Instructional Design Master's or Graduate Certificate Programs

I graduated with an undergrad double major in 2000 and then stubbornly sat on my laurels (while working in Higher Education) until 2014. I (finally) took the advice of my wife who reminded me that when working among luminaries, they often respond more favorably to those with some skin in the game, and with credentials. I chose DeVry University as there were considerably fewer choices then. Admittedly, it was a dry program with boring LMS interaction (Ellucian/PowerCampus) so every course looked exactly the same. However, we had some stellar instructors and they drove a hard line for communication and discussions in each course.

I can be candid and honest with my review about DeVry as they no longer offer an MSET (Master of Science in Educational Technology). In my opinion, they had the scope and consistent-format concept right, but the execution and LMS suffered for interest sake. The good part was that there was little confusion about expectations, as every course was exactly the same layout with the same weekly format of due dates for discussions, etc.

As I have also been asked many times by friends and colleagues about an EdTech degree, I challenge them to do as much research on the program as possible. Also, the recruiters are not a good example of how communicative your professors will be. This is a nice concept for navigating through the enrollment process and matriculating, but don't get those wires crossed. If I can see a lot of information about the program on the school's website, and if I can communicate with the professors, access a course syllabus, then I can start to determine what the course pattern is going to be.

I find myself at the crossroads again as I'm considering an EdD in Education/Learning although the "technology" portion doesn't appeal to me as much. I've spent over twenty years banging the drum of how technology can assist in active teaching and learning. While I believe that to be true, I believe more emphasis needs to be placed on understanding simple online interaction techniques and leson-planning, as you can never be assured that mastering one LMS or any learning platform is going to be what you have access to in your next position. I often have to re-train professors who know Blackboard so well that they can't figure out Canvas...for example.

If a program challenges you to understand and challenge the difficulties that various schools and school systems/districts are facing, then you can realistically expect that you will gain good exposure to some of the challenges that you may face in the real world of Academic/Instructional Technology. If a program states that they can train you to train professors in a wide variety of modalities and Best Practices, then you are off to a good start.