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ILT Values

Our program’s professional values are embodied in our ILT Competencies, this list forms the basis for our teaching, learning, and professional practice.

  • Diverse settings. ILT students are prepared to work in diverse organizational environments, including corporate, higher-education, and K12 settings.
  • Moral and responsible conduct. ILT students will honor the moral dimensions of their work. As instructional technologists, ILT graduates should deal responsibly with all technology and education issues, respect diverse perspectives and ensure fair technology access for all their constituents.
  • Collaboration and inclusive decision-making. Professional practice requires constant collaboration and communication within problem-solving teams. Decision-making processes should involve all stakeholders and respect the participants’ varying perspectives.
  • Design extends to instructional, informational, multimedia, and work-support products. Principles of cognition is the foundation for their design, complemented by aesthetic, pragmatic, and moral concerns.
  • Appropriate use of technologies and resources is a main concern of the ILT program. This includes the integration of learning technologies into teaching environments and practices; the adoption of resources; and systemic change by individuals, groups, and organizations.
  • Inquiry is a key to professional improvement and effective practice. ILT students conduct inquiry for understanding, and to improve professional practice and decision-making. Completing our master’s degree involves a major commitment to inquiry.
  • Evaluation and assessment are critical to professional practice, assuring a proper fit of technology interventions within teaching, learning, and performance systems. ILT students will learn to create and use assessments for various evaluation purposes, and to evaluate programs, products, and practices.
  • Pragmatic stance toward practice. The ILT program relies on a diverse mix of knowledge bases, from ISD to the learning sciences to critical theory to management principles. This theoretical diversity is grounded in a belief that the problems should dictate the model—not the other way around. Reflecting this pragmatism, ILT courses adopt a constructivist, activity-centered approach that includes field experiences and direct-instruction strategies.
  • Open boundaries. The field of instructional design and technology (IDT) has an established knowledge base, but we should always remain open to new ideas and connections with other disciplines. ILT professionals should seek out interactions with other educators and workers, to learn from them and to contribute to collective understanding of challenging problems of practice.

You will demonstrate these values in your degree work, including your professional portfolio. Faculty will look for these values in your reflections, philosophy statements, and reports.