Group items tagged

Nicholle Stone is the program advisor and lead instructor for the online graduate certificate program in instructional design at the University of Wisconsin-Stout [http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/instructionaldesigncert.cfm] (one of two grad certificates UW-Stout offers; the other is in eLearning). While you can use the certificate courses at UW-Stout for the school’s Master’s in Education, there is no master’s specifically in instructional design. UW-Stout developed only certificate programs in the field because so many of its students already hold advanced degrees, says Stone.

Before beginning your school quest, you need to figure out your goals, says Harris. “You really have to develop your own personal rubric: ‘What is it I am looking to do?’” he says. “There is no Good Housekeeping book where you can look up a recipe to find your ideal school; you have to determine this yourself, based on research and an honest assessment of your professional objectives."

Coursework at UW-Stout includes understanding learning and design theories, models, and instructional strategies, as well as hands-on work developing computer-based training pieces. The work students do is customized to their current job or career interests, says Stone

Schools will focus more, for example, on providing well-kept facilities that students want to attend with great face-to-face support, high-quality meals, and a range of athletic, musical, and artistic programs and will leverage the Internet for instruction.

more disruptive—Flex, A La Carte, Enriched Virtual, and Individual Rotation—are positioned to transform the classroom model and become the engines of change over the longer term in high school and middle school, but likely not in elementary school.