Mutlu Sen's First Year Review

I am biased. I remember how much I wanted to be accepted to this program which is one of the best instructional design programs in the United States for me so I may not be objective. However, I am sure about one thing that my experience is really close to what I have imagined before. I cannot imagine a more welcoming environment than our department.

 

Faculty

 

All faculty members have been encouraging, caring and inspiring for my professional development for these two semesters. Being able to ask your questions at any time, get feedback for your research ideas and know that your effort is appreciated all the time were striking features of our program as far as I noticed. I appreciate the sharing culture of our department and how much effort faculty members put in helping us to establish a mutual relation with other faculty and students. I am impressed by how divergent research interests and projects our faculy members have and how much I can learn with them.

 

Curriculum

 

In my opinion one of the most strong aspects of our program is offering a research-focused curriculum. Every single course I took was challenging and enhancing enough to improve my understanding of our field and research process in general. We are the first group that introduced with the new curriculum and I know that changes have been established on students' feedback. One thing I would want to change about my program of study was taking WFED 9200 in a later semester. It was a great course and I have learnt so much about framing my research in general and an expected Chapter 1 of dissertation but it would be more beneficial if we had this course after we decide our doctoral dissertation topics. We already shared this experience with our mentors and faculty members  because we know that our feedback is taking into consideration. 

 

Suggestions

 

Overall I had highly positive impressions and I am very satisfied with the LDT program. I would like to make suggestions to make contribution to our program excellence. First, our last name is 'technology' so I would love to have more heavy agenda on emerging technologies like workshops, show cases or special guests from the field. I also feel the lack of having a computer lab that providing licenced softwares like Adobe Master Collection in our building (Not like our classrooms but a specific one for 24/7 students' use). It would be great to have a media lab that we can use when we need or  set up special workshops. I think many students need support to develop their technological skills and this kind of a place would be beneficial for teaching assistants' office hours and other kinds of activities. Speaking of teaching assistanship, this kind of technology integration into some courses would bring the need of more teaching assistants (I do not know the procedure but I hope this is the case) and we will have more opportunities for gaining teaching experience and sharing our skills with other students in the department. Last but not least, I think we need a course in our first semester that we can read about learning theories and our research interests instead of WFED 9200.