Master of Education (M.Ed.)
Program in Visual Impairment

Initial teacher licensure in the area of visual impairments is offered as a Master of Education (M.Ed.) program in the School of Teaching and Learning. The M.Ed. program is designed for students who hold degrees in education or other academic areas and now wish to prepare themselves to teach students with visual impairments.

Chances are:

• You have gone to school or to summer camp and made friends with someone who is blind or who has very limited vision, or
• You have someone in your immediate or extended family who has deteriorating vision, or
• You know someone in your community who is blind and who travels independently with a long cane or perhaps with a dog guide, or
• You have watched someone reading Braille and have wondered about how Braille "works," or
• Your questions regarding airline reservations, orders for products, or times for appointments have been answered over the phone by employees who are blind, or
• None of the above! You simply want to know more about working with individuals who are blind.

Welcome to our Website! You have arrived at the right place!

Our M.Ed. program for teachers who wish to earn Ohio's Intervention Specialist: Visual Impairments license is for students new to the field of blindness who want to be teachers of children with visual impairments in Ohio's public schools. The program leads to both the graduate degree and to Ohio license and takes approximately five quarters of full-time study to complete.

Students enter the program with undergraduate degrees in many different content areas, not just education. More time may be required to complete the degree and certification/licensure requirements for students who enter the program without previous work in education.

Students in the program begin visiting, observing, participating, and assisting in classes and activities with children who have visual impairments during their first quarter of study and every quarter thereafter. Plenty of opportunities are available for putting theory into practice in elementary, middle school, and high school classes, and early childhood programs. After an evening of discussing cortical visual impairment or cataracts, a student may spend the next morning working directly with a child who has a cortical visual impairment or who was born with cataracts. Students learning Contracted Braille often find their own students whose reading medium is Braille are better teachers and critics of their Braille assignments than their instructor in Braille class!

After completing degree and certification/licensure requirements, our students are ready to take positions as special class teachers for low vision and blind children, resource room teachers for programs serving middle school and high school students, itinerant teachers who travel to several schools within one or more school districts to consult with general education teachers and related school personnel as well as work directly with students, or teachers in residential programs.

You may be eligible for financial assistance to help support your university training. To receive tuition and fee waivers and a stipend for books at the Ohio State University, an individual must have initial licensure in one of the general education areas (early childhood, middle childhood, adolescent/young adult) or in one of the special education areas other than vision.

Individuals who have an initial licensure in either general education (e.g., Early Childhood, Middle Childhood) or an area of special education other than vision (e.g., Mild-Moderate Disability; Hearing Impairment) may qualify for financial support contingent on the reception of funding via a grant to OSU from the Ohio Department of Education/School Study Council of Ohio.

Dr. Peter V. Paul is the Coordinator of the M.Ed Program. He can be reached at paul.3@osu.edu. Dr. Paul has a bilateral, profound hearing impairment and has published widely in the field of deaf education.

Information on admission and Graduate School requirements and procedures can be found in the following links:

Program Sheet

• Visual Impairment

Additional Information

• How to Apply
• Contact an Advisor
• Graduation Procedures