Marlboro College News: Teaching with Technology Program Goes Fully Online

Marlboro College’s popular Master of Arts in Teaching with Technology program will change from a low-residency format to a 100 percent online curriculum starting in Fall 2018. After extensive market research and ongoing interest from all over the United States, this transition is intended to make the program more accessible to prospective students outside of New England and internationally. To reflect the format change and current trends in the profession, Marlboro will also change the name of the program to Master of Arts in Teaching: Learning Design and Technology.

“I’m very excited about this transition,” said Caleb Clark, who has been faculty chair of the program for 10 years. “The program has been about 80 percent online since it started in 1998, so we have lots of experience making online learning a rich and effective experience that is human-centered.”

Since the low-residency program began two decades ago, many graduates have become leaders in educational technology and are working in Vermont schools as technology integration specialists, teachers, and thought leaders. In addition to the newly reimagined master’s degree, Marlboro also offers VT credits for the Educational Technology Specialist endorsement and continuing education courses.

“Technology has reached a level that makes online learning much more humane than in the past,” added Clark. “For example, we’ll have regular class meetings via video conferencing technologies that have matured to be very usable and consistent and our courses are hosted in a best-of-breed learning management system.”

The new Master of Arts in Learning Design and Technology program will provide skills that are in increasingly high demand, ideal for those who work with schools, colleges, businesses, and nonprofits to effectively integrate technology into their learning environment. The program will meet the needs of technologists, educators and educational technology coordinators who need to design or evaluate educationally valuable products and programs for their organizations.

The stated mission is to support responsive, innovative professional education of the highest standard. In the new online format, this master’s program will continue to foster small cohorts and classes as it has for two decades, with an emphasis on community.

“We’re designing this online program to be uniquely engaging and current in a human-centered way,” said Clark. “Each course encourages students to make in-person contact with local professionals to contextualize their studies in the offline world. To make the program more current we’ve updated the curriculum to focus more on learning experience design and the user experience.”

Marlboro has also increased advising support for the online program to weekly video conferences with students. Now the program will not only support K-12 technology integration, but higher education support and corporate or nonprofit instructional design as well.

“Our new online master’s program offers students the skills and experience to be innovators in this field, and to make valuable contributions on the cutting edge of education and training at their workplace, or in a new position,” said Bob Crowley, leadership team for graduate and professional studies. “What’s more, going fully online means people can gain these crucial skills and be a part of this innovative learning community from anywhere in the world.”