Master of Arts in Educational Technology (Online)
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Pepperdine offers an advanced master of arts program for professionals with at least three years of experience in learning settings. The Master of Arts in Educational Technology offers the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge about the current and near future technologies and their role in learning settings.
Students in this program break the barriers of classroom walls with electronic networking. Connecting with the larger professional community, working on meaningful projects in collaboration with peers and faculty, and reflecting on those experiences, all enable students to construct deeper understandings of subject matter than in traditional graduate settings.
Format
The program has been designed as a distance-learning program, offering 85% of
instructional contact time through the Internet. The balance of contact time
takes place in three, mandatory face-to-face
meetings. The first is a prerequisite, five-day VirtCamp© held in mid- to
late July. There, students learn the technology tools that will be required for
successful online work and meet fellow students and faculty. The second meeting
occurs in the middle of the program, in conjunction with a regional or national
educational technology conference. The final July meeting includes a public
exhibition of students' yearlong work and is held at the West Los Angeles
Graduate Campus and an adjoining location. Online course work occurs both
asynchronously and synchronously, through threaded discussions, Web pages, and
real time class "chat" in a virtual environment.
All courses for this 30-unit program are taken with a cohort of students, with no more than 25 in each cadre group. Annual intake for the program is in summer, with VirtCamp©. The companion course takes place in August, and students are then registered for fall, spring, and summer terms.
Learning and Leadership
The technology specialization supports two broad themes: learning and
leadership. Students learn how technology can support innovative ideas in
learning environments - constructivism, alternative assessment,
collaboration, and community - by experiencing these directly as learners in
real and virtual classrooms. The program also prepares students to lead others,
develop colleagues, manage resources, make technology decisions, support
organizational knowledge-sharing, and secure project funding. Students work
with multimedia, groupware, and Net-based applications and hardware, and become
fully engaged in an electronic learning community.
Action Research
An important distinction in this program is the yearlong Action Research
Project (ARP) undertaken by each student. The ARP requires students to design,
implement, analyze, revise, and support a workplace intervention to improve
local practice. The ARP serves as the integrating activity of the entire
program. Each group of students is assigned to an ARP seminar professor who
stays with the group for the duration of the program, providing instruction and
support for students' ARP efforts. The July exhibition is the occasion at which
students share their project work with faculty, other students, invited guests,
and invited media representatives.
Technology Requirements
All students entering the Master of Arts program are required to
purchase or upgrade a laptop computer to meet specifications. (Technology
specifications are available upon admission to the program). Students must also
have home access to the Internet and a personal, online e-mail address.
Students are required to participate in a week-long VirtCamp©, intended to
prepare them to work successfully online. Special computer and software
packages are available to full-time students through Pepperdine University
Computer Store and vendor partners.
Continuation in Program
The faculty is committed to the attainment of the highest
academic standards. Each student is expected to attain at least an overall
grade of "B" or higher, or "Credit," in master's course work taken. A grade
below "C" in any master's course requires an immediate faculty review of the
student's suitability to continue master's studies. The outcome of a faculty
review may include, but not be limited to, options such as requiring the
student to participate in a pre-approved remedial program, limiting the number
of courses or units in which the student may enroll, or recommending the
dismissal of the student to the associate dean. Any student who receives a
grade of "C" in any two courses will be dismissed from the program.
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