Award recipients will be honored at the virtual 2021 UPCEA Regions Week conference October 18-21 in Washington, DC.
鈥淲e鈥檙e honored to have the recognized as a program of excellence by the UPCEA South Region this year,鈥� said Dr. Josh Herron, Dean of Online and Continuous Learning and director of 91福利社鈥檚 M.S. in Instructional Design & Learning Technology (IDLT) program. 鈥淭his signature program builds upon 91福利社鈥檚 status as an Apple Distinguished School and a highly ranked university that鈥檚 innovative in digital learning integration.鈥�
鈥淭he vast majority of our current professors are those who work in the at 91福利社 as well as external practitioners in instructional design and learning technology 鈥� from Fortune 500 companies to nationally-recognized digital learning consultants,鈥� said Dr. Katie Wolfe- Burleson, M.S. IDLT associate director. 鈥淲e appreciate and are honored again to receive this recognition from UPCEA.鈥�
It would be fair to say that Instructional Design is one of the best careers that not many have heard about. When asked about what makes CIDL stand out among similar programs at peer institutions, the words 鈥渆ngaged鈥� and 鈥渃ommunity鈥� stand out, and for good reasons.
鈥淚t鈥檚 certainly the engagement with faculty and connection of the curriculum to the profession. AU is known as a hospitable place, and we take that online as well, so we鈥檙e certainly engaged as faculty members in the program, involving our students outside of the coursework,鈥� Herron said. 鈥淲e hold IDLT (Instructional Design and Learning Technology) talks twice a semester, where we use our networks to bring in someone who鈥檚 in the field to talk with our students about what life is like as an instructional designer.鈥�
Dr. Herron and Dr. Wolfe-Burleson also remain active professionally by making presentations at conferences and working on publications. They are also publishing the Instructional Design Fieldbook, a text of case studies from those within various areas of instructional design.
Comments from recent graduates of the Master of Science in Instructional Design and Technology program talk about the sense of community they have experienced.
Kaitlyn Biedenbender, a former third-grade teacher, is a strong believer that learning should be fun, and wants to keep up-to-date on best practices for her class. She enrolled in the IDLT program and experienced an online program that goes beyond writing papers and interacting with classmates in online discussion boards.
鈥淚t鈥檚 more relational and you feel like you get benefits of being part of a community. I had professors who took me by the hand, encouraged me and they pushed me so that I would be able to believe in myself to complete the program,鈥� Biedenbender said.
Phillip Catledge, who does training and development for Prisma Health in Greenville, South Carolina, wanted to dig deeper into instructional design and develop meaningful interactive eLearning experiences.
鈥淚 think the biggest thing is learning by doing, and this is what 91福利社 capitalizes with its program of instructional design,鈥� Catledge said. 鈥淚 think one of the things that鈥檚 really helpful is that you have kind of an online learning community that you鈥檙e learning together with.鈥�
UPCEA is the leading association for professional, continuing, and online education and hosts innovative conferences and specialty seminars, along with research resources and professional networking opportunities. The association has been around since 1915 and currently serves more than 400 institutions, including most of the leading public and private colleges and universities in North America.