MA in Online and Distance Education

This masters degree is part of a programme that includes a postgraduate certificate and postgraduate diploma. These qualifications are presented by The Open University's Institute of Educational Technology and are open to students from countries all over the world. They offer you the unique opportunity to study the theory and practice of online and distance education through modules designed by experts from the Institute who are now using information technology to reinvent open and distance learning. Working with them, in collaboration with colleagues from around the world, you will be at the forefront of the latest developments as they happen.

You should note that the University’s unique study rule applies to this qualification. This means that you must include at least 60 credits from OU modules that have not been counted in any other OU qualification that has previously been awarded to you.

Career relevance and employability

Workplaces and work roles increasingly involve media-rich and technology-enhanced forms of learning, professional practice and personal development, often summarised in the term ‘elearning’. Accordingly the experience of achieving this masters degree has proved vocationally relevant across a wide range of occupations and locations, from managers in business organisations, teachers of languages, consultants, trainers and teachers at any level of the education sector.

Each module in the MA in Online and Distance Education requires study using a range of tools and learning environments. Consequently you will improve your personal skills in using these tools and this makes a positive impact on your own practice. You will explore in-depth the research and practice literature in technology enhanced learning, and experience the implications of learning technology choices made across a wide range of contexts and organisations, both formal and informal. You will advance not only your skills of selection and design of technology, but also your understanding of how technologies engage learners and how they can be evaluated and developed on a continuing basis.

Depending on your choice of module study, the qualification will enable you to demonstrate in addition, expertise in particular areas:

• Open educational resources and approaches for learning within university, college, management or other contexts, if you include Openness and innovation in elearning (H817)
• The development of inclusive education in relation to the accessibility of learning contexts online for all students, including the support needs of those with a disability, if you include Accessible online learning: supporting disabled students (H810).
• If you wish to specialise in the research and evaluation area, you can also build a foundation in terms of engagement with the research literature and research methods, which provides an excellent platform for further postgraduate study, if you include Practice-based research in educational technology (H809)
• The increasing usage of social media and open content by educators and students to share knowledge and practice through online dissemination, if you include The networked practitioner(H818).

The vocational relevance of the MA in Online and Distance Education goes well beyond the obvious category of teacher and trainer, and previous alumni have included librarians, media professionals, project managers, consultants, entrepreneurs, practice educators in nursing, and web developers.

You must be prepared for study at postgraduate level. This usually means holding a first degree - whether from a UK university or from one outside the UK - or its equivalent. All teaching is in English, and your proficiency in the language needs to be adequate for postgraduate study and for contributing to online discussions by text and voice. If English is not your first language, we strongly recommend that you make sure you can achieve a score of at least seven in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).