Student Opinion

How Do You Feel About High School?

Scroll through some work by the winning students and educators who participated in our “What High School Is Like in 2023” multimedia challenge. Then tell us how well the collection captures your experiences.

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CTO, Caresoft Global Technologies, Inc.

Machine learning is a rapidly growing field with endless potential applications. In the next few years, we will see machine learning transform many industries, including manufacturing, retail and healthcare.

In manufacturing, machine learning can be used for quality control, automation and customization. For example, machine learning can be used to detect defects in products before they reach consumers. It can also be used to automate repetitive tasks such as assembly line work. And finally, manufacturers will increasingly use machine learning to customize products for individual consumers.

In retail, machine learning can be used for data analysis to help businesses make better decisions about inventory and pricing. Personalization will become more common, with retailers using machine learning to recommend products to customers based on their past behavior. Robotics will also become more prevalent, with machine learning being used to automate tasks such as shelf stocking and order picking.

In healthcare, machine learning can be used for diagnostics, treatment and prevention. For example, machine learning can be used to diagnose diseases earlier and more accurately. It can also be used to develop personalized treatments based on a patient's characteristics. Machine learning can also be used for preventative care, such as identifying risk factors for disease and providing tailored recommendations for healthy living.

So far we have only scratched the surface of what is possible with machine learning. As technology continues to evolve, we will see even more amazing applications of this transformative technology.

Machine Learning In Manufacturing

In the past, quality control for manufactured goods was a time-consuming and expensive process that required human inspectors to examine each item for defects. However, machine learning can be used to automate this process by training algorithms to identify defects from images or other data sources. This can help reduce the cost of quality control while also increasing the accuracy of the inspection process.

Automation

Machine learning can also be used to automate manufacturing processes. For example, robots that are equipped with machine learning algorithms can be trained to perform tasks such as welding or fabricating parts. This can lead to a more efficient manufacturing process and can free up human workers for other tasks.

Customization

Another way that machine learning is transforming manufacturing is by enabling customization at scale. In the past, it was difficult and expensive to create customized products due to the need for manual labor and individualized production lines. However, machine learning algorithms can now be used to automatically generate custom designs based on customer specifications. This allows manufacturers to quickly and easily produce personalized products without incurring significant additional costs.

Machine Learning In Retail

In the past, retailers have relied on data from customer surveys and transactions to make decisions about their business. However, this data is often incomplete and doesn't provide a full picture of customer behavior. Machine learning can help solve this problem by analyzing large data sets to identify patterns and trends. This information can be used to Strengthen customer service, optimize stock levels and make other strategic decisions.

Personalization

Machine learning can also be used to personalize the shopping experience for customers. For example, Amazon uses machine learning to recommend products that customers may be interested in based on their previous purchase history. This helps shoppers find what they're looking for more quickly and makes the overall shopping experience more enjoyable.

Robotics

Robots are increasingly used in retail settings to perform shelf stocking and order fulfillment tasks. While these machines cannot replace human workers completely, they can free up employees' time to focus on more critical tasks, such as helping customers. In the future, robots may become even more involved in the retail sector as machine learning technology develops.

Machine Learning In Healthcare

Machine learning is already being used in healthcare to diagnose diseases. For example, Google has developed an algorithm that can detect breast cancer based on images. In the future, machine learning will be used to diagnose more complex conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and cancer.

Treatment

Machine learning can also be used to develop new treatments for diseases. For example, a company called Insilico Medicine is using machine learning to develop new drugs for cancer and other diseases. In the future, machine learning will be used to develop more effective and personalized treatments for patients.

Prevention

In addition to diagnosing and treating diseases, machine learning can also be used to prevent them. For example, IBM's Watson system is being used to predict patients' risk of developing certain diseases. In the future, machine learning will be used to create more personalized and effective prevention plans for individual patients.

