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See where our graduates are now!

Demand for Learning Engineers and Instructional Designers Continues to Grow

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Revolutionizing Education

The techniques, tools, content and code developed at Carnegie Mellon remove barriers to learning and is revolutionizing education.

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Challenge your limits!

Learn how to employ evidence-based research to create innovations in learning.

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Transferring research into practice

METALS alum heads to rural Panama with the Carnegie Mellon's Simon Initiative to improve learning outcomes.

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Next Generation Post-Secondary Education

Marie Cini visits Carnegie Mellon University to discuss her impact and experiences at University of Maryland University College (UMUC)

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Masters of Educational Technology and Applied Learning Science (METALS)

Applications Open August 2021

Thinking of applying to METALS?

  Learn more about our innovative degree in educational technology offered through the renowned Human-Computer Interaction Institute. Missed our October 15, 2020 virtual open house? The open house slides and recording can be found here. Click here to sign up for our mailing list, and we'll keep you up to date with all the deadlines.  
 
METALS is a one-year, interdisciplinary masters program that trains graduate students to become learning engineers and LX (learning experience) designers. In these roles our graduates apply science of learning principles, evidence-based research, qualitative and quantitative cognitive task analysis, and data-driven methods to design, create, and improve educational resources and technologies that enable students and instructors to succeed. The professional program culminates with a seven-month capstone project for an external client. Guided by industry and faculty mentors in this team-based research and development project, students experience the end-to-end process of a product cycle from idea through prototyping. Students learn to create effective solutions for formal and informal settings such as schools, workplaces, and museums.
Our graduates answer Carnegie Mellon University professor and Nobel Laureate Herb Simon's observation that “Improvement in post-secondary education will require converting teaching from a solo sport to a community-based research activity.”

What is Learning Engineering?
The METALS program is a union of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute and the Department of Psychology which brings significant value to the program.  We strongly believe that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and that we can all learn from each other.  METALS not only intersects Psychology and HCII but it is at the crossroads of cognitive science, statistics, computer science, education and design.
To understand how people learn, our students are trained in applying cognitive science methods to map learning objectives to sub-objectives and finally to well-designed instructional activities. To continuously improve instruction, we need to collect and analyze student progress. To do that our students learn how to use statistics to analyze extremely large datasets (data analytics). These analyses drive continuous improvement.
To create effective online educational courseware, our students need to understand at least the basics of tutor creation. We teach our students to use software engineering techniques to create these tutors. We teach our students how to design an appropriate curriculum using the latest theories.

Click here to watch our 2019 virtual open house and question and answer session.

METALS graduates are trained to be:

  • Learning Engineers
  • Instructional Designers and Evaluators
  • Curriculum Developers
  • Project Managers
  • Educational Data Scientists
  • Educational Technology Consultants
  • UX Designers
  • Entrepreneurs

METALS alumni are employed by:

  • Apple
  • Microsoft
  • Pearson
  • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Carnegie Mellon University
  • EY
  • Carnegie Learning
  • among others…

Application Open in August 2021

Students with backgrounds in computer science, design, psychology, education, or business are encouraged to apply.

Curriculum

METALS is a two-year masters degree set into a 12-month duration. During the first and second semesters, students learn core knowledge and skills through courses in learning principles, technology design and implementation. During their second and third semesters, students teams collaborate on a substantial capstone project for an external client.

Capstone Project

In this unique opportunity, METALS culminates with a seven-month capstone project for an external client. Guided by industry and faculty mentors in this team-based research and development project, students experience the end-to-end process of a product cycle from idea through prototyping.

People

Jointly taught by leading researchers in learning analytics, curriculum design, and educational data mining. Our faculty have collective expertise in computer science, psychology, cognitive science, and linguistics among others. As interdisciplinary program, we value the experience and perspectives that our diverse students possess.

Applying to METALS

For this intense program, we seek talented individuals from diverse fields of study and backgrounds that want to make an impact on education. Applications must be submitted online by December 10.