About Educational Psychology & Instructional Technology
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Departmental History -
Educational Psychology
During the late 1960s, the Department of Educational Psychology expanded considerably. By the early 1970s, the department needed to be restructured to reflect the diverse interests of its faculty.
Dr. Torrance, with the concurrence of the faculty, instituted a new governance structure within the department. Three steering committees were created. The steering committees consisted of interested faculty who usually taught in that area and had common interests.
For example, faculty interested in gifted education and school psychology often worked together on these committees because of their common interests. In addition, a Departmental Coordinating Committee was created to work closely with Torrance in formulating departmental policy to be voted on by faculty, assisting in implementing departmental policies, determining meeting agenda and advising on administrative procedures.
Eventually four distinct program areas emerged: general educational psychology, gifted education, school psychology, and research, evaluation, measurement, and statistics (REMS).
Both the school psychology and REMS programs were initially funded through federal grants. The school psychology and gifted education programs were started by Torrance and shared a number of faculty. The General Educational Psychology program eventually became the Applied Cognition and Development Program.
In the early 1960s, a joint PhD program was initiated with the Psychology Department. Eventually, with the support of the Psychology Department, the Educational Psychology Department created its own PhD program with the four concentrations. The Department also offered the EdD degree, but by the late 1970s the EdD was only rarely used with most programs using the PhD degree. The Department also offered the EdS, MEd, MAT and MA degrees.
The department includes a number of centers. The School Psychology Clinic was created in 1983, and was initially housed in the Child Guidance Center in the Counseling Department. The Academic Computing Center, previously named the Educational Research Lab and, prior to that, the Educational Rediffusion Lab, was started in the 1970s. It was created to meet the growing need for computer and statistical expertise. The ACC made that equipment and professional help available to students and faculty. It became the training ground for many interns who learned computer skills, but more important, learned about statistical consulting as the interns helped faculty and graduate students. A third center, the Georgia Center for Assessment (formerly, Test Scoring and Reporting Services), was started in 1984. In addition, the Torrance Center for Gifted and Creative Studies was founded in 1984 and eventually became a part of the National Center for Gifted Education.
During the early 1980s, the department began to offer an undergraduate degree in Educational Psychology. It was discontinued in 1984 upon the retirement of the undergraduate program coordinator.
Today, only a few undergraduate courses are offered by the department. One course, ESPY 2130, is currently required of all teacher certification candidates at the University and contributes substantially to the EFT of the department. The department has had a statewide leadership role in the design of this course, which is now required of all teacher certification candidates in the University System of Georgia.
As with all other departments and colleges, the focus moved from being primarily instructional to research and grant-writing. This occurred as the department focused on emphasizing the PhD degree. This trend accelerated as departments were increasingly forced to pay their own way either through high enrollment or grants.
In 2005, the Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology departments were successfully merged into the Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology.
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