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Instructional Technology Online (ITMA): For Current Students

ITMA Online

ITMA is an online 30-credit hour degree program consisting of coursework in foundations of Instructional Design and Technology, research methods, and electives. The typical ITMA student, employed full-time, completes three credit-hours each academic semester and six credit-hours each summer, completing the program in three years. All the courses are offered every semester. This flexibility allows you to determine the pace at which you complete your degree. See the Plan of Study below for your schedule of courses.



Required Courses (21 hours): [Course Code: Course Title / Credits / Sequence]

  • EDIT 5274: Foundations of IDT / 3 / 1
  • EDIT 5154: Theoretical Foundations of Technology Enhanced Learning / 3 / 2
  • EDIT 5164: Design for Learning / 3 / 3
  • EDIT 5584: Program and Product Evaluation / 3 / 7
  • EDIT 5534: Applied Theories of Instructional Design / 3 / 8
  • EDIT 5904: Project and Report / 3 / 9
  • EDIT 5654: IDT Portfolio / 3 / 10

Elective Courses (Select 9 credit hours from courses listed below): [Course Code: Course Title / Credits / Sequence]

  • EDIT 5224: Principles of Learning Message Design / 3 / 4-6 any order
  • EDIT 5564: Visual Literacy / 3 / 4-6 any order
  • EDIT 5564: Applications of Digital Media / 3 / 4-6 any order
  • EDIT 5604: Distance Education / 3 / 4-6 any order
  • EDIT 5634: Interactive Learning Media Design / 3 / 4-6 any order
  • EDIT 5774: Software Evaluation / 3 / 4-6 any order

Introduction
This will be the first course you will take in the program and will provide you with an overview of the field of Instructional Design and Technology. You will learn about the history of the field, current debates, and future trends. You will be introduced to major theories about how people learn and how you can help people learn better. You will also be introduced to the historical founders, current leaders and available career paths in the field of IDT.

Credit Hour(s): 3

Course Objectives
After you have taken this course, you will be able to:

  1. Trace the historical evolution of the field of IDT over time and its impact on current perspectives.
  2. Characterize the contributions of theories of learning and instruction to the development of IDT.
  3. Differentiate between important concepts and terminology used in the field of IDT.
  4. Discuss ethical issues and challenges that IDT professionals may encounter.
  5. Examine current practices, trends and future directions of the field of IDT.
  6. Distinguish the variety of available career paths and the major professional organizations and publications in the field of IDT.

Introduction
In this course you will be introduced to the main theories of learning. The focus is on psychological principles of learning and how these can be applied in technology enhanced learning (TEL) settings. There is not a single theory that can explain all aspects of human learning, so you will be introduced to many different theoretical perspectives on learning

Credit Hour(s): 3

Course Objectives
After you have taken this course, you will be able to:

  1. Explain the basic principles of the main theories of learning, motivation, and of cognitive and language development.
  2. Compare and consider the uses, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the theories.
  3. Apply principles and concepts of the different theories in technology enhanced learning contexts.
  4. Develop and revise your own philosophy of learning.
  5. Create a technology enhanced mini-lesson based on the theoretical foundations of TEL.

Introduction
This course is designed to introduce you to instructional design principles and techniques. The course will also provide you with an environment in which you can practice and apply those tools and principles. It is our goal that this experience will lead you to a more purposeful plan for creating instructional projects.

Credit Hour(s): 3

Course Objectives
After you have taken this course, you will be able to:

  1. Make connections between design and the field of Instructional Design.
  2. Describe the system of an instructional design and how each part effects the whole.
  3. Write an instructional goal that meets the criteria for initiating the development of instructional materials.
  4. Classify instructional goals based on Gagne's domains of learning.
  5. Apply analysis techniques to identify goal steps and subordinate skills required to reach a desired instructional goal, and identify appropriate entry behaviors.
  6. Describe the importance of understanding the learner's characteristics in instructional design.
  7. Analyze and describe the contextual characteristics of the eventual performance and instructional settings.
  8. Describe the importance of being able to create clearly expressed objectives for the skills, knowledge, and attitudes indicated in an instructional analysis.
  9. Develop an instructional strategy that supports the learning of a set of objectives for a specific target population, and includes all necessary instructional design components.
  10. Identify and/or develop appropriate and well-written assessments that match given instructional objectives and reflect meaningful, purposeful contexts.
  11. Given an instructional strategy, describe the procedures for developing instructional materials.
  12. Describe methods that might be used to formatively evaluate a set of instructional materials.

