Instructional Technology & Media

Students who have earned degrees in Instructional Technology and Media find positions in education, government, and industry. Some continue to work within formal education, as teachers, researchers, or administrators on the elementary, secondary, or college level. Others work in training and development departments in business or government agencies. An increasing number work as independent professionals in a variety of settings such as educational service, production consulting, and publishing. Still others have established themselves as researchers, designers, and producers for innovative multimedia projects. 

The Internet and related technologies have lowered the costs of distance learning programs greatly while increasing their flexibility. Through Instructional Technology and Media, faculty members and students join to develop the skills needed to make full use of the new opportunities in distance and distributed learning.

In recent years, students in the program have made four questions paramount: 

• Which emerging technologies hold greatest promise for enriching learning experiences throughout the educational enterprise?
• What pedagogical strategies should designers embody in instructional materials, including those based on multimedia and those reflected in gaming environments? 
• How should educators deploy, manage, and evaluate information and communication technologies in classrooms for optimal educational effect?
• What principles of design and practice should educators incorporate into distributed educational courses and programs?

Participants in the three CMLTD program areas share a basic conviction that good design in educative matters starts with careful attention to the needs and characteristics of the individuals that the design will serve. For example, the ability to understand the individual through empirical research and empathic engagement will make the design of instructional technology not only technically proficient but educationally valuable as well. In all, this attention to the individual in society and culture defines the technological humanism we seek through all components of the programs in CMLTD — a humanism that combines the use of sophisticated technology with humane commitments for guiding purposes.