Marlboro College’s Teaching with Technology Masters Program is Going Fully Online Beginning in Fall 2018

by Caleb Clark | Education | 2608 Views

I’m excited to report that the graduate program I work in at Marlboro College is going all online!

I’m here for any questions or feedback.

Here are the details and a press release.

The curriculum has been updated to focus on human-centered learning experience design and increased student advising.

The name of the program is now Master of Arts in Teaching: Learning Design and Technology. This is the standard name for most programs like this.

This transition is intended to make the program more accessible to prospective students outside of New England and internationally.

The program continues to offer a Masters degree, certificate, the educational technology specialist endorsement credits and continuing education courses.

Scholarships are available for teachers, VT teachers at the PD rate set by the state, and AmeriCore and Peace core participants.

Program info: www.marlboro.edu/mat

Contact
Caleb Clark, Degree Chair, 802-258-9207 or cclark@gradschool.marlboro.edu
Amanda Mehegan, admissions counselor at 802-258-9209 or amandam@gradschool.marlboro.edu

Press release: https://www.marlboro.edu/news/story/5346

Comments | 2

  • Submitted by Lise on April 17, 2018 at 10:32 pm

    I'll bite

    With regard to Marlboro, how does the new online program work in real life? Could someone pass this course without interacting with anyone at all? What form does human interaction take?

    I guess the other question is — did any faculty or staff at Marlboro lose their jobs when this program went online? Are goals of this program to raise revenues (by attracting more students from further away) while at the same time cutting costs?

    Thanks for keeping us up to date in the latest trends in higher ed!

    • Submitted by Caleb Clark on April 18, 2018 at 9:55 am

      Thx

      Thanks for biting. This program is in Marlboro’s graduate and professional studies school. This was already a low-residency program.

      Nobody lost their jobs. Teachers in the Learning Design and Technology graduate program are working professionals who teach on the side, they are not faculty on the undergraduate campus.

      This is in response to a shrinking market in Vermont that I also believe our colleagues and competitors are experiencing. Professional Development and technology integration demand in K-12 schools has shrunk in Vermont and the market is changing.

      This is an effort to broaden the market. It should also be noted that the subject matter of this program is instructional design which focuses a lot on technology and online course delivery.

      The program has been low-residency since 1998, meaning each 3-credit class met in-person about four times a trimester for about a total of 20 in-person hours only. The rest of the interaction was online in discussion forums, real-time video conferencing, etc.

      In this update, we’ll be 100% online. We’ll have weekly real time video conferencing for advising and biweekly group workshop/labs in each class that are dedicated to students forming their cohort by interacting, not lectures. The technology now allows for very high resolution video shots, enough to see the color of people’s eyes and their demeanor.

      Is it the same as in-person? No. Will we lose something human from going all online? Yes.

      What will be gained? This program, like other online programs for instructional design will train students to manage remote teams and work online. We are looking for good online learners as well, which is a specific type of learner.

      Thanks for your interest. I’m here for any other questions you may have.

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