University of Maryland University College

I completed this master's degree 11 years ago. The program was of good quality; I learned a lot and enjoyed many of the courses. However, looking back and reflecting on what the degree did (or didn't do) for me professionally, I have found the following: A. The degree did not do much for me as far as transitioning into another area. At the time, I was a teacher in a public school system. I did appreciate how the content could be applied to improve and enhance practice. It also allowed me to move into the next salary lane which helped with earning a little bit more money. That was about it. B. At the end of the program, I had to complete a capstone project. The capstone project was an applied project where we had to determine a problem, identify, and apply steps to solve that problem. This would have been good for those who wanted to enter doctoral studies in the field of instructional technology; however, this approach to the capstone did not make sense since this University did not (and still does not) offer and Ed.D. in this field. So, completing this degree felt/feels like a dead end since there's not opportunity for further study at this University. Having said that, when applying to jobs at educational institutions (one of which, at the time, was an instructional technologist job at UMUC), I was passed over because all of them wanted to see a PORTFOLIO. I wish that the program would have required students to create a portfolio of work samples that actually involved using and applying everything we had learned in our own professional contexts. I think this would have been much more useful and relevant as part of the final capstone course.