Introduction
In the field of IDT, we evaluate instructional programs and products to determine their worth and to make decisions that will lead to better performance. In this course you will learn how to evaluate instructional programs and products. You will be asked to evaluate a program or project yourself using a variety of methods and techniques, including both quantitative and qualitative approaches.

Credit Hour(s): 3

Course Objectives
After you have taken this course, you will be able to:

  1. Define evaluation and discriminate between related key concepts, including: research and evaluation, program evaluation and product evaluation, and developmental evaluation, formative evaluation and summative evaluation.
  2. Develop and write an evaluation plan for an instructional product or program to include: evaluation goals, procedures, stakeholders, data collection and analysis methods and instrumentation, timeline, budget, and limitations.
  3. Develop/select and implement evaluation data collection and analysis methods and instrumentation.
  4. Evaluate an instructional product or program within a real-world context.
  5. Write a cohesive evaluation report to include: evaluation goals, procedures, stakeholders, data collection and analysis methods and instrumentation, timeline, budget, findings, recommendations, and limitations.
  6. Articulate the real-world challenges to program and product evaluation and relevant mitigators to those challenges.

Introduction
This module will immerse the students in the use of a multimedia authoring program for the purpose of developing a computer-based instructional program. In addition to developing an instructional multimedia program, students will learn skills and attitudes associated with valuing the integration of computer-based construction contexts into traditional classroom environments. Product: Each student will create an instructional multimedia computer program which will incorporate a variety of digital image, video, and audio files within the instruction.

Credit Hour(s): 3

Course Objectives
After you have taken this course, you will be able to:

  1. Conduct needs assessment for a multimedia instructional product and determines the general goal of the multimedia product.
  2. Develop a full instructional analysis which will guide the design and development of the multimedia project.
  3. Analyze learner characteristics, performance context, and learning context to provide rationale for design and developing the multimedia project.
  4. Create objectives for the goal of the multimedia project based on instructional analysis, learner analysis, and context analysis.
  5. Design and develop assessment instruments to evaluate learners' performance based on instructional objectives.
  6. Design instructional strategies to present instructional activities to help learner achieve the goal.
  7. Develop navigation maps and storyboards to plan the development of a multimedia instructional product.
  8. Create instructional materials and develop a multimedia instructional product guided by the multimedia instructional product development plan.
  9. Evaluate peers' multimedia projects based on project criteria, and report the findings in the required format.
  10. Given and appropriate authoring software, the student will demonstrate their understanding and ability to:
    • Create and display various types of text.
    • Import, create, and display various types of graphics.
    • Create navigation.
    • Create interactive interface for a multimedia product.
    • Import, create, and display various types of sounds and videos.
    • Import, create, and display various types of animation.
    • Export multimedia file to a format that is deliverable to others.

Introduction
"Project and Report" is offered in lieu of a thesis. The purpose of this component of the ITMA program is to allow each student to pursue independent self-study in each student's area of interest. This project is expected to represent substantial work. Consistent with University policy, students are expected to spend approximately 150 hours of effort for 3 hours of course credit. Registration for this course is restricted to ITMA students.

Credit Hour(s): 3

Course Objectives
After you have taken this course, you will be able to:

  1. Develop and submit a proposal for your project.
  2. Create a daily work log for your project, including the tasks you did toward completion of the project, the dates of these tasks, and the amount of time spent on each task.
  3. Submit your proposal and all supporting materials that support your project.
  4. Submit a reflection paper on what you learned during the creation of your project.

Introduction
Your portfolio will provide a means for you to assemble your best work in the tasks defined by AECT. You will be asked to evaluate your own portfolio, as well as the portfolios of several of your peers. As such, you will benefit from your own objective review as well as from the feedback of others. You will then be encouraged to address any deficiencies or areas that need revision. In addition, your portfolio will be reviewed prior to its final presentation to the faculty review.

Credit Hour(s): 3

Course Objectives
After you have taken this course, you will be able to:

  1. Articulate ways in which advanced skills in Instructional Design & Technology can be used in the student's current or planned professional practice.
  2. Conduct his or her own professional needs analysis and define how Instructional Design & Technology can help address those needs.
  3. Demonstrate achievement of learning outcomes and changes in instructional approached resulting from participation in the master's program.
  4. Articulate a personal plan for continued professional growth and the use of Instructional Design & Technology in his or her professional practice.
  5. Demonstrate professional competency in Instructional Design & Technology skills and applications of principles in accordance with Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) standards.
  6. Critique and evaluate electronic portfolios using predetermined criteria.
  7. Create and publish and electronic portfolio.

Introduction
The overall goal of this course is to introduce you to message design principles in the context of instructional or training design. It is important for instructional designers to understand the relationship between the instructional goals of a message, the intended receiver, the design choices, and the intended receiver's ability to access and comprehend the message. This course has been designed to help you make informed decisions about your message designs.

