Students in the M.A. Program in Educational Communication and Technology develop expertise in the design of technology-based, multimedia programs and environments that are educational in nature. Students use established and emergent digital media, with their many forms of visual and auditory representation and types of interactivity, to design computer-based learning experiences for diverse age groups and content; these may take the form of simulations, games, problem-solving challenges, story-based and case-based environments, documentaries, public service programs, and a wide range of ever-evolving online, synchronous, and asynchronous forms of collaboration. The project-based curriculum gives students a robust, interdisciplinary framework on which to base design principles, comprised of perspectives from the cognitive sciences, the learning sciences, developmental models of learning, constructivist and constructionist philosophies of learning, and social learning theory. In the curriculum, and through an excellent field internship program, students also develop expertise in instructional design, prototyping and evaluation, and project management. Students in the highly-selective doctoral program are also engaged in conducting research to identify those characteristics in technology-based environments that influence learning, and how so, when individuals and groups interact with them in various ways. The curriculum addresses the many educational settings in which technology-based learning is prominent, and in which students assume professional positions; these include K-12 schools and higher education; visual arts and natural history museums, science centers, children's museums, historical societies and other public cultural spaces; corporate workplace training and adult e-learning programs; and private and non-profit educational media design companies, web organizations, and television networks and cable stations.