Master of Education in Curriculum and Instructional Technology (Online)

About the program

The Master of Education in Curriculum and Instructional Technology online program is designed for teachers and other educators to engage in professional development in their knowledge of subject matter, teaching, and technology by incorporating contemporary tools and resources.

This innovative three-year program offers:

• One-to-two online courses per semester
• Collaborative learning environment
• ISU full-time faculty instructors
• Authentic learning experiences
• In-state tuition for everyone

This program is offered every two years and starts in the summer semester. Only prospective students residing in the United States are eligible to apply. The next cohort starts summer 2014. Students take one 3-credit course and one 1-credit seminar in the first summer semester. After that, a 3-credit course is offered per semester including summer. Summer courses are intensive and last between 4 to 6 weeks.

The program is not self-paced but delivery is mostly asynchronous. Courses are taught via one or more online platforms (for example, Blackboard, Moodle, Facebook, Ning, Edmodo, Google+) and students attend class by accessing the virtual classroom at their own time. Students are required to follow the class schedule to complete assignments, participate in online discussions, and work on group projects. Instructor-student and student-student interactions are very strong in this program. Classes are mainly taught on a weekly-basis approach where assignments are given at the beginning of the week and usually due a week later. The main reason for using multiple online platforms for course delivery is to expose students to different technology teaching tools. The online delivery makes possible for working educators to pursue a graduate degree but our faculty are committed to maintain the same rigorous academics and high standards for excellence Master’s program that is offered for the on-campus students.

Every semester, students are required to attend 1-2 face-to-face meetings. These are on-campus Saturday meetings, usually from 10 am - 3 pm. Students that cannot come to campus or that live outside of Iowa, will be connected via video conference. These meetings are for project presentations, group work, lectures, etc. Our students value the synchronous meetings since they have a chance to better relate with their online colleagues. Classes are small and mostly formed by K-12 teachers, technology specialists and other educational practitioners that are interested in learning more about technology and its use in teaching and learning.

The culminating project is an academic portfolio