Come study with me at Georgetown University

It’s that time.  Yes, it’s the time of year when I invite people to study in the program where I teach.

Are you interested in education and technology?  Is the future of higher education a major focus for you?  Then consider taking classes with my colleagues and I at Georgetown University’s Learning, Design, and Technology program!

This is a graduate program where people study the intersection of higher education with technology, from a design thinking perspective.  The curriculum is rich. Required classes cover vital topics: technology, learning and design methods, learning analytics, the university as design problem, and educational research methods.  A foundations class introduces new students to graduate study, our topics, professional directions, and more.   An eportfolio class helps students build an online presence, with an emphasis on WordPress and students’ own web domains.  Then there are a host of electives, from social justice to gaming, educational technology to liberal education, data analytics to critical speculative design for antiracism.

This year’s technology and innovation class.

(I teach the ones on technology, educational technology, gaming in education, and the future of higher ed, plus lead Foundations.)

Pedagogically, LDT is all about active learning. We keep lectures to a minimum and instead emphasize discussion, student inquiry, hands-on work, and constructivism.

The student body is brilliant. Students come from a wide range of backgrounds: higher ed, K-12, nonprofits, media, museums, and more.  They are thoughtful, creative, and ambitious.  And lately the LDT class has been more international than American, with students from around the world.

And my colleagues are great.  They include Eddie Maloney, Maggie Debelius, Yianna Vovides, Randy Bass, David Ebenbach, Lee Skallerup Bessette, and more.  I consistently learn from them as we design every semester’s offerings. I feel like I’m getting another MA by talking with them and, refracted, their thoughts through our students.

Naturally I love teaching in the program. It’s a joy to work with these students on these topics. Every day I’m excited to be in classes build around active learning and to see students flourish.  I bring in my latest research to see what folks make of it, which is both productive and fun.

So much good stuff comes right out of the LDT world.  In classes students create great research and projects.  Faculty write books and make other media.  A bunch of, well, everyone collaborated on the powerful Big Rethink project.  After getting their MAs, students go on to great professional success: promotions, new jobs, PhD study, changing their organizations, rethinking education… which is the point of the whole thing.

Here’s a bonus: if you get your application in before January 15th, the program waives your fee.

Check out the LDT website.  Look into the classes I teach, if those interest you.  Fling questions at me or the program staff.  Then, if this engages you, apply!