MEDETID · Current · 38 CUs
Master of Education, Education Technology and Instructional Design
Capstone shown is the first of a multi-course capstone sequence; full sequence not available from this guide.
About This Degree
WGU Catalog 2026-03The Master of Education, Education Technology and Instructional Design is a competency-based degree program designed for professionals looking to create experiences that enable learners to achieve desired outcomes in a human-centered, goal-oriented way. Intended to be practical and application-based, the program incorporates seven cross-cutting themes: Design Thinking; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I); social and emotional learning (SEL); learning analytics; learning technology; Universal Design for Learning (UDL); and accessibility. The program offers two specialization options, which allow candidates to learn best practices for designing learning experiences for students in K-12 education or adult learners in higher education, corporate, government, or healthcare sectors. Candidates may also choose to complete both specializations. The competencies in this program measure in-demand skills, preparing candidates for careers as instructional designers and technologists, learning experience designers, workforce development specialists, e-learning designers and developers, learning and development leads, and other related roles.
Official catalog text — WGU-authored.
Degree History
Program Learning Outcomes
WGU Catalog 2026-03Official WGU-authored outcomes from the catalog Program Outcomes section.
- •The graduate designs collaborative e-learning experiences to improve learning for K–12 students.
- •The graduate designs opportunities for assessment and feedback in e-learning experiences for K–12 students.
- •The graduate designs inclusive experiential and transformative e-learning experiences for adults.
Areas of Study
4 groups · 9 coursesCourse groups from the WGU Program Guide. Expand each group to see course descriptions and competencies.
Course Roster (12 courses)
WGU Catalog 2026-03Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
Total: 38 CUs across 12 courses. Degree total per catalog: 38 CUs.
Capstone
Identifying Learner Needs and a Research Problem
Identifying Learner Needs and a Research Problem is the first of three capstone courses in the program. This course provides an introduction to design-based research and focuses specifically on the first two phases of the design-based research process: identifying and analyzing the learning problem and reviewing the literature. This course also requires that learners continue applying Design Thinking as they empathize with learners and define the instructional problem that their research will help them understand and address. Finally, this course teaches learners how to conduct a literature review to determine what research has already been done and what is unknown about their research topic. Learning Experience Design Lab is a prerequisite for this course.
- •Begin your course by discussing your course planning tool report with your instructor and creating your personalized course plan together.
- •The learner defines an instructional problem based on learner analysis.
- •The learner defines the purpose of research and the questions the research sets out to answer.
- •The learner conducts a literature review to inform potential learning solutions for an instructional problem.