UH-Clear Lake to offer streamlined instructional design program
University of Houston-Clear Lake’s School of Education has redesigned and streamlined its instructional technology master’s program and its distance learning certification program. The revamped program responds to a growing need for individuals skilled in designing online and distance learning courses for both education and private industry.
Beginning fall 2008, many of the courses comprising the 36 hours (down from 42 hours) required for the instructional technology master’s degree will be offered as intense 8-week courses rather than the traditional 16-week course. These courses follow the tempo of summer courses, which are regular classes completed on a compressed schedule. In addition, the distance learning certificate can be earned in just 9 hours of course work which can also be applied toward earning the instructional technology master’s degree.
Offering the courses as 8-week sessions allows a student to complete two courses in a regular 16-week semester,” explains Visiting Assistant Professor and Instructional Technology Program Coordinator Richard Smith. “This means that if they put their nose to the grindstone they can actually complete the Master’s program in just a year and a half.”
Most instructional technology classes are available as online courses, he adds.
The widespread use of computers as tools for teaching is fueling the rising demand for instructional designers. Brenda Quintanilla, instructional designer and director of the Course Design Center at Lee Community College as well as an active member of the Texas Distance Learning Association, confirms that more universities and community colleges are adding instructional designers to their staff. Quintanilla, a 2004 UH-Clear Lake graduate with a Master of Science in Instructional Technology finds that more and more companies as well are looking for instructional designers to develop instructional manuals and training materials for their employees.
The position and title, instructional designer, is one that you’re seeing more and more when you’re looking through job postings, she said.
Quintanilla was invited to assist the UH-Clear Lake instructional technology program with its redesign.
Graduates of the instructional technology master’s program, like Quintanilla, work as instructional designers at community colleges, and in school districts, local industry, NASA and its supporting aerospace companies, as well as at the Houston Medical Center.
For information about the UH-Clear Lake instructional technology program and its Online Distance Educator Professional Development Certification, visit http://inst.uhcl.edu or contact Smith by calling 281-283-3566.
