MIT Courses: Master’s of Instructional Technology Program, Watson College of Education at the University of North Carolina Wilmington

MIT students setting up a light kit for an interviewMIT Course Descriptions

Click here to view the Degree Requirements

Click here to view the MIT program’s Suggested Course Sequence

Required Courses

MIT 500. Instructional Systems Design: Theory and Research (3). Advanced instructional design theory and research focus on the analysis of theoretical foundations of instructional design and their application in design practice. Examines multidisciplinary and multicultural influences upon instructional theory and development. Explores a broad range of current design research and theory, and future directions in design theory and practice.

MIT 510. Design and Development of Instructional Technology (3). Prerequisite: Instructional Systems Design: Theory and Research. Emphasizes skills and understanding necessary to create effective, efficient, and appealing instruction in any content area and with any medium, including live instruction. Addresses both “process” and “product.” Process is concerned with activities and media required to create and deliver the instruction. Product is concerned with what the instruction should accomplish. Students will lead a team that designs, produces, implements and evaluates an instructional system developed for a field site. Team leaders ensure the quality and integrity of the design and report.

MIT 511. Multimedia Design and Development (3). Focuses on cognitive learning theory, perception, motivation, color principles, communication, usability, multimedia learning principles and instructional design applicable to designing multimedia instructional products. Students will learn to design, develop, and evaluate multimedia applications. Each student will demonstrate basic proficiency across a wide spectrum of multimedia for print design, job aid design, graphic design and screen design

MIT 520. Managing Instructional Development (3). Examination of principles of planning, scheduling, allocating resources, budgeting, proposal preparation, cost control and personnel management for instructional projects. Students negotiate an effective design project plan, how to implement that plan, and how to control and monitor project activities. Case studies will be used as a basis for exercises and discussions. Each student will develop a plan that meets specific criteria.

MIT 530. Evaluation and Change in Instructional Development (3). Introduction to evaluation techniques associated with educational evaluation media and materials, courses, curricula, students or other elements in educational programs. Various units of the course will focus upon particular evaluation techniques.

MIT 540 & *MIT 541. Colloquium I and II (1). Examines issues, theory, research, and practice shaping the field of instructional technology. A particular topic is emphasized each time the course is offered. Students review issues, identify trends, debate theory application, and develop researchable questions.

MIT 542. Internship (1). Interns with the approval of their advisors and the program director select an appropriate internship experience with an off- or on-campus organization, which provides opportunity to apply knowledge gained from the courses. *Please note that internships can be in- or out- of state. Many of our students who work full time complete their internship as a project within their place of employment.

MIT 599 Thesis or MIT 598 Instructional Design & Development Research Project (3). Students have two options. Option one requires a traditional thesis proposal and presentation of an original piece of research. Option two requires a design and development research project. As part of the design and development research project, students perform instructional design, development and evaluation activities and studying the process at the same time to provide solutions to a practical problem. *The capstone project consists of a client based project that students write a paper about. Students work with an advisor to complete this project. You may use your internship project as part of the capstone.

Focus Area Courses

MIT 501. Motivation in Instructional Design (3). Reviews and analyzes theories of motivation in relation to instructional design strategies. The primary emphasis is on the motivation to learn and techniques for stimulating and sustaining learner motivation.

MIT 502. The Systematic Approach to Performance Improvement (3). Introduction to theories and techniques for solving training and non-training problems in business, industry, and other performance-oriented organizations. Projects include needs assessment, analysis, solution selection, and job and task analysis.

MIT 503. The Fundamentals of Computer Programming (3). Study of computer programming and problem-solving as applied to real-world educational problems with solutions designed and implemented in various programming and scripting languages. Topics include data types, logic, flowcharting, sequence, selection, repetition, functions, arrays, file i/o, design, testing, and debugging. Prior programming experience is neither assumed nor required.

MIT 512. Integrating Technology into Teaching & Learning (3). Designed to enhance the knowledge and skills on how to apply communication and information technologies to educational environments with an emphasis on teaching and learning activities.