Credit Hour(s): 3

Course Objectives
After you have taken this course, you will be able to:

  1. Evaluate, design and create instructional or training messages in a variety of contexts that address the various cognitive limitations that learners experience when engaged with learning material such as perception, memory, cognitive load and dual coding issues.
  2. Design, create and evaluate learning or training messages that demonstrate a synthesis of graphic design, information design and instructional design principles for the purpose of influencing learning.
  3. Effectively employ the use of color, text, sound, images, diagrams, graphs, and charts in learning or training message designs.
  4. Incorporate the use of various technologies in the designing, creating and delivering of learning or training messages to a variety of audiences.

Introduction
In your professional life, education and daily life, you will encounter and interact with images and visual materials on a regular basis. This course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to be visually literate both in your daily life and in an instructional design context. Someone who is visually literate cannot only critically consume and interpret visual messages; they can also design and develop effective visuals in a variety of settings. In this course you will learn how to effectively find, interpret, use analyze, evaluate, design, and create visual messages and understand ethical issues surrounding the access to and creation of visual media.

Credit Hour(s): 3

Course Objectives
After you have taken this course, you will be able to:

  1. Find and access needed images and visual media effectively and efficiently.
  2. Interpret and analyze the meanings of images and visual media.
  3. Evaluate images and their sources.
  4. Use images and visual media effectively.
  5. Design and create meaningful images and visual media.
  6. Understand many of the ethical, legal, social, and economic issues surrounding the creation and use of images and visual media, and access and use visual materials ethically.
  7. Integrate visuals in your professional life.

Introduction
Applications of Digital Media is a course about how we, as instructors, designers, trainers and communicators can learn to find, create, modify and use media in its digital form while incorporating fundamental principles about multimedia learning to encourage learning. We will focus on digital images, audio and video and what parts they play in learning. We will determine that learning can be encouraged through the careful planning and use of strategically chosen and placed media in an instructional or informative message. We are interested in what the audience (learners) will be able to do or know when they have experienced our lesson, presentation, learning module, etc. To do this, we will delve a little into the study of how people learn.

The role of digital media in communication has grown dramatically in recent years with the increased use of computers and mobile devices by businesses, homes, and schools. Digitized media is used the same way media has always been used in communication; it is just more convenient in certain circumstances in its digital format. Incorporating digital media into our communication requires some basic skills such as designing, creating and presenting digital media-enhanced communication and instruction to family, friends, students, teachers, bosses, co-workers, clients, etc.

We will practice applying several of Mayer's 12 Principles of Multimedia Learning. We will plan a digital presentation or instructional module that you have determined would benefit from the addition of digital media. You will storyboard that digital presentation. You will create the digital media (images, audio, video) over the course of 3 units, deliver the presentation via an online platform of your choosing and finally, you will evaluate your work based on what you have learned about digital media use, creation and delivery.

Credit Hour(s): 3

Course Objectives
After you have taken this course, you will be able to:

  1. Discuss ways that the use of sight and sound media forms can encourage or discourage learning and enhance learner motivation.
  2. Using a basic design model and storyboard, design and develop an instructional or informative presentation.
  3. Make choices about digital media use using Mayer's 12 Principles of Multimedia, Gagne's 9 Elements of Instruction and the ARCS Model of Motivation.
  4. Design and create digital media files (images, audio & video) to fit specific instructional needs.
  5. Incorporate completed digital media creations into a digital presentation, correctly formatted for a website delivery platform.
  6. Critically evaluate your use of digital media in your instruction.

Introduction
For over 100 years distance education has been society's answer to bridging the gap of time and space and connecting students with teachers when they, for a variety of reasons, cannot be in a traditional, face-to-face learning environment together. For that same amount of time, we have learned that students can learn at different times and different places from the instructor. Simonson (2003, as cited in Albright, Simonson, Smaldino & Zvacek, 2012, p. 8) says this type of asynchronous distance education approach is the purest form of distance education because learners get to choose when and where they learn. Although this is not the only type of distance education approach we will be studying, it is helpful to understand, that in its most basic form, learners continue, decade after decade, to successfully learn through distance education programs.

Effective distance education programs do not just happen by chance however. They are carefully planned with a direct focus on the needs of the learner, the instructional goals for the course and the goals of the organization administering the program. Effective distance education programs evolve over time through the constant effort of many dedicated individuals in an organization. These dedicated stakeholders, students, teachers, instructional designers, administrators, tutors, facilitators, and skilled support staff are what keeps a successful distance education program in a position to continue bridging the space and time between the learner and the instructor.

