources and services and really how to engage in the community. And then Dr. Lynn Jorgensen is our other faculty member.

Jodi Duke: and she is also currently the director of our Mason life program. That is a post secondary program for students with developmental disabilities. And Dr. Jorgenson teaches our characteristics course. And so you know, you are engaging with all of us. We are full time at Mason and we think it’s really important that you that you know who you’re gonna work with. So each of us has things that we

Jodi Duke: we specialize in within the program that we enjoy enjoy interacting.

Jodi Duke: Dr. Bartol.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yeah. So we have

Christine Hoffner Barthold: 5 faculty in Aba, and all of us in the Aba faculty are in practice.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: So we are practicing behavior analysts at the same time. So we do research. We do teach but you can rest assured that we’re doing the things that we’re teaching you to do.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Dr. Ted Hoch was the person who actually put this whole program together.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: So thank you, Ted, and his area of expertise is clinical and mental health applications, especially marriage and family counseling

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Dr. Christy Park.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: It works in school-based supports. So anything school related is Dr. Parks really area of expertise.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Dr. Lisa Tullo also works in the schools, but she has experience with organizational behavior management. I talked about that a little bit earlier. Obm is the application to

Christine Hoffner Barthold: to businesses. And also behavioral based safety. So

Christine Hoffner Barthold: keeping people safe on the job as well, and Dr. Kristen Koogle is our novice faculty member, and her area of expertise is early childhood autism.

George Mason Online Admissions: Next slide.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: My favorite

Christine Hoffner Barthold: so

Christine Hoffner Barthold: slide is really talking a lot about

Christine Hoffner Barthold: hands-on learning and how

Christine Hoffner Barthold: we really try to incorporate

Christine Hoffner Barthold: doing within the online program. So sometimes you know, there, we get

Christine Hoffner Barthold: people think of online programs. And they think of watch a video take a test watch, a video take a test. That is not how either of our programs are designed. They’re designed for you to have hands-on experiences. And in our case these are 2 of our simulations. I talked about Edsc.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: where we talk about basic research, and you’ll actually work with a virtual rat in an operant chamber.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: And if you’re like, Ew.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: free.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: The rat grows on you eventually. And the rats are actually kind of cute. But you’ll run a series of experiments and get experience, how? What? It’s like to be a basic researcher, but also get that foundational knowledge that you’ll be able to take with you as a clinician

Christine Hoffner Barthold: and the second one here is a simulation of a functional assessment and a functional analysis where you’ll actually watch these procedures being done. But not only will you watch them?

Christine Hoffner Barthold: You’ll be taking data

Christine Hoffner Barthold: while you’re doing that and actually coming up with a plan for

Christine Hoffner Barthold: our subject here is named Jet.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: So you’ll be coming up with a plan for Jen. You’re also going to be working with other people in your cohort. I think that’s really important to note, too. We have a number of assignments that require interaction with your peers. So

Christine Hoffner Barthold: When Dr. Duke was talking about, you know there’s ways to get to know people. Form, study groups, things like that. We’ve been very intentional about building community in our courses. And there’s a number of assignments that do that, Dr. Duke, do you want to talk a little bit about some of your hands on stuff.

Jodi Duke: Yes, I think, do we have. I think the next slide might actually have our case studies. Let’s see.

George Mason Online Admissions: Should I go to the next one.

Jodi Duke: Yes, please, let’s see.

Jodi Duke: it’s not the next one. Well, then, we’ll we’ll do it here. Yes, thank you. So we in the autism program because there is no field experience associated with this. We have learners from all over the world who engage in our program. We’ve built it into the program for you. So you will have 4 real autistic people who we followed around for several days with video cameras and full camera crews and their families and their

Jodi Duke: loved ones, and and they themselves were incredibly in incredibly generous to let us do that. It was a a big project. So you’ll meet these 4 folks and you will work with them and and learn about them through your whole program. You have

Jodi Duke: from the oldest down to the youngest. Allie was a student at George Mason at the time an autistic student who was studying Aba and actually worked part time in our Mason life program.

Jodi Duke: and she takes you to her dorm room. You meet her family. You watch her teaching in the life program. So you really learn a lot about her. Jake was is one of my family friends, and Jake is a wonderful young man who’s now like in his early twenties, but at the time was in his teens, and actually served as the autism ambassador for Montgomery County.

