LDT Online MEd

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LDT 415B Under Review

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The LDT 415B – Systematic Instructional Development for Teachers course curriculum is currently being reviewed by the LDT faculty. A decision about future offerings of the course will be made by the end of November 2016. LDT 415B is not anticipated to run during the 2016-2017 academic year.

Until further notice the LDT 415A – Systematic Instructional Development course will be the substitute for LDT 415B. The LDT 415A course is the foundational course of our program about the instructional design and development process and is applicable to all audiences including K-12 educators.

Questions about LDT 415B and LDT 415A can be sent to Dr. Kirby.

Announcing the New e-Learning Design Certificate

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The faculty of the Learning, Design, and Technology Program at Penn State University are excited to launch the new Postbacccalaureate Certificate in e-Learning Design. The 12-credit certificate supports the professional development of new and early-career designers working in online learning environments across corporate, military, community, nonprofit, higher education, and K-12 audiences.

Students must complete the following four courses to earn the certificate:

  • LDT 415A – Systematic Instructional Development
  • LDT 467 – Emerging Web Technologies and Learning
  • LDT 832 – Designing Learning for Course Management Systems
  • ADTED 531 – Course Design and Development in Distance Education

The courses may be completed in any order. Students new to work in the education field may wish to consider LDT 415A or LDT 467 first. We are unable to substitute any of courses, and all four courses must be earned via Penn State World Campus.

All courses in the e-Learning Design certificate can be transferred into the Master of Education in Learning, Design, and Technology program (including ADTED 531).

Applications are being accepted now via the Apply Now button on the certificate’s World Campus program description. Additional information about the application process is also available via that program description.

Questions about the e-Learning Design certificate’s curriculum may be addressed to Dr. Josh Kirby.

Spring 2017 LDT Course Offerings & Registration

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Now that the Fall 2016 term has settled into a groove it is time to begin planning for the Spring 2017 term.

All registration for the Spring 2017 term will be done in LionPATH, and this will be the case for all future terms. LionPATH is here to stay.

The LDT program currently plans to offer nine courses in Spring 2017 under the LDT and EDTEC course prefixes. Those courses are listed in the table below.

Every LDT certificate and degree program student is encouraged to register for their courses as soon as they become eligible to register.

New Registration Priority and Dates

The implementation of LionPATH has brought about a series of changes to registration policy directed by the University Registrar. [Read more…]

Patience Requested with LionPATH Transition

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Penn State University Provost Nick Jones sent the following message to the Penn State community on Wednesday, August 24, 2016.

Penn State logoFrom: Executive Vice President and Provost Nicholas P. Jones

Date: August 24, 2016 at 4:11:14 PM EDT

Welcome to fall semester at Penn State!

As the fall 2016 semester begins, the final transition of the University’s student information system (ISIS/eLion) to the new LionPATH system is occurring.

Let me start by acknowledging that we fully recognize there have been some challenges and frustrations with this transition. Conversion of any major legacy database system is a tremendous undertaking and there will be challenges; this project is no different. We’ve heard concerns from faculty, students, staff and parents and we are very sensitive to these concerns, and are working on addressing all of them in a timely manner.

ISIS/eLion, which has been the student information system at Penn State for the past 30 years, will be retired and on Monday, Aug. 29, LionPATH will officially become Penn State’s student system of record. As part of this final transition, students will temporarily be unable to access LionPATH on Saturday, Aug. 27, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. [Read more…]

Welcome to the New Academic Year!

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Hetzel Union Building at University Park CampusAcademic year 2016-2017 will begin on August 22, and our faculty, staff, and students are ready to go! There is a huge amount of behind-the-scenes work required to support our students, and while we continue to offer courses throughout the summer we also use the summer months to retool for new processes and prepare for evolving student needs. The August 2016 newsletter for the LDT online community reflects changes and improvements that students will want to note.

The newsletter contains the following articles—click here to view the entire newsletter: [Read more…]

Starting the Fall 2016 Term

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The Fall 2016 term is about to begin. Let’s take a look at the dates and details that LDT students need to know.

August 22, 2016, Monday – Courses open on Canvas. Students may access and review course materials by logging-in at cms.psu.edu. Instructors will likely send a preliminary message to students inviting them to review the course. Some instructors may choose to begin the first week’s lesson(s) on Monday, but others may use Monday and Tuesday as orientation time.

August 24, 2016, Wednesday – Lessons begin. The LDT program uses a Wednesday to Tuesday lesson schedule, which you can read more about here.

August 27, 2016, Saturday – Regular Drop Deadline: A class dropped on or after the first day of class [August 22, 2016] and on or before this date will not be reflected on your transcript. Courses dropped after this deadline will incur a drop fee. See the World Campus reference page about dropping a course. Overall, a student must decide to drop a course promptly to avoid having the course reflected on the transcript and incurring a fee.

If you have any questions about your course, please write to your instructor either via your Canvas Inbox or by e-mail.

We are happy to have you in our program. Have a great semester, and work smart!

LionPATH is the New Way of Student Life

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Across a number of coordinated offices throughout the university much of the past year has been dedicated to implementing LionPATH, the new student information system at Penn State. LionPATH will completely replace eLion. LionPATH offers a much more powerful student information system that will benefit students and faculty/staff alike. The first challenge is helping nearly 100,000 users transition to a new system. We all need to be patient because everyone is working with a new system, students, staff, faculty, system administrators, and tech support alike.

The best information for LDT online students is the Graduate Student Portal of LionPATH. From that portal you may then log into LionPATH’s Student Center.

Throughout the Fall 2016 term, eLion will continue to fade from use. As you’ve experienced already, all Fall 2016 course registration occurred in LionPATH. Course registration, including course adds, drops, and term withdrawals, will continue in perpetuity in LionPATH. [Read more…]

Start of Fall 2016 Term Registration Update

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The LDT Program faculty is excited to start the new academic year. As we enter the Fall 2016 term, our courses are nearly full. Thanks to the prompt registration of our continuing students, we were able to add an additional section of LDT 415A—a response that further underscores the necessity for our program’s students to take advantage of their priority registration privileges. Please remember to register as soon as you are eligible.

LDT Fall 2016 Courses

Registration StatusCourse CodeCourse NameDelivery TimeframeLionPATH Class NumberNotes
FULLLDT 415A sec 001Systematic Instructional Development8/24-12/9/165661
FULLLDT 415A sec 002Systematic Instructional Development8/24-12/9/1632148
Almost Full!LDT 467Emerging Web Technologies and Learning8/24-12/9/1627078
FULLLDT 527Designing Constructivist Learning Environments8/24-12/9/1627082
FULLLDT 566Computers as Learning Tools8/24-12/9/1627087
Almost Full!LDT 581Theoretical Foundations of Learning, Design, and Technology8/24-12/9/1627167

About Our Wednesday to Tuesday Lesson Schedule

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The LDT program’s courses are delivered using a Wednesday to Tuesday lesson schedule. This weekly schedule is also used by faculty of the Curriculum and Instruction (CI) courses at Penn State, which is another group that serves a large K-12 educator population. LDT and CI have been deeply thoughtful about our lesson schedule, and we have maintained this schedule throughout pressure to conform to the Monday to Sunday schedule that is used by most of World Campus. Here are the key reasons for our use of a Wednesday to Tuesday lesson schedule:

Working Students’ Schedules

A Monday to Sunday schedule emphasizes that work be done on the weekends, particularly on the Sunday due-date for weekly assignments. Many students who are involved with K-12 education and who have children or other personal obligations are in a position where they either (a) must [Read more…]