Educational Technology (EDTC) Master's Framework
The University of Delaware Conceptual Framework for Professional Education Programs explains that the University “prepares educators with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are required to fulfill the responsibilities of an uncompromised commitment to serving the needs and interests of students, families, and communities”. The EDTC program embodies this framework by empowering students to use educational technology to improve teaching and learning across K-12 (ISTE) as well as higher education and the corporate enterprise (AECT). By assigning appropriate readings from the ISTE and AECT knowledge bases throughout the curriculum, the EDTC program incorporates a rich scholarly resource to which participants turn to discover best practices, recommendations, and results from the field’s leading researchers and practitioners. By mentoring students through all five stages of the instructional systems design (ISD) process, the EDTC program creates graduates who are able to (1) design, (2) develop, (3) utilize, (4) manage, and (5) evaluate solutions to educational problems. Through this process, EDTC students learn that understandings are constructed, not given. By experiencing all five stages of the ISD process in the EDTC program assessment plan, students discover that what works under one set of circumstances does not necessarily work in another. Instead, these understandings must be continually adapted, revised, and evaluated.
Inclusion and Diversity
Inclusion and diversity are key words in the SOE conceptual framework. The EDTC program supports these goals by fostering the belief that educational technology can and should be used to meet the needs of all students, regardless of special needs, age, race, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status. The School’s assistive technology faculty participate actively in the EDTC program. Many EDTC students take one or more special education technology electives, and all EDTC students learn to observe the accessibility standards of the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Section 508 Web Accessibility Standards. EDTC students create online learning communities that reach beyond classrooms to local and global communities in order to foster continuous growth and reflection.
Scholars, Problem Solvers, and Partners
In summary, the EDTC program embodies the SOE conceptual framework by producing graduates who are (1) scholars grounded in the ISTE and AECT knowledge bases of best practices, pedagogical content knowledge, and knowledge informed by state and national standards; (2) problem solvers knowledgeable and skilled in designing, developing, utilizing, managing, and evaluating solutions to educational problems; and (3) partners experienced in forming relationships through mutual support, respect, and the shared enjoyment that comes from solving problems together.