Jodi Duke: In Maryland, and did a lot of work training police officers in how to engage safely with autistic citizens. And he lets you follow him. Everywhere we meet the police who work with him and learn about their program. We learn about his incredible biking. He was like, he’s a cyclist, and he loves speed. And so you get to know him quite well.

Jodi Duke: William was next. He was 8 years old at the time, and was actually one of a a set of triplets, and so you meet his whole family, and his father is also autistic, which gives a nice sort of view of a family dynamic that may come up for you in your professional or personal experiences. And we watched William work with his Aba therapist and play with his sibs and

Jodi Duke: talk with his family, and all of that he’s really into Legos. So you get to see a lot of Legos in that one. And then our youngest was Brooke, and Brooke was

Jodi Duke: our youngest and also our our individual who had the most significant support needs.

Jodi Duke: she was not functionally verbal. Has a lot of aggression and and kind of challenging behaviors, and her family was just incredibly.

Jodi Duke: incredibly open about it all. She was being served at the time in a non public school placement, and we were able to go and

Jodi Duke: film that. So you really get a sense for her supports. The community supports what the family is needing what kind of respite care they have, what some of their safety issues are.

Jodi Duke: And so you engage with these 4 folks across your whole program.

Jodi Duke: That means that when you do an assignment in a communication and literacy course, you’re doing it for one of them in my behavior and sensory course. We focus in and you get to pick one of them and their families, or they themselves chose a target behavior that they wanted to work on changing and sway. And that’s what you actually work on. And so

Jodi Duke: we just like Dr. Bartold said about Aba. We’re giving you this authentic learning experience. Where, no matter what opportunities you have, where you are. We’ll have you really engage, and gaining good experience in the field.

Jodi Duke: Alright next slide

Jodi Duke: admissions. Alright.

Jodi Duke: I will. Do you want me to do this one, or do you? Wanna do you want me to take this one.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Actually, do you mind if I take this one? Is that okay?

Jodi Duke: I would love it. Yes, go for it.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: So application wise

Christine Hoffner Barthold: for the certificate or the Master’s degree, which everyone if you already have a Master’s degree, and you want to do the certificate. That’s totally

Christine Hoffner Barthold: something that you can do. You’ll need a bachelor’s degree with a minimum 3.0 Gpa or equivalent.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: So if you are if you have an international degree, there are ways to get that equivalency

Christine Hoffner Barthold: to apply. You’ll need to have

Christine Hoffner Barthold: all of your transcripts. You’ll need a resume.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: You’ll need 2 letters of recommendation, professional recommendation.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: and you’ll need a personal essay.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: About

Christine Hoffner Barthold: why you want to be a part of

Christine Hoffner Barthold: George Mason University.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Once you do that, you’ll do all of that online. Obviously there is an application fee that you do have to pay.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: We will get back to you, and then you’ll be talking to our advisors, and you’ll be able to get in and get started. I wanted to take this slide really quickly, because if you were considering the Aba track.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: there are some major changes to how to get certified. Coming down the pike.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: We are on them. We are working to make sure that that’s all taken care of and that our students are taken care of. But

Christine Hoffner Barthold: I really think it’s important if you’re on the fence and you’re like, should I do it now? Should I do it later?

Christine Hoffner Barthold: I would say, apply now.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: this is the time to apply, because these changes are coming up very, very soon

Christine Hoffner Barthold: and

Christine Hoffner Barthold: they require different coursework and all kinds of different things. So if you’re going. I’m not so sure. If I want to do this or not. I would say, apply now.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: give it a shot, and

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Then we can go from there. But

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Dr. Duke, did you have anything to add to that?

Jodi Duke: No, that was wonderful. I think we’re good to move on.

George Mason Online Admissions: Think we’re nearing towards the end.

George Mason Online Admissions: so we will take the opportunity. Maybe about 5 min or so for some Q. A’s.

George Mason Online Admissions: And I think we had some questions in the chat.

George Mason Online Admissions: but they were all and.

Jodi Duke: Yeah.

George Mason Online Admissions: Have you?

Jodi Duke: I think we’ve been trying to answer as we go. Taylor, for the statement.

Jodi Duke: I don’t know that there’s a word count requirement. I’m not aware of one so

Jodi Duke: you know I would.

George Mason Online Admissions: It is about.