Conclusion

Machine learning is set to transform a wide range of industries in the coming years. In retail, machine learning will enable more accurate data analysis, personalization of products and services and even the use of robotics in stores. In healthcare, machine learning will revolutionize diagnostics, treatment and prevention. And in manufacturing, machine learning will Strengthen quality control, automate processes and allow for greater customization. These are just a few examples of how machine learning will change the landscape of the industry as we know it. So whatever sector you're in, it's time to start preparing for the machine learning revolution.

While ML and associated technologies like natural language processing are gaining traction in current workflows, it's important to pay close attention to ethical standards that differentiate humans from machines. Today, ML has come to a point where it can replace humans in many intelligent tasks. The future is clearly AI/ML-driven, and it will eventually become part of our lives to the degree the mobile phone is. We will take it for granted. Given all of this, those using and developing AI must keep ethics in mind when dealing with it, whether that's focusing on consumer privacy rights or keeping up to date with laws and regulations surrounding the technology in this space.

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That question and others were top of mind as news of the planned acquisition raced around the channel Monday.

Avaya and Nortel confirmed in separate statements that Avaya would pay $900 million in cash and $15 million for an employee retention program to acquire all assets of Nortel's Enterprise Solutions business and shares of Nortel Government Solutions Inc. and Diamondware Ltd.

The deal -- subject to court approval -- comes after a formal bidding process for Nortel's enterprise business and before that, the $475 million "stalking horse" bid Avaya made for the business in July.

Nortel entered bankruptcy protection in January after its restructuring plans failed and it lost $5.8 billion last year, and has spent much of 2009 auctioning off pieces of its business.

In an interview with Channelweb.com, Nortel Enterprise Solutions President Joel Hackney said he had two messages for Nortel's channel following the confirmation that Avaya had won the enterprise business.

"The first message is that this is an extremely positive day where we're able to demonstrate to our current and future partners that we now have a clear path forward that allows us to not only continue our partnerships but grow our relationships," Hackney said. "The second message is, the partner base is as important to us or more important to us than it's ever been. One of the major drivers of this transaction was Avaya's interest in learning and leveraging from Nortel's channel relationships and bringing forward the benefits of working with both Nortel and Avaya."

Avaya, which declined comment to Channelweb.com beyond its Monday morning statement, has spent much of the past few years refocusing its efforts on the channel and is expected to launch its global channel program at its partner conference in Nashville, Tenn., in mid-October.

The company has been offering incentives to Nortel partners to migrate to Avaya since late last year, and, Hackney argued, having Nortel's partner base in its purview helps Avaya accelerate its own channel goals.

"Avaya for several years had been pursuing more direct strategy but then expressed interest in growing a more channel-friendly model," Hackney said. "It would have taken them years to do that and whether they would have been able to do that effectively is a question. We provide a more complete product suite and one that can enable partners to compete more directly in the marketplace with other solutions, and also augment our partners' capability gaps in ways we are not able to do as two separate companies."

Hackney wouldn't comment on what his role or those of his executive team would be under Avaya management, or what steps would be taken immediately if the deal is approved.

Hackney said during a conference call for analysts that at least 75 percent of the Nortel unit's workforce would be preserved, but did not elaborate on how the $15 million in employee retention program money from Avaya would be used. Channel observers reacted with guarded optimism about the Avaya-Nortel agreement, with many saying they were glad a long period of turmoil for Nortel might be coming to an end.

"I'm so happy to see this thing finally come to a conclusion and have this uncertainty behind us," said Tony Parella, president and CEO of Shared Technologies, a Coppell, Texas-based solution provider. "I think there'll be mixed reviews for a while, but given the strain the industry's been under, this is something that's very important."

Shared, which is one of Nortel's 10 largest partners, was also among the 19 Nortel partners recruited by Avaya in the past year. Parella said he heard no indication from Avaya that there were immediate plans to discontinue any existing Nortel product lines, and that he thought Avaya would respond appropriately to areas in which Nortel was either stronger from a product standpoint or where Avaya doesn't already play, such as in data networking.