MIT 513. Computer-Based Instruction (3). Prerequisites: MIT 500 and MIT 511. Exploration of computer-based instruction (CBI) as a delivery system. Students will learn to design, develop and evaluate an interactive computer-based instructional program that meets instructional needs. Students will follow a systematic instructional design process (flowcharting, story boarding, prototyping, formative testing) to develop a CBI program.

MIT 514. Foundations of Distance Education (3). Examine the concepts, technologies, and issues related to the design, development, delivery, policy-making, and evaluation of distance education courses and programs. Provide an overview of distance education technologies; and focus on effective delivery techniques for teaching and learning within a distance education system.

MIT 515. Web Teaching: Design & Development (3). Prerequisites: MIT 500 and MIT 511. Focus on principles of designing Internet-based (web-based) instruction. Students will use Internet tools and other instructional design principles to design and develop web-based instruction. Four-to-six hour weekly lab required.

MIT 516. Instructional Video Design and Production (3). Prerequisite: MIT 500 or permission of instructor. Designed to explore the process and techniques involved in professional video productions. Emphasizes fundamental theories and practice in camera and computer-based audio and video production, including recording, editing, and digitizing audio and video segments for education and training applications.

MIT 517. MIT 517 – Gaming and Simulation (3). The course uses a hands-on approach to explore the process of designing games, simulation, and virtual environments for teaching and learning. Students will analyze the design and use of the commercial games and simulations to identify their technical, practical, and pedagogical limitations. A variety of game engine software and various methodologies for building and evaluating game models will be explored. Students will design games and role-playing simulations.

MIT 518 – Managing Learning Management and Course Management System (3). Designed to address administrative, management and tracking aspects of online courses. Emphasizes managing enterprise level Learning Management System. SCORM compliant and processes for launching courses authored in all standard course authoring tools.

MIT 519 – Computer Interface Design (3). Learn image editing techniques (beginner to advanced) while simultaneously learning the principles of human-computer interaction. This course will focus on designing visually pleasing interfaces for PC, tablet, and mobile devices. You will learn the theory

MIT 521. Diffusion and Implementation of Educational Innovations (3). Investigation of the literature and research base in diffusion of innovations. Application of theoretical and research findings to the diffusion of technological innovations is emphasized.

MIT 522. Organization & Management of Instructional Technology Programs (3). Examination of the planning and management of successful training, professional development, and technological projects in public or private schools. Topical areas include planning and developing technology projects, evaluating and analyzing school or district capacity and readiness for a new technology project, organizing and managing human resources and support systems, scheduling, budgeting, team structures, defining project requirements, and quality assurance. Analytical tools will be utilized to enhance project planning, scheduling, monitoring, and control, including software designed to support project managers.

MIT 531. Assessment of Learning Outcomes (3). Examination of the nature and purpose of measurement and assessment of learning outcomes. Particular attention is paid to the concepts of reliability, validity, norms, interpretation of scores, response sets, fairness in testing and performance assessment, and norm-referenced vs. criterion-referenced tests. A variety of instruments that are used to measure or assess human attributes and behaviors are studied.

MIT 595. Special Topics in Instructional Technology (1-4). Seminars of varying duration and credit may be arranged for the study of special topics relevant to student needs not served by established graduate courses. Seminars of this nature may be offered only upon approval of the dean of the Graduate School. A maximum of six semester credit hours may be counted toward degree requirements.

EDN 500 Human Development & Learning (Focus — 3 credits)

EDN 520 Instructional Development (Focus — 3 credits)

EDN 523 Research in Education (Focus — 3 credits)

EDN 582 Organizational Theory & Comprehensive Leadership (Focus — 3 credits)

EDN 568 Educational Program Design and Evaluation (Focus — 3 credits)

EDN 595 Special Topics in Education (Focus — 3 credits)

PSY 510 Cognitive and Developmental Psychology (Focus — 3 credits)