[POLL] What is the Value of a Masters in Instructional Design?
Posted: 08.29.2011 Filed under: Instructional Design | Tags: Education, eLearning, Instructional design, Masters Degree 6 Comments »If you are an instructional designer (or a closely related job) I would like to know what you think the value of a Masters Degree in Instructional Design is. I am conducting this poll for an upcoming blog article I’ll be writing.
Please take a moment to answer.
Much appreciated!
I answered with “extremely valuable”, but I think that answer deserves some qualification. I know many very competent instructional designers that don’t have a graduate degree, so I’m certainly saying you need a Masters to become a good ID. In almost every case, however, I find myself thinking that these very good IDs could become very great IDs if they were to broaden and deepen their knowledge in areas such as learning theory, curriculum development, educational technology, and social media. These are things that should be taught in a quality graduate program in ID.
self-edit: “so I’m certainly *not* saying you need a Masters to become a good ID”
How about a certificate in ID? Advantageous for those who do have a degree.
[corrected] The proof of the pudding lies in the eating. I would say you learn more from experience. Nothing in the text books can replace real-life decisions as an ID. But of course, courses like these can provide valuable background facts. In a professional workplace, people very seldom ask anything even remotely close to theoretical discussions and name dropping authors. They don’t care what Allen or Clark says. They just want a really great course.
If any university creates a great Masters course in ID I highly recommend adding real-life hard decisions with stubborn SMEs to train the students on what is ahead.
[...] few months ago I created an online poll called “What is the Value of a Masters in Instructional Design?” and I posted it to my blog. My goal was to gather at least 100 votes, and I was really glad [...]
In a down economy, a Master’s degree can look mighty good on a resume. I am pursuing my Master’s degree for the love of learning, and to fulfill a personal goal, but also as a means of self-preservation in an always-churning job market.