New Masters Program in Educational Technology
As of the spring 2017 semester, Wilson now offers three different Master’s Degrees in Education, the newest specializing in Educational Technology (MET). All the Programs boast around 800 hundred students working with different modalities with classes in different locations with cohorts in their home district and blended and online learning. Very little is being done on campus, though.
Dr. Eric Michael, the Master’s Program director, mentioned that at present, there are 300 districts in Pennsylvania and around 20 candidates around Pennsylvania and Maryland involved in this program. He also said that there are no international students pursuing this Master’s degree at the moment but that enquiries have been received and will be taken into consideration for the future. Dr. Michael sustained that the Program has just begun and that they want it to get a strong foothold in the market before expanding it further.
According to the Program’s Director, the rationale behind offering this new degree was “the need for technology in the teaching field and the undeniable fact that it is present in everyone’s life nowadays”. In addition, he said that many schools are judged by the amount of technology they have.
Michael went on to affirm that the implementation of technology in the classroom depends on the teacher. Therefore, Wilson developed the Master’s Degree in Educational Technology to provide educators with the necessary tools to better engage twenty-first-century students in their learning process.
The MET Degree Program offers a wide variety of classes that are relevant and appealing to educators in different areas. The categories are Technology-Based Teaching Frameworks and Resources, Teaching Today’s Students, Device-Enabled and Collaborative Learning, Inter-Disciplinary and Content-Specific Technology Integration, Electives and Capstone Research and Project Courses.
Within each category there are four or more options to choose from with the exception of the latter in which a student needs to comply with two. Among all the classes candidates can be instructed in The Flipped Classroom, Social Media for Educators, The Mindful Classroom, iPads in Education, Gamification in Education, Digital Storytelling, Common Core Elementary Math, Tech in Health Education, Google Apps for Science, “Doing History” Digitally, Tech with ELL and the list goes on. These are just a few of the classes that are offered to cater for various educators’ professional needs and interests. For more information about classes, visit http://www.wilson.edu/master-education or contact Dr. Eric C. Michael at med@wilson.edu.
Wilson College has shown with the addition of this Program that it is an institution committed to preparing teachers for the challenges posed by this digital era while at the same time making a memorable and lasting impression on candidates. The MET will surely produce qualified professionals who will be well prepared to rise up to any technology-related education challenge.