Anyone have an MSEd in LDT?

[madringal]

Maybe a long shot but any one have any experience with this, preferably someone that does not work in education?

I have worked in training and development in some capacity for the last 10+ years out of a 20 year career, all in banking.  I have a BS in Finance, and am thinking of pursuing this Master's program.  Anyone have any anecdotes or information they want to share?

My goal would to eventually to be self employed, and create and develop training programs for small businesses.  I really think a niche in credit unions would be kind of awesome. Credit unions LOVE to farm this kind of stuff out.

[just]

madringal, So as you saw on MM I'm in HE, but follow trends in general and corporate ID work too - I actually just hired someone out of 20 years in banking L&D to manage my department.

From what I've seen the qualification isn't correlated to opportunity or skill in corporate/business environments, but the good ones are a great way to get the experience with necessary technology, know how to consult with clients, and build a portfolio. A portfolio will be the single most important thing you create as someone looking for free-lance work in corporate.

L&D is slightly different to ID, so look carefully at the courses in the program and make sure it gives you what you need to build the company you want. Look to see if the focus is corporate or HE, see how technology intensive it is, make sure that a portfolio is a major part of the program. There's also a LOT of certificate programs if a Masters feels like overkill since you do have experience.

Theres a lot of community online for this stuff. My focus is ID in HE, but search on FB and LinkedIn and you'll probably find groups that have individuals that may have taken the programs you're considering. Finally look at some of the professional orgs. ADT is the big corporate one in my area, but there are others too.

[audry80]

My husband has a Master of Arts in Education with Educational Technology Concentration from San Diego State. He did it online since we do not live in SD. It did wonders for his career. He did consulting for awhile but now he is the Global Head of L&D for a tech company.

[wildrice]

I am not super familiar with that particular degree, but I'm in a similar field (HR training and development). I would be a little concerned about it being an MSed vs just an MS - is that more geared toward the educational field? I've looked into some instructional design classes/programs and they seem to be heavily focused on designing classroom curriculum, which is IMO quite different from the practical applications you'd use in training for employees.

Some of the instructional design courses at my university (where I am currently pursing a master's in HRD) sound like they would be helpful to me, but upon further discussion with the professor, seemed like I'd be the oddball in the class and much of the discussion would be really focused on classroom education. So, before going too far into things, I'd suggest looking into that.

Have you been doing the design/delivery all along? If so, what specifically will you be looking to get out of a degree? I guess I'm just not sure if it is 100% necessary. It seems to me that much of training and development needs to be learned through experience, though certainly some formal training won't hurt but it may not be 100% necessary. Depending on how you'd pay for it, it may or may not provide the ROI you might want.

[madringal]

wildrice Thanks for your response. I hadn't really thought about the difference in a MSed vs MS. I reached out to the advisor to ask some more questions. Looking at the courses, they do not seem all education related. There are certainly some electives that I could chose if I wanted to make education my focus, but none of the core classes seem to lean that way. But It definitely does give me some great follow up questions to ask.

I have been doing the design and delivery at the credit union. And just the delivery at the BIG bank I used to work for. But I do not have the technology skills to make it anything more than a power point presentation basically at this point. I also know my industry and the products that we are developing and the skills I want to train my staff on so my content has always just been, well, what ever I want it to be. That would be much different than if I was hired as a consultant for a business/industry I don't work for. I do plan to pay for the degree in cash as I go. My husband and I both agree that this isn't something that is going to make me more money - but I am hoping it open up a new career path.