Course Descriptions
IDT 475/575 Web Development for Educators
3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: senior standing/graduate standing. Provides both a conceptual framework and hands-on experience in the design and development of online web resources for educators. The course introduces the student to the various uses and features of online tools and technologies, investigates online learning strategies, and explores best practices in the use of the web to enhance learning. Topics include fundamentals of web authoring: screen design, use of Web page creation tools, and functional use of HTML and derivatives.
IDT 617 Foundations of Instructional Technology
Required introductory overview to the field of instructional technology. Topics include a history of the field, basic instructional design, generally accepted theoretical practices and major formats of instructional media. Emphasis is given to instructional technology trends as applied to various industries, including K-12, military, industry training, and others.
IDT 647 Online Learning
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Theoretical and applied survey of the field of online learning, with an emphasis on asynchronous environments. The course will cover current models, including computer conferencing and virtual reality. Topics will include facilitating online discussion, using interactive simulations, when to use course management products, fostering learning communities, implementing blended or mixed-mode models, synchronous online tools, and future directions. This course will be taught entirely online.
IDT 648 Digital Media for Educators
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: ECI 304 or 430/530 or instructor's permission. Course surveys a variety of tools, techniques and technologies, as well as strategies and common practices in the design and development of digital learning products. Students will gain hands-one experience in the authoring of instructional materials in distributed and non-linear environments. Includes design and technical considerations of graphics manipulation and design, sound and video elements, and animation. Students will build projects using authoring tools such as HyperStudio and Flash.
IDT 731/831 Distributed Learning Trends
Seminar 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: IDT575 or equivalent or instructor's permission. Students will undertake an intensive study of the main trends and issues shaping distributed learning environments. Focus will be on standards, reusability and quality and their impact on teaching and learning. Students will build a knowledge framework on distributed learning and the interplay of standards, reusability and quality.
IDT 735/835 Instructional Management Systems
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Surveys computing and telecommunications technology and issues, with a focus on technical, budgetary, social, reform and regulatory trends in educational settings. Purchase and implementation issues will be included to enhance management and decision-making.
IDT 7xx/8xx Visual Communication and Design
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. This course is a study of the application of perceptual and learning principles to the design of instructional media for use in educational and training applications. The focus is on the development and application of heuristics from the research literature. The focus is on verbal and iconic signs as well as visual imagery, and their role in the instructional and learning processes.
IDT 752/852 Diffusion/Adoption of Technology Innovations
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. This course will explore theories, research, and strategies related to the diffusion and adoption of instructional technology innovations in education and training. The course will explore why and how individuals, groups, and organizations adopt or fail to adopt an innovation or change.
IDT 746/846 Distance Education
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. An analysis of the trends, issues, and theories of distance education in education, business, and military applications. Students will examine various distance education systems, policies, and lessons from different perspectives.
IDT 748/848 Instructional Technology Product Evaluation
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Pre- or corequisite: IDT 749/849 or equivalent skills (instructor's permission). Provides an overview to the science of evaluation, both as a general field and as applied to instruction. Topics will include evaluating the effectiveness of learning technologies; building survey instruments; online and computer-assisted testing; reporting practices; as well as formative, summative program and performance evaluation and assessment. The unique demands of evaluating mediated education and learning environments will be considered.
IDT 749/849 Instructional Systems Design
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Students will gain hands-on experience applying a theoretical understanding of instructional design and development to actual projects. Students will learn and use the Instructional Systems Design Process from initial learner profile analysis to design and development through to evaluation. Students will work individually and in teams to gain experience similar to real-world instructional design situations. Students will master the fundamental practices upon which the instructional design process is based.
IDT 756/856 Instructional Gaming: Theories and Practice.
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. This course focuses on the history, research, theory, and practice of instructional games. Instructional games represent one of the great un-tapped resources in training and instruction. Researchers argue that digital natives (those who grew up with computers and video games) have differing expectations for learning, and that games can be used to train digital natives with greater success than traditional forms of training/instruction.
IDT 760/860 Cognition and Instructional Design
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Students will be introduced to the theoretical frameworks that form the basis of instructional systems theory and design. Focus will be on learning theories, instructional psychology, and instructional system theory. Recent developments in cognition, learning, and instruction for educators will also be considered. Topics include perspectives of behaviorism, socio-historical constructivism, cognitive science, situated cognition, and cultural influences on cognition.
IDT 861 Applied Instructional Design
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Problem-based course in which students propose instructional solutions for real-world instructional problems based on the study of traditional and contemporary instructional design theory. Emphasis is on constructivist and problem-based learning theories and application.