"I see very little risk of them dismantling the Nortel platform and cannibalizing the customer base. That's not the sense you get from Avaya at all," he said. "This Avaya has been very different than the Avaya I saw the past 10 years. I never took on that line before because they were not pro-channel, and they courted me a long time."

Despite its troubles, Nortel is still a name, Parella said.

"I still believe there's a lot of loyalty to the Nortel brand, and now they can go forward with the right capital structure," he said. "They were dead in the water, with no way to turn their company around with so many historical sins. But from the customer view, how Avaya handles messaging is critical. Partners need to hear what the scale of the business does for Avaya."

Some VARs contended that Avaya needs to communicate what's going to happen to Nortel's products and channel leadership early on -- or risk a flight of confused partners to competitors.

Cisco, Juniper and others have been stalking Nortel's channel during the tumult -- a trend that will continue if Avaya and Nortel stumble during the transition, said Bob Hafner, managing vice president of Gartner Research's enterprise communication application team.

"Will Siemens, will Cisco, will Microsoft start targeting some of the Nortel channels in the interim? Yes. They will be looking at the channel as an opportunity to say, you know, during this next period of multiple years while Avaya and Nortel are sorting through their products and strategies and trying to rationalize the channels, why don't you come with us? I expect that to be a conversation that all Avaya/Nortel competitors try to have," he said.

"We're going to need to hear, as soon as possible, and as clearly as possible, what products live and what products die," said one Nortel solution provider, who asked not to be identified. "It'll take them some time to figure that out, but the sooner they can communicate that as clearly as possible, the sooner the channel will be confident. Otherwise, the transition will be messy."

What several solution providers and Hafner agreed on was certainty that the deal would close.

"I believe it will close, it's just the timing," Hafner said. "One thing I am saying is that I believe it's not going to happen nearly as quickly as they think it is. Everything that's happened with Nortel has taken longer than expected, so why should this be any exception? It could be as late as the second quarter of next year."

How Avaya continues to evolve as a channel player will be crucial to its success with Nortel, observers agreed.

"The reality is they'll [Avaya] never get the scale and growth they need if they don't have the channel -- you can't possibly get there with a direct sales force in today's market," Parella said. "But we see the commitment, and they've embraced us and been very supportive. And at the end of the day -- even all you're going to hear about antitrust and courts -- this deal will close."

"The execution over the next couple of years will make the difference between an amazing merger or acquisition, and one of those we talk about as 'maybe it would have been better if they'd stayed separate,'" Hafner added. "Don't get me wrong, in any scenario, it will be positive for Avaya. They got a good deal on this and it's a large customer base. But will it be a total success or an average success? It's going to be a couple years before we know that."

Emphasis on Learning Engineering, Experience Design, Educational Technologies and Leadership 

Learn to lead the strategy, creation, and implementation of learning design and development systems using emerging educational technologies that based on the learning sciences with an online Master of Science (MS) degree in Learning Technologies. This innovative program prepares students to create learning solutions for a dynamic and interconnected world. The curriculum is built on a framework of national education standards, digital literacy, design thinking, instructional design approaches, learning sciences, learning engineering, artificial intelligence, assessment, learning analytics, and applied STEM content all tempered by social justice perspectives. In a world that depends on instant information, the learning technologies graduate program is the ideal preparation for a broad range of careers in education and business settings that involve STEM content.

The Learning Technologies leadership program also embeds several online Graduate Certificates (Instructional Design for e-Learning, Learning Analytics, Learning in Game-Based Environments) that enable students to develop a specialized foundation in the field, along with (elective certificates in cognate areas including “Creativity Tools & Techniques for the Classroom or Workplace,” “Mind, Brain, Learning,” and “Higher Education Leadership”, If you choose to complete one of these certificates prior to enrolling in the MS degree in Learning Technologies, up to 18 credit hours may be transferred to the Learning Technologies Master's degree upon admission.

