Goals
The ILM emphasis trains professionals and graduate students capable of designing, implementing, and evaluating new educational technologies and media with a firm grounding in theories of learning and development. Graduates of the program will implement and/or evaluate innovative uses of learning technologies as educational software & media developers, school technology coordinators, curriculum designers, publishers, etc.
Overview
UCLA’s GSE&IS provides faculty with a diverse array of interests and expertise within the fields of educational technology and media, and information studies. The MA in Interactive Learning Media (ILM) places a strong emphasis on the design and formative evaluation of actual products. Students in the program will receive strong theoretical grounding in learning and development through coursework. This theoretical foundation will then be applied by students to the development of an educational media/technology product, through a year-long design project. In lieu of a thesis, students will select a faculty committee, chaired by their advisor, to guide their design project and evaluate their project. (see NU wording here).
The MA – ILM is a 1 year, 4 quarter full-time course of study. All students start in the Fall quarter of the academic year, and continue through the following summer quarter. The Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters are devoted primarily to coursework, although students’ design projects will begin in the Winter quarter, with the start of the 433 course sequence. Student project work will continue through the Summer quarter. Most students will take advantage of the intern opportunities available through the program to create a meaningful context for their design project development.
Courses
Students in the MA – ILM program must complete at least 9 4-unit courses, four of which are required core courses. Students select their remaining elective courses in consultation with their advisors, as suggested by students’ academic and professional goals and interests. Elective courses are available through both the Departments of Education and Information Studies.
Core Courses
Students are required to take the following core courses for the MA-ILM.
ED205 Computers in the Educational Process Fall
ED212A Learning and Instruction Fall
ED433A Instructional Product Development Winter
ED433B Technological Development in Educational Media Spring
Elective Courses
Students must take at least five (5) courses from the following list. Only elective courses from this list count as courses toward your degree.
ED212B Motivation and Affect in the Educative Process
ED217A Social Development and Education
ED217B Cognitive Development and Education
ED217D Language Development and Education
ED267 Seminar: Educational Technology
IS243 Human-Computer Interaction
IS247 User-Centered Design of Information Retrieval Systems
You may also petition to take other electives offered through either Education or Information Studies, and possibly departments outside of GSE&IS, subject to the approval of your advisor.
Thesis Project
All students in the program are expected to complete a significant thesis project in order to accomplish the Master’s degree. The purpose of the 433A-B course sequence is to guide students through the selection and early development of their projects. Students will then work on finishing these projects independently over the final summer quarter of the program.
For a design project, students are expected to pick some educational problem for which innovative technology and/or media can be a partial solution. Designs could include, for example, games to teach mathematics, simulations to teach biology, a web site for teachers, an educational TV show, and the like. Implementation projects could entail selecting an existing piece of media (e.g., software) and designing some implementation of the use of that media in a meaningful educational setting (e.g., in a classroom, museum, etc.). Evaluation projects might include formative evaluations of designs, evaluations of aspects of learning media programs, etc. Internships at Los Angeles-area businesses and schools are available, and can potentially provide an ideal setting for the development of students’ design projects.
Students’ thesis projects must be theoretically grounded, and therefore will require independent research in the chosen problem domain (e.g., biology or mathematics). Design projects will consist of both a design and at least a prototype implementation of an innovative learning technology or media application, as well as a design report that will serve as the student’s Master’s thesis. Implementation and evaluation projects must propose a design for the implementation or evaluation project, the project must be carried out, and the thesis report on the results of the implementation or evaluation.
Students’ thesis projects will be supervised by a faculty advisor in PSE, and affiliated with the program. Each student must write a written proposal for their project, which must be accepted by their faculty advisor before they will be allowed to pursue the project. During the Spring quarter, each student will work with their advisor to put together a faculty committee to evaluate their thesis project and report. Students’ will present their design and thesis report to this committee at the end of the Summer quarter.
Internships
Internships are available through the IS internship program and other LA based organizations.
