Digital Media Design & Making in Education – Online Graduate Certificate Course of Study

Course of Study

To complete the Digital Media Design & Making in Education graduate certificate, students must earn 12 credits from the list of required and elective courses below. University Without Walls (UWW) sections are recommended, but not required.

2024/2025 Course Schedule

Spring 2025

  • EDUC 615CT: Creativity, Technology, and Learning (online) 
  • EDUC 615X: Designing Digital Media for Teaching and Learning (online)
  • EDUC 890C: Culminating Projects for LMT & DMDM Certificate (Tu 4:00PM - 6:30PM) 

Summer 2025 

EDUC 615CT: Creativity, Technology, and Learning (online)

Required Courses (9 credits, 3 classes)

  • EDUC 615GR - Teaching & Learning with Technology (offered every fall)
  • EDUC 615X - Designing Digital Media for Teaching & Learning (offered every spring)
  • EDUC 615CT - Creativity, Technology, and Learning

Electives (3 credits, 1 class)

  • EDUC 647M - Making & Makerspaces in Education
  • EDUC 595A: Educational Video Production
  • EDUC 692D: Digital Tools & Apps for 21st Century Students
  • EDUC 612: Educational Web Design
  • EDUC 618C: Intro to Programming
  • EDUC 890C: Culminating Projects for LMT & DMDM
  • EDUC 897C: Seminar in Digital Media Learning

You can refer to the academic calendar for important semester dates including registration and add/drop. 

EDUC 615GR Teaching & Learning With Technology

In this course, students will examine how technology mediates and influences teaching and learning in and across formal and informal contexts. Students will engage in a series of technology-related design challenges to build confidence, knowledge, and skills in designing and using technologies for teaching and learning. Students will explore the theoretical, societal, and practical issues related to using new technologies in informal and formal educational settings. And, students will discover how to enrich and advance teaching and learning with digital tools, digital media, and emerging technologies.

EDUC 595A Educational Film Production

This course will introduce students to the basics of video production, including pre-production (e.g., script writing, storyboarding), recording video (e.g., composition, equipment, digital tools, lighting, audio), and post-production (e.g., editing). Through project-based activities, students will learn how to apply their knowledge of multimedia design principles and learning theories to the development of interactive and accessible videos that enhance teaching and learning.

EDUC 612 Educational Web Design

This course will introduce students to the basics of designing educational websites, such as online courses, digital portfolios, and online learning modules. Through interactive projects, students will learn how to create well-designed, accessible, easy to navigate websites that facilitate learning. Topics covered in the course include: html/java programming, user interface design, multimedia production, visual design, digital accessibility, writing for the web, copyright and creative commons, and usability testing. The course will feature multiple authentic learning web design projects, such as the development of digital portfolios as well as modules for an open online course.

EDUC 647M Making & Makerspaces in Education

A makerspace revolution is here. K-12 schools and libraries are dedicating physical spaces as maker places and equipping them with 3D printers and other tools; administrators are urging those spaces and tools to be used for learning; students are wondering what they can create in these new settings. But what is a makerspace? And, how does Making (aka the design of physical or digital artifacts) fit into informal and formal educational settings? In this course, you will engage in a series of interactive, hands-on making activities with low-tech and high-tech tools to examine the theoretical, practical, and societal issues related to Making and Makerspaces in education.

EDUC 618C Intro to Programming

This course is a programming class that will focus on teaching educators how to program in Java. While we learn how to program, we will design, play, tinker, and explore, as we create programs in Java and Javascript.

EDUC 615CT Creativity, Technology, and Learning

This course is designed to introduce students to ways of using learning technology to enable creativity in the classroom or any learning environment. It takes both a theoretical and a practical approach to creativity. Therefore, students will read creativity theories, read and review empirical studies of creativity, create curriculum for learning environments, as well as work to expand their own creativity. Importantly, the course also includes a focus on questions of social justice as they are related to opportunities to be producers (creators) of media, as opposed to just consumers, as well as the relationship of creativity to participation in democratic societies and the societal and economic forces that impede creative classrooms. This emphasis focuses especially on issues related to minoritized and marginalized communities.

EDUC 692D Digital Tools & Apps for 21st Century Students

In this course, students will explore a variety of digital tools and apps that can enhance teaching and learning. Students will discover how to find digital tools and apps by cultivating a digitally enhanced professional learning network. They will learn how to evaluate digital tools and apps in order to make an informed decision about which tools to use in educational settings and how to use tools and apps to improve learning experiences for all students. By the end of the course, students will be able to employ digital tools and apps to create transformative learning experiences for informal, formal, K-12, and higher education settings.

EDUC 615X Designing Digital Media for Teaching & Learning

This project-based course focuses on the theoretical and practical issues related to designing digital media (e.g. videos, animations, podcasts, infographics) and environments (e.g. interactive websites, online courses) for teaching and learning. In this course, we will explore the ADDIE Model of Instructional Design, learning theories, multimedia design principles, and effective pedagogical strategies and apply this knowledge to the design of educational digital media.

EDUC 890C Culminating Projects for LMT & DMDM

Advanced study of recent developments, research, and theoretical frameworks in digital media learning. Topics covered may include: social media, digital storytelling, computer supported collaborative learning, and microgenetic learning analytics. The course is only for students within the Learning, Media and Technology Master Degree program to work on their culminating project.

EDUC 897C Seminar in Digital Media Learning

During an era when fake news goes viral, social media algorithms shape our perceptions, clickbait personality tests are used to collect private data, media files can be manipulated by anyone, and bots and artificial intelligence influence how information spreads on social media sites, teachers and learners must be able to critically examine the power structures that shape how digital media is designed, shared, and consumed. In this course, students will analyze, create, and remix digital media and examine the recent developments, research, and theoretical frameworks in digital media learning.