By the end of this year (hopefully) I will be done with my B.S. in Psychology at Excelsior. Originally, I was going to pursue a graduate line of study that required a brick-and-mortar school, but I have since had second thoughts. (And a budget check. milelol: )

So now, I'm considering pursuing an online masters degree either in Online Teaching and Learning (perhaps this one at Cal State East Bay) or Instructional Design. I'm interested in developing materials to teach adults, possibly in a community college, vocational, or most likely in a consumer or corporate setting. Definitely not K-12 or university teaching.

Because the education degree is a new idea for me, I'm not clear on what I have to do to prep for this. It seems like most masters programs require a "bachelors degree in the same field" (in education?) and it sounds like Cal State East Bay requires formal teaching experience with references (since they refer you to their regular education programs for prerequisite info). Is that correct?

Is there another way to do this? I have a long history as an instructional writer and someone who teaches adults in private settings, which is what makes the topic appealing to me. I've always been passionate about presenting material in ways that maximize learning. Now, I'm wondering what my higher education options are, given the nature of my experience and goals.

Thanks so much!

Didn't know if it was important to mention, but I am in California.

There is a lot more discussion about education degrees and onlinel earning here DegreeInfo Distance Learning - online degree forum - Powered by vBulletin

alix Wrote:By the end of this year (hopefully) I will be done with my B.S. in Psychology at Excelsior. Originally, I was going to pursue a graduate line of study that required a brick-and-mortar school, but I have since had second thoughts. (And a budget check. milelol: )

So now, I'm considering pursuing an online masters degree either in Online Teaching and Learning (perhaps this one at Cal State East Bay) or Instructional Design. I'm interested in developing materials to teach adults, possibly in a community college, vocational, or most likely in a consumer or corporate setting. Definitely not K-12 or university teaching.

Because the education degree is a new idea for me, I'm not clear on what I have to do to prep for this. It seems like most masters programs require a "bachelors degree in the same field" (in education?) and it sounds like Cal State East Bay requires formal teaching experience with references (since they refer you to their regular education programs for prerequisite info). Is that correct?

Is there another way to do this? I have a long history as an instructional writer and someone who teaches adults in private settings, which is what makes the topic appealing to me. I've always been passionate about presenting material in ways that maximize learning. Now, I'm wondering what my higher education options are, given the nature of my experience and goals.

In spring 2010, I started my first semester in a master's program in instructional design. For the sake of remaining semi-anonymous, I'm going to give you most of the details in a PM, but in brief... graduate degrees in education do not require an undergrad degree in education or related field. My Excelsior BS is in liberal studies. My advisor's undergrad degree was childhood education, my professors this term have undergrad degrees in English and chemistry, and the professors for my fall classes majored in sociology and psychology. Your psych BS is just fine! Actually, psych is an ideal undergrad field for instructional design because you'll be studying cognitive learning theories.

With your professional background, you could start with a graduate certificate, then get the full master's later if needed. A number of instructional design programs offer certificates, and allow you to apply your credits from those classes towards the masters if you continue on.

I took a bunch of DSSTs to finish my degree, and found that the material I learned for Foundations of Education, Principles of Supervision, and Organizational Behavior turned out to be extraordinarily useful! Some knowledge of organizational behavior is particularly handy if your focus is on workforce instruction. I didn't take the CLEP Intro to Educational Psych, but the outline on the official CLEP site contains a whole lot of concepts we've covered in class.

FYI, if you want to take advantage of in-state tuition, one of the absolute best instructional design programs in the US is at San Diego State University. However, be forewarned that applicants to the SDSU graduate school with fewer than 60 graded undergrad credits will have to meet additional application requirements for admittance. See the SDSU Graduate Bulletin for details.

Thank you so much for the information!

Today I also found out about Troy University (eCampus) Masters in Post-Secondary Education, with a option of concentration in Adult Education or Instructional Design, so I am considering that, as well. I didn't know about the San Diego program and will now look into it.

Thanks again!

Morningside College M.A in Teaching $170 x credit hour. There are 6 mandatory classes and 6 electives.

They only offer a few instructional design classes as electives, however they take up to 9 semester hours in transfer

So what I am going to do is take those 9 credits in the graduate subject of my choice and transfer them into the program, that way I can customize it.