Master of Arts – Integrated Studies

Athabasca University's Master of Arts – Integrated Studies (MA-IS) degree offers students a unique opportunity to engage in a program of study that spans the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

The program is comprehensive in scope but specific in focus, requiring students to choose at least one focus area from among several areas of inquiry. Students are taught to think holistically, critically, and reflectively, and to focus on the articulations and points of overlap between specialized and generalized knowledge. Exposure to a range of disciplines and interdisciplinary methods prepares students to envisage and pursue innovative solutions to a variety of problems.

The program teaches students to situate and contextualize knowledge and practices on a broad intellectual continuum that integrates theories, methods, and practices from the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Courses are offered via the Internet either in paced seminar-format (fall, winter, spring) or as individualized study (starting the first of every month). There is no requirement to attend campus.

Housed at Athabasca University, the MA-IS program offers students the option of pursuing graduate studies at their own pace, and in their own home or workplace. The program comprises 33 credits of study (11 courses) delivered using a variety of distance education media, including the Internet. In discussion with faculty advisors, candidates will be encouraged to follow their own academic curiosity and identify a sequence of disciplinary and interdisciplinary course work.

Students may propose a wholly independent learning path or pursue MA-IS focus areas such as educational studies; adult education; community development; equity studies; global change; cultural studies; writing and new media; Canadian studies; heritage and social history; literary studies; and work, organizations and leadership.

Two required core courses—MAIS 601: Making Sense of Theory in the Arts and Social Sciences and MAIS 602: Researching Society and Culture—will prepare students to engage theory, methodology, and knowledge across diverse areas of intellectual inquiry. The integrated project course, taken at the end of the program, will allow students to apply their learning to the workplace and community.