This is the first of a series of posts addressing commonly asked MAET “Career Counseling” questions. One of the most frequently asked questions lately has been “what can I do with my Master of Arts in Educational Technology degree?” Here are 5 + infinity things you can do with a degree in Educational Technology:
Classroom Teacher
The majority of our students (approximately 75%) are certified classroom teachers and continue as classroom teachers after receiving their degree. The MAET degree helps educators think deeply about the connection between pedagogy, technology and content knowledge. Some of our students go on to teach at online schools or academies as a supplement to their face to face teaching.
Technology Integration Specialist
Technology integration specialists often work at building or district level – either as a K-12 specialist or at the elementary or secondary levels. Job duties include developing curriculum and assessments, co-teaching, staff-development, and school planning and visioning.
Educational Technology Consultant
An educational technology consultant often works for an ISD (Intermediate School District) and provides professional development at the county level. ISD consultants may run online training, develop curriculum and assist with educational technology policies and procedure development. Constants can also work as independent contractors.
Community Manager or “Evangelist”
Many technology companies have “evangelists” who support their user community. Evangelists work closely with users by learning how they use the technology products, often present at conferences and providing training to their community. Evangelists also act as a bridge between users and developers to help design better products.
Instructional Designer
Instructional designers are often in charge of designing online or hybrid learning experiences. They may work within a learning management system (like Moodle or ANGEL) or create stand alone instructional resources. Instructional designers often work along side faculty members at the community college or university level.
Choose Your Own Adventure
As educators, we often hear the statement “we’re preparing our students for jobs that don’t exist yet.” That statement rings just as true for adults! A degree in educational technology gives you a wide range of experiences in using technologies and thinking about pedagogy. These experiences position you with a unique skill set that can fit in many environments like museums, government, game design, and beyond. The sky is the limit, find your passions and use your experience in the MAET program to find a path to your dream position.
I’ve created a twitter list of some of our alumni and current students who represent the jobs listed above:
https://twitter.com/#!/MAET/maet-careers
Where to look for Ed Tech jobs:
We frequently post positions on our MAET Twitter feed. Job posting tweets will begin with [job]:
http://www.twitter.com/maet
ISTE career network:
http://www.iste.org/about-iste/careers-at-iste.aspx
AACE Career Center:
http://jobs.aace.org/home/index.cfm?site_id=3855
Michigan Association of School Administrators Job Postings:
http://masa.mistaff.com/
We would love to hear from those in the ed tech world who have found their dream jobs – what do you do on a day to day basis? Do you have any advice for current students? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Our next Career Counseling post will be filled with tips on effectively sharing your skill sets to position you for happiness and success.
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