The Learning Experience

The Master’s in Learning Technologies degree program is offered entirely online but emphasizes experiential and applied learning with high levels of faculty-student interaction. We are committed to providing convenient, flexible, and rigorous online technology-based degree programs that offer the same faculty, curricula, and degrees as our distinguished on-campus programs.

Drexel is ranked #1 in the Philadelphia region for online education programs by US News and World Report. In this context students will develop creative design skills through hands-on experiences with new media tools, design methodologies and learning formats.

The Master’s in Learning Technologies program at Drexel University School of Education is a comprehensive program whose mission is to integrate design thinking and the learning sciences into applied areas of practice in instructional design, game-based learning, and on-line learning. This degree program is designed and facilitated by faculty who are recognized scholars, practitioners and researchers in educational technology and subsidiary fields of practice. Courses are personalized to the needs of individual students and outcomes are oriented to career aspirations. The 15 courses are each 10-weeks long totaling 45 credit hours.

Program Leadership

Having pioneered on-line learning methods, the program director, Dr. William Lynch, continues to lead cutting edge developments in Learning Engineering, Experience Design, Technologies, and Leadership. Join him and the program faculty experts for the curricular content of this program in developing your own customized program in alignment with your passions and professional aspirations.

The M.S. in Learning Technologies is designed to equip you with the hands-on design skills and experience, interdisciplinary knowledge, and technical experience you will need to respond to the needs of contemporary learners of all ages. Our dynamic world needs learning professionals who can help schools, colleges, nonprofits, companies, and government agencies design engaging, accessible, and effective learning experiences drawing on the most current learning technologies and research.

- Professor William Lynch, PhD

• William Lynch, PhD
• Aroutis Foster, PhD
• Kareem Edouard, PhD
• Kristen Betts, EdD
• Stephanie Sutcliffe, PhD
• Elizabeth Haslam, PhD
• Salvatore Falletta, PhD
• José Chavez, EdD
• Larry Keiser, PhD
• Bruce Levine, LLD

What Can You Do with a Master's Degree in Learning Technologies?

Graduates with a master’s in educational technology will be able to:

• Apply instructional design principles to create high-quality learning formats that align with ISTE standards
• Take roles as future-focused, collaborative leaders to build connected learning communities
• Develop digital performance support tools and formats for just-in-time learning and support throughout the workflow
• Evaluate and assess emerging technologies as part of the in-classroom learning technologies movement (e.g., assistive technologies, mobile devices, simulations and online assessment tools) as they may be applied to learning

Careers with an MS in Educational Technology

As schools and workplaces recognize the need for greater performance through customized learning, expert instructors who understand how people use educational technology will be the key to designing instructional technologies and integrating these new training systems. Graduates of the MS in Educational Technology degree program have a multitude of career opportunities. Here are just a few examples:

• Instructional design leader
• Learning coordinator
• Instructional program manager
• K-12 Classroom technology expert
• Learning Development Professional and leader
• Curriculum software consultant
• Graphics and content webmaster
• Multimedia developer
• Director of integrated technology
• Manager of learning and development
• Technology coach
• Corporate training director

If you are looking for a program with professional and caring advisors, faculty, and support personnel who will listen to YOU and help you achieve your goals. The MS in Educational Technology is what you’re looking for. Do not wait another day to begin the journey to your dream career. Pursue an educational technology degree with Drexel University! You can get started by filling out the Drexel Online application or call us at 215.571.4471 to discuss your opportunities for success.

What will you study?

Students in the MS in Learning Technologies program will develop creative design skills through hands-on experiences with new media tools and learning formats. Join us for the best adult experience anywhere in online learning!

