Education - Digital Media, New Literacies and Learning

Overview

Education - Digital Media, New Literacies and Learning program  have changed the skills and competencies necessary for full participation in increasingly complex 21st Century life and workplace environments. To fully prepare K-12 students for these emerging realities, teachers need to engage their students in technology- and media-rich learning environments that provide experiences for building competencies in new digital literacy practices. This program prepares candidates to teach the 21st Century literacies and skills to succeed in the digital age. In this program candidates explore and create a range of digital media (educational software, curriculum materials, gaming, mobile computing, social networks, digital stories) and reflect on their applications to educational issues in different disciplines and core content areas.

Learning outcomes

The program is designed to allow educators in a variety of learning environments to become leaders and mentors in the use of digital media and technology to promote 21st Century literacies and skills. Professionals who would benefit from this M.Ed. include classroom teachers, teacher leaders, higher education faculty, library and media specialists, reading and writing specialists, special education professionals, school administrators, adult literacy, community education, teacher professional development providers,  instructional designers, education policy makers, entrepreneurs interested in developing educational products or services and individuals seeking to build school community partnerships.

Program graduates are prepared to:

• Design technology-based media rich learning environments that support the learning of all students.
• Apply learning and curriculum theories to assess the effectiveness of technology and media rich learning environments in creating meaningful and motivating learning experiences for learners.
• Develop a broadened understanding of what it means to be literate that includes the reading and writing of multimodal texts as integral elements of social practices.
• Identify barriers and solutions to change for a professional teaching/learning community attempting to adopt new technologies or practices
• Use responsible practices that relate to creating and using digital media in learning environments such as with intellectual property law, confidentiality, privacy, and ethics