大象传媒

This program is ideal for:

Practicing K-12 teachers, librarians and students with an interest in children鈥檚 and young adult literature.

Program Structure

• Cohort-based with seven 5-unit courses over six terms (two years)
  
• Classes meet five to six times per term on Friday evenings (synchronous online*) and Saturdays (大象传媒 Vancouver campus)
• Summer term classes may meet during the week in the daytime
• Designed for working professionals
• Workshops with published authors and illustrators
  

*Synchronous classes run in real-time, with students and instructors attending together from different locations.

Intake Schedule

Next Start Term
Fall 2026 (subject to receiving sufficient qualified applications)

Program Design

Designed with working professionals in mind, this two-year degree program offers the opportunity to obtain a high-quality master's degree. Our cohort-based model allows students to work through the program and coursework together (18-24 students).

Working with a cohesive and interdisciplinary faculty team, students will benefit from a rich curriculum and experience that will balance theoretical trends in the study of children鈥檚 and young adult literature with hands on teaching strategies. The program was designed to provide opportunities for students to:

• understand children鈥檚 and young adult literature as a genre with its own traditions and histories;
  
• analyze compositional elements of visual images and how graphic narratives like picturebooks, comics, cartoons, and film communicate;
  
• understand the relationships between texts for youth and shifting cultural constructions of 鈥渃hildhood鈥� and 鈥渁dolescence鈥� and what kinds of stories adults believe youth need and/or should be shielded from;
  
• develop knowledge about BIPOC children鈥檚 and YA authors and illustrators and how to select and teach engaging culturally responsive texts in B.C.鈥檚 culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms;
  
• demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of Indigenous children鈥檚 and YA literature and develop strategies for teaching First People鈥檚 literature, especially to meet the new requirement (beginning 2023-24) set out by the B.C. Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the First Nations Education Steering Committee, that secondary students complete Indigenous-focused coursework before graduation.

Additionally, students will learn directly from authors/illustrators to understand the craft of creating narratives for youth and for communicating that creative process to young people via 1-day workshops with authors and illustrators.