Jodi Duke: I would not write 10 pages. That’s what I would not do.

George Mason Online Admissions: It’s about 750 to a thousand.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: And there’s detailed instructions. This was just kind of an overview there. There are detailed instructions when you go in to do the application.

George Mason Online Admissions: Absolutely.

George Mason Online Admissions: I I do have a question from one of our students, and through a conversation. What advice would you give a student who has never taken an online class like what is the support they should expect from faculty and their peers.

Jodi Duke: Such a good question Dr. Bartolt, I’ll start if that’s okay, and then I’ll throw to you. So I think in, although our programs are really distinct and different. The support you get is very similar because we across our programs are really focused on connecting with students and building relationships with students. So as I said earlier, you will get to know the full time faculty at Mason that we’ve introduced you to in the slides with our photos.

Jodi Duke: And my, what I always tell students is that we have things set up, but it is up to you to initiate

Jodi Duke: any kind of support that you need. And so in every course in the autism program, there is a a like a QA discussion board where you can post questions, and sometimes your classmates will answer, and every time the instructor will also jump on and give you an answer, but it often we’ve put it into a discussion board, because everyone’s learning from your questions.

Jodi Duke: We also have a a thing in there called Cyber Cafe, where students just chat with each other and like. Right now, I’m teaching 6, 38 this summer, and people have been sharing books. They’ve been reading, and I’m taking notes because I haven’t read all of them. And so that’s that’s a nice way to have support.

Jodi Duke: If you have a disability that’s documented, you will want to register through our office of disability services and receive formal accommodations that then you will let each instructor know about, and you will get that as support.

Jodi Duke: And then I would say on an individual basis, anytime that you have a question or something that you need more help with or anything. We want you to ask. So, Taylor, I see, don’t apologize. It’s good. We are here for all the questions, and if if we don’t get questions we can’t really help you. So it’s actually great. And I tell students that all the time.

Jodi Duke: so it might be hopping on Zoom to talk through a concept that you’re confused about, or it might be sending me something. And I look, take a look at what you’ve written, or take a look at. You know a behavior map that you’ve made and and give you feedback.

Jodi Duke: feedback is a really formative part of of

Jodi Duke: the process, too. So getting assignments back with you know we’re we’re marking them up and annotating them. We’re giving you feedback on rubrics. So you’re getting a lot of support in a lot of different ways.

Jodi Duke: And it’s up to you because we’ll support you in any way that is helpful to you.

Jodi Duke: Dr. Bartel mentioned universal design for learn learning, and that is a big part of both of our programs. And that means that we are offering our instruction and all of our support in individual ways to meet whatever needs you have as learners and kind of as human beings. So

Jodi Duke: if if you initiate it, we’re there to support you in just about any way.

Jodi Duke: Dr. Bartold, anything else

Jodi Duke: on that one.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Sure. Yeah, I

Christine Hoffner Barthold: our supports as far as support for disability services support for struggling students supports. For you know, if you have a crisis in your life. Anything like that

Christine Hoffner Barthold: are top notch. I really believe. There, I’ve been at a few universities, and I think we really have the best support, and they are all available to online students. You don’t have to come to campus to

Christine Hoffner Barthold: to get them.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: I would say the biggest piece of advice that I probably would give is, you do have to be organized. You do kind of have to be

Christine Hoffner Barthold: a self starter in a lot of ways. You know, we provide a lot of supports. We provide assignment checklists. We provide, you know, QA. Boards and things like that. But as far as

Christine Hoffner Barthold: distributing your work. Our classes go by fast.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: They’re 7 to 8 weeks, depending on, you know, summers or 7, and fall and spring or 8 weeks, and that 8 weeks flies by. So

Christine Hoffner Barthold: being

Christine Hoffner Barthold: being organized and doing a little bit every day

Christine Hoffner Barthold: is really the way that you’ll be the most successful in these courses.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: and it looks like, Dr. Duke has the

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Q. And a board going here, so I’m going to

Christine Hoffner Barthold: defer to her on that.

Jodi Duke: Yeah, I’m trying to answer your guys questions as they come in.

Jodi Duke: someone’s asking about a hybrid program classes on campus and online. Is that possible? In the Aba program? Dr. Bartol.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: typically only in very rare circumstances. Most of the time people either pick on campus or online. So you can’t really mix and match.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Very much.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yep.

