I started my MDE journey in Fall 2010. I wanted to get my Master’s degree. My daughter was 3 years old at that time, so I was looking for flexibility and convenience. UMUC offers a variety of courses. I chose Distance Education field because it is rapidly getting popular with latest technology. I have experienced it for the last three years as a student as well as an instructor.
My specialization is in Distance Education Technology. I am especially interested in use of latest and innovative technology.
The MDE program covers a variety of subjects. My impression of this program before I started it was to learn how to design and develop an online course, how to integrate technology, how to assess students and how to improve the overall distance learning experience. Throughout my MDE journey, I did learn all this. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there is a separate course on Cost and Economics of distance education (OMDE 606). Until I learned from this course, I was unaware of the importance of budget and costs in any distance-learning program. I also learned that leadership is an important aspect of running any program. I got an opportunity to learn different characteristics of a successful leader and a successful manager in Leadership in Distance Education and E-learning (DEPM-604) course.
A foundation of Distance Education and E-learning (OMDE 601) and Technology in Distance Education and E-learning (OMDE 603) were my first ever-online courses. I was a little nervous in the beginning. But after a while, I really started liking it. Studying for two courses at a time was really challenging. In OMDE 601, I learned that the distance education is not a new concept at all. It has been in practice for at least two hundred years. All the core required courses were instrumental in making my concepts clear and building a strong base.
IMAT 639, Internet Multimedia Applications, was one of my favorite courses. We were required to create a website using Dreamweaver. I had so much fun experimenting different layouts, background pictures, sounds etc. I learned many things like how to create and embed movies, how to create a 3 D animated object using Adobe Fireworks by watching YouTube videos (I was also pleasantly surprised to see that YouTube has videos on anything and everything).
Success of any educational program depends greatly on instructors and TA’s. I was very fortunate to have great instructors throughout the program. All the instructors were not only experts in the field but were also very helpful. I appreciate all the work they have done so far and will continue to do for future courses. The visiting faculty in some courses helped us expand our knowledge in that particular subject.
One of the very important features of UMUC is the writing coach service; I cannot thank enough for providing us this service. One of my biggest difficulties was academic writing. I appreciate all the guidance and feedback I go from the writing coach time-to-time.
The MDE program has helped me with my current position as an adjunct faculty. I am developing and teaching two different hybrid courses at different schools. I am applying my subject matter expertise as well as instructional designing principles while designing these two courses.
After I finish the MDE program, I want to pursue a career in instructional designing or e-learning areas. I would like to help develop online or hybrid courses using latest technologies and would like to develop programs for the instructors that would make an easy transition for them from traditional courses to e- learning.
MDE journey has been a great experience for me. Thanks everyone for making my journey successful !