Credit Hour(s): 3

Course Objectives
After you have taken this course, you will be able to:

  1. Widen your perspectives about distance education.
  2. Synthesize distance education trends into a cohesive plan of your own that answers an organization's instructional needs/goals and/or solves instructional/learning problems.
  3. Identify and assess several different technologies that assist in the delivery of distance education courses (telecommunications technologies) as well as instructional technologies that help encourage learning in individual distance education lessons.
  4. Distinguish the instruction and support needs of learners of various backgrounds, in a variety of contexts and relate these to the planning process.
  5. Evaluate distance education modules/courses/lessons in a variety of contexts.
  6. Analyze and create assessments specific to distance education environments.
  7. Create strategies that address the learning needs of a variety of learners.

Introduction
How do designers design when there is no design model to follow? In these instances, designers have an implicit knowledge of the factors involved in a design problem based on their experiences and are able to understand the aspects that deserve priority attention and their interaction with others that may be just as important. The problem, then, is how to produce these same experiences in novice designers so they can build this knowledge. One way to approach the problem is to identify and explain the concepts involved in the design problem and present examples and non-examples for each of the concepts while demonstrating the interactions among the various concepts.

Because there is no model for the design of interactive learning media (ILM), this course takes the student through an examination and analysis of several concept involved in ILM. It is not intended to cover all concepts, however it provides sufficient introduction for the student to gain an appreciation for the complexity of designing ILM. Students will review real world media and analyze them according to the topic of the module. Through this process, students will develop an understanding of the topic and be able to articulate an application of the topics in a single design document.

Credit Hour(s): 3

Course Objectives
After you have taken this course, you will be able to:

  1. Analyze current media and interactive learning media (ILM) for the concepts discussed throughout the course.
  2. Discuss findings of an analysis of media for a specific concept.
  3. Apply concepts discussed in the course into a Design Brief for a proposed interactive learning medium.

Introduction
The skills you will develop while engaging with the tasks of this module will help you to make best-choice decisions on selecting, evaluating and integrating computer software, mobile applications or emerging technologies (emerging technology is a contemporary advanced technology in a field such as augmented reality, Google glasses, etc.) into your learning plan, instructional design or training program. You will be able to use, and ultimately develop your own, specific criteria to be able to evaluate its capability to meet your learning, instructional or training objectives. The ability to evaluate learning and instructional products is a skill that will help learners make decisions about their own learning as well as help instructors, instructional designers and trainers with the ability to enhance their learners' experiences towards their learning goals. With the successful completion of this module you will earn three hours of credit toward your ITMA degree. You will develop an important piece of your ITMA portfolio.

Credit Hour(s): 3

Course Objectives
After you have taken this course, you will be able to:

  1. Examine affordances of a selected computer software/website/mobile app/emerging technology as a learning/instructional/training tool.
  2. Integrate evaluated computer software/website/mobile app/emerging technology into learning/ instructional/training objectives to assist in the achievement of learning/training goals.
  3. Create an evaluation report that will include descriptions, summaries, critiques, and recommendations for the use of a specific piece of computer software/website/mobile app/emerging technology to support the learning of a specific instructional objective.
  4. Create your own expert review checklist for evaluating a piece of instruction.
  5. Evaluate a specific piece of computer software/app/emerging technology and its potential ability to facilitate specified outcomes through the lens of a prescriptive "expert review"

The courses are delivered online and typically are self-paced. The courses differ in their content; in addition to considerable written content, many courses are supported by multimedia websites and communication tools. There are some deadlines as a guide for completing work, but the program is quite flexible to fit your schedule. Textbooks and software required are similar to what you might expect for on-campus courses.

No. The entire program is completed on-line. There are no face to face classes/meetings. Interaction with other students in the same class and the instructor will be supported by various technologies (e.g. email, discussion board, learning management system, etc).

In order to graduate, you have to complete 30 credit hours of IT-related courses. You can take anywhere from one to twelve hours (full-time student status) every semester. However, we recommend students limit themselves to 3 credit hours for the first semester. ITMA students do find that the courses are rigorous. The minimum tuition is for 3 hours credit, so taking only one hour is not cost effective. We offer all ITMA courses every Spring, Summer, and Fall term.

The length of your ITMA experience will depend on the number of credit hours you transfer in and on how many credit hours you take per semester. If you take the recommended, three credit hours per semester with no transfer credits, the program takes three years including summer sessions.

If you need help, please use the following contact information:

Email: itma@vt.edu

Phone: 1-540-231-9658

Mail: ITMA, Virginia Tech (0488), 144A Smyth, Blacksburg, VA 24061