Jodi Duke: I see a good question from Taylor about the work you’re currently doing and so

Jodi Duke: the autism program would give you a graduate certificate. But in Virginia there isn’t. Any kind of certification or licensure in autism. If you are interested in being a behavior specialist, you and I can talk a little bit about exactly what you’re looking for. If that’s what you want to do within a school system, then our our program would prepare you well, or even in some other service areas, if you are interested in

Jodi Duke: and an aba

Jodi Duke: behavioral specialist position that would have to be the Aba program due to the certification requirements.

Jodi Duke: And so, if not the options for career paths for autism are

Jodi Duke: school system, adult services. We see early childhood. So the same work you’re talking about with managing behaviors that you enjoy doing, you could do that across any in any setting. Essentially that’s a huge area of need. In terms of other things. You could have.

Jodi Duke: you know, we see a lot of folks who start up their own companies, or who work for other companies who do consult and and and that kind of thing.

Jodi Duke: Family services all kinds of different areas of of service delivery.

Jodi Duke: Dr. Bartold, I think there was one.

Jodi Duke: Nope. None of these are Aba.

Jodi Duke: I’m looking into all of these

Jodi Duke: financial aid. I actually don’t know the answer to the financial aid question. Do either of you 2, if we have that as an opportunity for grad students.

George Mason Online Admissions: Absolutely for the certification.

Jodi Duke: Okay.

George Mason Online Admissions: The masters. Yes.

Jodi Duke: Great.

Jodi Duke: And then there’s a question about where to submit all of this. And so

Jodi Duke: maybe. Yeah, you could take that one

Jodi Duke: And Mike is asking more about the teaching cohorts. And something we can talk about with that. Mike, I think we were talking a little bit about some of the cohorts that we put through our programs. I don’t know if that’s what you mean.

Jodi Duke: you think that’s what what we talk about here Dr. Bartold, or something else.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: I think, Mike. If you want to, maybe put in a little bit of a clarification here. Are you looking to get a teaching certification.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Then we might be able to answer that a little bit.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: with a little bit more precision than than right now. So, yeah, if you’re still here and you wanna answer that and say, are you? If you’re looking for a teaching certificate?

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yes, teaching certification. I am an Fcps employee.

Jodi Duke: Like.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: I’m gonna throw this to Dr. Duke, because.

Jodi Duke: Yeah, I’ll take this one because it’s you’re asking about both of the programs that I coordinate but 2 different ones. So the teaching certification would have to be through our our special education Masters program. And in that we have 2 different programs. And I’ll put my email in the chat here in a minute. And you can email me, and I’ll direct you to the right folks on that.

Jodi Duke: And in that one you would be focusing either on students who access the general curriculum, or students who access the adapted curriculum. And then

Jodi Duke: that absolutely. If you’re being hired as a teacher, a special Ed teacher, probably on a provisional license. We work with you and fairfax County works with you. They cover part of your tuition.

Jodi Duke: and we move you through in a cohort, which means you have a group of about 20 of you that do all your course work together, and we get you through in time to get that provisional license or checked off and done and so that’s a that’s a great program. I’ll put my email in the chat, and I I’m happy to work with you and

Jodi Duke: on on some direction. What we do then very often is, we see people add on the autism, or add on the aba. And so that’s something that you can do either before or after. But if you’ve already been hired as a teacher, then you’re on a timeline for that provisional licensure, and we’ll probably need to get you moving on that, perhaps first and then move into autism or Aba as your secondary program

Jodi Duke: Maggie has a great question here about what school services online students have, access to everything. You get everything. You are considered a full Mason student. And so if you’re in the area, that means that you come to campus, you can get the discount at the bookstore, you can.

Jodi Duke: you know, come on campus and access everything. You you get your Mason card, your Id card. If you’re international or somewhere outside of the area, then you have access to everything online. I’m super jealous. I don’t know about you, Dr. Bartol, but I’m of the age where I used to have to go to the library and like

Jodi Duke: find the little microfiche or Xerox, the journal articles. So you will not ever have to do that. You can find all the research articles through our online access to our full library, which is very comprehensive. We even have educational librarians who help you with research if you need it. And we have advisors built in, and we have you know, all the supports that Mason offers would be open to you.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yes, and I’m gonna actually answer Taylor’s question out loud about do you suggest to do in person or online for Aba? Do you have later times available? So I can go after work. And is it the Aba certificate? Only at the Fairfax Campus?