Master’s in Educational Technology Courses

The following courses comprise the curricular sequence of the Master’s degree two-year program of study:

Year One Curriculum

Year Two Curriculum

Mind, Brain & Learning

• EDHE 620: Mind, Brain, and Learning
• EDHE: 621: Neuropedagogy and Assessment
• EDHE: 622: Neurodiversity in Education and Workforce
• CRTV 615: Neuroscience, Creativity and Innovation

U.S. Education Policy 

• EDPO 620: Education Policy: Concepts, Issues, and Applications
• EDPO 628: American Educational Policy and U.S. Competitiveness
• EDPO 636: Access & Equity in Educational Policy Making 

Course descriptions may be found in the Drexel University Course Catalog.

Capstone Course information for the Educational Technology Graduate Program

Students in the MS in Learning Technologies program complete a research capstone course where they are introduced to various types of research designs and learn to be both consumers and producers of research. Following completion of the research course, students will complete a capstone experience by selecting one of the two-course multi-disciplinary sequence options below:

• Thesis (Part I and II) - Students who select this option will be required to complete a master’s thesis which consists of a well-written research paper, comprised of five chapters that posits a research question and uses logical arguments & data to address/answer a gap in research
• Lesson Study (Part I and II) - Students who select this option will be required to complete a research-based lesson design and analysis project
• Practitioner Course (Part I and II) - Students who select this option will be required to complete a master’s project. Examples include: A reform initiative narrative, program or grant proposal, white paper or policy analysis, or program evaluation

Who is eligible to apply for admission?

Our goal is to develop leaders, designers, and facilitators of effective learning environments for all levels of education and training, including business, K-12 schools, higher education, military, and informal learning environments. If you are seeking a career in advancing learning through the design and creation of superior learning environments, our faculty and curriculum can help you achieve your goals.

The MS in Educational Technology is offered 100% online. You can get started by filling out the Drexel Online application.

Students generally complete the program in two years taking two courses per quarter year-round. If you are interested in a face to face program, please contact an advisor.

Admissions Criteria

• A bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution
• Undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher (graduate degree GPA will be considered along with the undergraduate GPA)
  • Provisional admission may be granted with an Undergraduate GPA below a 3.0
  • For undergraduate GPA’s below a 2.75, an admissions interview is required

Required Documents

With multiple ways to submit documents, Drexel makes it easy to complete your application. Learn more by visiting Drexel Online's Completing Your Application Guide.

• A completed application
• Official transcripts from all universities or colleges and other post-secondary educational institutions (including trade schools) attended
• Two professional letters of recommendation
• Personal Statement (500 - 750 words) describing your interest in the program. Specifically:
  • How the program relates to your previous educational and professional activities
  • If changing course, why you are moving in this new direction with your educational goals
  • How the program relates to your current line of work
  • How you plan to apply the program to your future goals
• Current Resume
• Additional requirements for International Students

How to Apply to the Master’s of Science in Educational Technology Program

The MS in Educational Technology is offered 100% online. You can get started by filling out the Drexel Online application, or call us at 215-571-4471 to discuss your opportunities for success! Additionally, if you wish to talk to the program director, Dr. William Lynch, before applying, call 215-490-3035 and he will either answer or call you back as soon as possible. Be sure to leave your phone number.

Games and Learning in Digital Environments (GLIDE) Lab

The Games and Learning in Digital Environments (GLIDE) Lab at Drexel University allows students the opportunity to conduct research and develop games and digital learning environments. In the GLIDE Lab, students from multiple Drexel University Schools and Colleges work together to explore the role of gaming and digital interaction in helping to Strengthen learning.

Students in the MS in Educational Technology program are eligible to support the work of the lab through a co-op or as a student volunteer. To learn more about the GLIDE Lab, please visit https://glide.soe.drexel.edu/ or email glidelab@drexel.edu.

Student Opinion

How Do You Feel About High School?

Scroll through some work by the winning students and educators who participated in our “What High School Is Like in 2023” multimedia challenge. Then tell us how well the collection captures your experiences.

 By