Vanderbilt recently introduced four online Master of Education programs in Peabody College, which students will begin in the fall. Applications for the programs opened in early February and will remain open through a rolling decisions process.
The four pathways include Applied Behavior Analysis, Educational Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness, Innovative Design and Technology in Education, also known as IDeaTE, and Multilingual Education. Each requires between 30 to 33 credit hours, and the completion timeline of the program ranges from 15 months to two years.
Andrew Hostetler, director of the IDeaTE program, offered his insight into the motivation behind designing these programs and future possibilities.
“We are constantly innovating to keep our programs at the forefront of our respective fields,” Hostetler said. “As we grow our learning opportunities for students, we look for programs that are practical, have more flexible meeting times and offer opportunities to earn professional credentials that will help them advance in their field and move into leadership.”
Hostetler also explained how the creation of the program — including planning modules, creating certificates and working out logistics — was a team effort between faculty and college leadership. The IDeaTE program is comprised of 11 faculty members across three departments, most of whom are from the Department of Teaching and Learning and are in charge of designing and teaching modules.
“We have exceptional faculty and really amazing learning opportunities here through our professional programs,” Hostetler said. “Their success has a lot of indicators and some of those are a very high job placement rate, exceptional employer reports and consistent positive feedback from graduates. I hope we can work to build greater access to these opportunities for folks with similar professional goals who might be in circumstances that prevent them from relocating to Nashville to attend classes in person.”
The IDeaTE program, along with two of the other new programs, is modeled after a similar pre-existing in-person course. Hostetler discussed the differences between the online IDeaTE program and its residential counterpart.
“The students [in the online program] also complete a capstone, but they do not have an internship, nor do they have the enrichment opportunities [that in person students have], and they do not have the opportunity to participate in assistantships or work on research projects,” Hostetler said.
First-year Sally Ann Mooring, an elementary education major in Peabody, expressed her excitement about how the online programs will expand Peabody’s reach.
“I think it’s amazing that Peabody has created an online system,” Mooring said. “I think it will allow them to branch out to a lot more people of different demographics to spread knowledge and make a lasting impact on the world.”