IDT 763/863 Instructional Design Theory
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits.Students will investigate traditional and contemporary instructional design theories and models. Behavioral, cognitive, generative, problem-based learning, and constructivist theories as well as cognitive hierarchies will be examined, compared, contrasted and applied to various instructional situations.
IDT 769/869 Advanced Instructional Design Techniques
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Exploration and application of techniques, tools and competencies characteristic of expert designers. Topics include: instructional strategies, use of design software, program design, advanced analysis techniques, motivation design, rapid prototyping, reducing design cycle time, and designing instruction for diverse learner populations.
IDT 801 Instructional Design and Technology Seminar
Introduces new PhD Students to the field of ID&T and provides orientation to doctoral level study. Course includes reading, critiquing and analysing empirical research, theories, and real-world instructional problems. Potential student research agendas consistent with faculty or programatic research foci will be explored. Academic and technological expectations will be communicated and practiced.
IDT 810 Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Exploration and discussion of trends and issues of current and historical significance to instructional design. Readings will include contributions of key scholars, past and present, in instructional technology and related fields. Includes analysis of trends and issues to track and predict their impact on the future of the field.
IDT 779/879 Research Residency
To be taken after 12 hours of statistics and 18 hours of coursework, prior to the comprehensive exams (or approval of advisor).
IDT 7xx/8xx Human Performance Technology (HPT) & Consulting Skills
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: None. This course will introduce students to the field of Human Performance Technology. Students will explore what HPT is, why Instructional Designers should know about it, how performance improvements can be measured, and most critically, how HPT can be applied in real environments to solve real problems. Students will gain practice in thinking systematically and systemically about performance, and enhance their value as ID professionals by being able to offer solutions to organizational needs that go beyond traditional instruction.
IDT7xx/8xx Task Analysis :
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: None Task analysis is one of the most important but least conscientiously performed aspects of the instructional design process. No robust understanding of an instructional situation can be had without performing a task analysis, yet this part of the instructional design process is often either rushed through, conflated (and confused) with needs analysis, or passed off to others. This class will provide instructional designers with a grounding in task analysis processes and procedures, giving them the skills they need to determine the appropriate tasks to analyze, and the appropriate analyses for the relevant tasks. Students will be responsible for completing three analyses and doing two presentations. The task(s) to be analyzed will be determined by the students.
IDT 888 Internship/Practicum
ECI 600 Introduction to Graduate Research
Lecture 1 hour; 1 credit. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Should be taken among the first courses
in the student's master's degree program. Introduces graduate students to basic skills in educational research, including bibliographic searches, on-line searches, computer data analyses, and conventions of scholarly writing for reporting findings.
ECI 635 Research Methods in Education
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Examines types of educational research and criteria for selection of topics for research projects; describes criteria for effective collection
and organization of data, review of literature, analysis of data, and research and proposal writing. This course is a prerequisite for ECI 636, 639, 698, 699.
ECI 636 Problems in Education
Hours to be arranged; 3 credits. Prerequisite: ECI 635. Provides practice in the use of quantitative or qualitative techniques, including analytical processes, in solving problems in education. (Available for pass/fail grading only)
ECI 639 Seminar in Education
Hours to be arranged; 3 credits. Prerequisite: 15 hours in graduate education, including all core courses. Explores in depth a variety of current topics, trends and concerns in K-12 education.
ECI 899 Dissertation
(12 hours) Dissertation. 1-12 credits. Prerequisites: graduate standing, successful completion of candidacy exam and permission of the instructor
ELS 732 Statistics Applied to Educational Research 1
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. This course focuses on how inferential statistics and multivariate analysis is used in the analysis of educational and human services research.
ELS 832 Statistics Applied to Educational Research
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: ELS 732. This is an advanced course with a focus on how
inferential statistics and multivariate analysis are applied in urban education, human services and educational technology research.
ELS 833 Advanced Research Design and Analysis
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. This course focuses on the application of advanced research design as it is applied to education, human services, and educational technology.
ELS 881 - Dissertation Seminar
The capstone course for the Ph.D. in Educational Leadership. Students work toward: defining a research area of interest, developing a research question for the dissertation, beginning a literature review, and planning a method for data collection for the dissertation.
ECI 890 Qualitative Research Design
Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Covers basic characteristics of qualitative research; identifi cation of ways to collect and analyze qualitative research; examination of ethical issues; development of proposals; and writing up studies.