Christine Hoffner Barthold: So I was typing the answer. But I’ll say, I’ll say here,

Christine Hoffner Barthold: the Aba programs on campus and online are comparable.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: So you’re going to get the same education whether you go to campus or you take an online course.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: The online course it’s

Christine Hoffner Barthold: this program is a little bit more concentrated in moves a little bit faster.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: So you’d be taking 7 week courses instead of 16 week courses.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: But, as far as you know, are they different? Instructionally? I

Christine Hoffner Barthold: that’s up to. You know how you feel about online versus face to face. The courses are on the Fairfax campus. Only

Christine Hoffner Barthold: if you decide to do the face-to-face program and they’re usually 7, 20 to 10.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: So if that helps in your decision making.

Jodi Duke: After Bartel. There’s a question here about when the Aba Masters, when those classes would start as well.

Jodi Duke: not certificate.

George Mason Online Admissions: I have the start dates for the masters and the certificate program. So we are currently accepting applications for the full term. The start date is going to be August 20, sixth for the online program. We’re also accepting applications for spring of 2025.

George Mason Online Admissions: And that is a start date of January thirteenth.

Jodi Duke: That sounds so far away, doesn’t it? 20.

George Mason Online Admissions: Ties.

Jodi Duke: Yes! Goodness gracious.

George Mason Online Admissions: Far away. But believe it or not, it’s closer than they think.

Jodi Duke: Oh, my! Gosh! Yes.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: We’re like, I said. We’re still working on a lot of things as far as the master’s program is concerned, and the changes that are required by the Bac. That spring 2,025. Application, I would say, don’t wait for that. Apply now. Yeah.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yeah. Because that

Christine Hoffner Barthold: we’ll be moving things around unless you’re interested in taking the extra courses and things that will probably be within that

Christine Hoffner Barthold: That master’s program. Unfortunately, I can’t give too many details, because that program has not been approved yet.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: But I will put my email address in as well. And as we get more information. If that’s something you’re interested in. I’m happy to answer those questions. But.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: if you’re here tonight and you’re saying I want to do the Aba program apply right away.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: so that we can get you started

Christine Hoffner Barthold: by fall.

George Mason Online Admissions: Absolutely

George Mason Online Admissions: so. If you are interested in applying feel free to reach out to me directly. My name is Brianna Prasad. I was so eager to get started. I probably didn’t even introduce myself in the beginning. You can contact me at 703-48-5006 or online, [email protected]. And of course, at our website for additional information.

George Mason Online Admissions: As I mentioned before, we are accepting applications for the fall term, so you would reach out to me directly. We’ll go through the application process. Answer any questions that you might have and if we don’t, if I don’t have those answers for you, of course we’ll be able to direct them to our faculty, and they will be able to assist you.

George Mason Online Admissions: Do we have anything else to add. Dr. Duke and Dr. Bartold.

Jodi Duke: Just thank you all. That was an a really engaged, you know. Session that was fun to have all the questions, and

Jodi Duke: great to sort of meet you online virtually. And please really do reach out. Because, you know, we’re here to answer any questions, and we would

Jodi Duke: love the opportunity to work with you.

George Mason Online Admissions: Bye, Dr.

Jodi Duke: Martin.

George Mason Online Admissions: So much.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: I do see a few more questions. I don’t know if you I wanna make sure I

Christine Hoffner Barthold: I answer all of them.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: One of them was, I have a master’s in IT. Are there any books or papers we should go through before we start the master’s coursework.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: and for Ava. I wouldn’t necessarily say that there’s any books or papers. Although. You may want to think a little bit about

Christine Hoffner Barthold: having some exposure and experience with Abi. There are a lot of

Christine Hoffner Barthold: jobs and things like that that are around that you could check out and see if this is really right for you. But as far as books and papers. I would definitely say also, look at the behavior analyst certification board website.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: That is a really important research resource.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Dr. Du. Do you know of any books papers that you would recommend before people start your program.

Jodi Duke: No, I actually, you know, I think what’s great about the programs is we don’t make any assumptions about what you’re coming in with. We have people coming from all different careers and experiences. And so obviously, if if you have a passion for autism or you’re interested in Aba, then you could certainly do any kind of reading that that interests you. But there is no need to feel like you have to study. To begin the program.

