Thirty entrepreneurial companies, all members of the Northwest Education Cluster, feel that technology is the tool to fix the education system in the U.S. Many educators are now going back to school to obtain a Masters of Education Degree in Instructional Technology, a decision based on the advancements of new technology.

Instructional Technology Innovations

The Northwest Education Cluster has already introduced new and exciting technologies. One company has developed a program that instantly analysis and generates graphs. This allows students to focus less on drawing graphs and more on the experiment they are conducting. Another company has created software to aid students in languages, math, social studies and science. What’s even more exciting is a program being developed to allow students to work with geometry and math equations interactively.

These new software technologies have been sold to educators and schools all throughout the nation. Those who graduate with a degree in Masters of Education in Instructional Technology are excited to see the how well these new products perform. Both students and teachers will gain much from the lessons learned with these new technologies. Computers could act as teaching aids to help educators develop lesson plans that complement each student’s learning style.

Going Beyond Educators - Supporting Instructional Technology

Both investors and the Government support new technology in education. The National Science Foundations has given grants to some members of the Northwest Education Cluster. Even venture capitalists are enthusiastic about the future of these technologies and bombarding company board meetings look for the next great product.

Earning a Masters Degree - Education in Instructional Technology

Want to get involved with educational technology? Complete an information request from The University of Phoenix to learn more about a Masters of Education Degree in Instructional Technology!

What better way to thrust oneself into the global economy than to participate at the educational level of information technology? You’ll be called upon to not only consider what has been done in the past, but to move forward into the future - to anticipate and create today what will be new tomorrow in a constantly changing and challenging field.

No longer can education afford to be part of an old guard mentality. Education, like any other type of business, must scurry to keep up with the ever changing demands of technology in addition to the ever changing demands of the educational world. Education must present itself as cutting edge in order to draw and keep its “client base” - the student. It is a trend playing out across the entire educational spectrum due to the onslaught of foreign competition, and the changing marketplace of our industries and the economic demands of the entire economy.

Information Technology education is a vast and expanding field that can take off in any number of unexpected directions, for it still is essentially in it’s infancy. However many precedents the educational environment can cite, one can expect volumes more to follow. The field is so new in many ways, new being a very relative term, that unless one is currently involved on a day-to-day basis, it would be hard to surmise where this path might lead.

Today’s industry giants are sometimes tomorrow’s industry has-beens. Regardless, Information Technology’s playing field is expansive and rigorous, and full of opportunities. Yes, the competition is stiff; but, the pay-offs for those with tenacity and who use their inventive minds potentially unlimited. However demanding the field, one cannot help but find the challenge invigorating, the possibilities exponentially impressive, and the rewards more than gratifying.

Besides, who wouldn’t want to be given the opportunity to work with some of the best minds in the country; to explore unchartered territory; to devise new and unique systems for specific and worthwhile causes; and to push oneself to the maximum of one’s creative ability? Who wouldn’t want to be given the opportunity to create the Next Big Thing? Because this field is relatively in it’s infancy, it mitigates the risk of devoting one’s self to something others might perceive as being too generalized, too limited. On a very positive note: it’s not a story necessarily filled with David and Goliath characters as in some businesses; it’s simply an opportunity to explore the world at large in a very specific manner and to allow one’s self to process one’s passions for the good of often very legitimate and worthwhile educational institutions. Yet, at the same time, this field is so much a part of the popular lexicon, it is so much a part of the rags- to-riches stories our country is based on, that one can’t help but sense the potential for great opportunities. With prospects like that, how could one possibly not quench one’s enthusiasm?

In nearly every state in the nation, teachers must be credentialed by the state. Traditionally, teaching required a masters degree and at least one year of student teaching, however, the requirements are beginning to loosen up. Online schools are now responsible for providing online programs for all academic courses that are required for teaching certifications.  For working adults that wish to become teachers, this provides a distance learning opportunity that reduces the classroom obligations for a teaching credential to a bare minimum. Some online schools have even developed student teaching programs with participating public schools.

The field of special education is also offered through many distance learning programs. There are many specialization options in special education today and most of them can be pursued by taking education courses online. You can obtain a masters degree in special education with specialization in gifted and talented students. There are degrees in education with specialization in students with special needs. Some of these online programs were made with the purpose of providing the training that is needed for special education certification: the online schools that do so generally have campuses in the states where they provide certification training.

Through distance learning you can begin a career in education or teaching through many different paths. As with all online programs, you can do it at your own pace. And online schools are usually willing to work with you in order to earn the certification requirements needed.

Education and teaching are essential components of almost every well rounded online school. Young adults who have decided to return to school often look toward teaching, often because they have impressionable children themselves ready to learn at home. As a result, distance learning has become an important resource for people who are seeking to enter the teaching profession at some level while still being able to juggle family life at home.

There are online programs for associates of education degrees in Early Childhood Education or certifications as a teachers’ aide. These secondary roles are often positions that adults, who have finished raising their children and are ready to return to the workforce, pursue. Certification for these positions is not a relatively simple task and can be done through an online program with ease.

There are also more comprehensive online degree programs for Early Childhood Education, ranging from bachelors to the doctorate-level. The same is true of the several standard teaching degrees that are available. Online schools have degree programs for a masters in teaching K-12; masters in middle level education (grades 5-8); education masters degree - science, grades K-8; and so forth. These distance learning programs are excellent providers for all of the core academic requirements to obtain a job in the classroom.

Although there are jobs available in the classroom setting, there are career opportunities in education that don’t necessarily require a teaching credential. For that reason, there are online degree programs for teaching training in education with a specialization in curriculum, administration, or adult education and instruction are the opportunities that are available through these online programs. Most online schools will provide one degree in educational leadership or educational administration, for example, and another in educational administration for licensure. While one is more general, the other will focus on both the general curriculum and meeting the requirements for licensure.