Jodi Duke: We will start you at

Jodi Duke: at the very basic level, and then you’ll be doing so much reading once you’re in it. Don’t worry, don’t be plenty. But I love the question.

Jodi Duke: Dr. Bartel, someone asked on here about applying sooner rather than later, what things are moving around? I think that’s related to your

Jodi Duke: yeah. The the changes coming in. Aba.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yes, and I’m sorry that I’m sounding so vague about this but it really is, because not everything is in place yet. So I don’t want to give you information and have a change. And you’re saying, but but you told me this. I would if you’re really interested in the 2027 requirements. I would probably go to the behavior analyst Certification Board website.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: and they will tell you the differences between what you need now versus what you’ll need.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: 2,027. How Mason’s going to do that is, we’re still working on that.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: So

Christine Hoffner Barthold: that’s the part that

Christine Hoffner Barthold: I don’t necessarily feel comfortable sharing just yet. But

Christine Hoffner Barthold: I will definitely as soon as we have that information we will be sharing that with everybody. So

Christine Hoffner Barthold: you’ll be able to get that info. But in the meantime I would go to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board website, and you can take a look at the differences there.

Jodi Duke: Alright, and I think then we’ve gotten to everything in the QA. Box.

Jodi Duke: and

Jodi Duke: I think I think we might have done all these.

George Mason Online Admissions: Okay.

Jodi Duke: Any other questions as we wrap up here.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Thank you for your engagement. This is great.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: I apologize for the barking dog.

Jodi Duke: The dog got quiet, so that was great.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Dr.

Jodi Duke: Bartol is showing her behavior, management and behavior skills with her puppy.

George Mason Online Admissions: I think Taylor might be referring to the admissions representative. So, Taylor, if you are if you need to reach out to us, the phone number is

George Mason Online Admissions: 703,

George Mason Online Admissions: 3, 4, 8,

George Mason Online Admissions: 5, 0 0 6.

Jodi Duke: I just put that in the chat as you said it, so that way people can copy that directly.

George Mason Online Admissions: So much. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Duke and Dr. Martha, tonight for joining us. This was a very informative session, and thank you so much for all of our attendees for attending this session as well. Again, my name is Brianna Prasad. Feel free to reach out with any questions and help with the admissions process.

George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you, everyone.

George Mason Online Admissions: and have a great night.

Jodi Duke: Thanks everyone.

Jodi Duke: Thank you so much.

Jodi Duke: That was a busy group that was so many questions.

George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, that was awesome.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yeah, I think we still have a few that are still on. I don’t know if they’re gonna

Christine Hoffner Barthold: that’s cool.

George Mason Online Admissions: I stopped sharing. Did you see that? I stopped sharing.

Jodi Duke: Yep, you definitely did.

George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, perfect. I just wanna make sure.

Jodi Duke: S.

Jodi Duke: All right.

Jodi Duke: I’m gonna sign off. But thanks so much for helping us with everything tonight.

George Mason Online Admissions: So much. It was nice meeting you both.

Jodi Duke: Nice to meet you. Bye, Chris, I’ll talk to you soon.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Alrighty!

George Mason Online Admissions: Take care

George Mason Online Admissions: that wasn’t. That was pretty good. Dr. Braddell.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Oh, thank you. Yeah. I felt like I was tripping over my words a little bit. But hopefully people got the info.

George Mason Online Admissions: You know what I I think it was. It was it was very interactive where the students felt really comfortable with asking all of these questions, because usually during the virtual open house, they don’t ask many questions.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Hey!

George Mason Online Admissions: And I think this is the most questions that I’ve seen in a in a chat.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yeah, no, that’s this is great. I was glad that they did that, so.

George Mason Online Admissions: How many attendees did we have.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Routine.

George Mason Online Admissions: And show there.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: 14 tops.

George Mason Online Admissions: Oh, that’s pretty good!

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yeah.

George Mason Online Admissions: That’s wonderful. Okay, perfect. Well, thank you so much. It was really nice meeting you. We didn’t hear your dog that much. So it was okay.

Christine Hoffner Barthold: Good. Alright! Thank you so much. Have a great night.

George Mason Online Admissions: You, too, take care! Bye.