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Master’s Program

Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology

Introduce Yourself
A man and woman work together on an innovative project on a wooden table with hammers.

Connect with Program Staff

If you have program-specific questions, please contact LDIT Assistant Director Shaelyn Casey.

Connect with Admissions

If you have admissions-related questions, please email gseadmissions@harvard.edu.

Gain the expertise you need to flourish at the frontiers of education — by creating innovations in education technology, leveraging the science of learning, and developing powerful pedagogies.

In our Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology (LDIT) Program, you will tackle promising and challenging frontiers of education — leveraging the science of learning, applying innovations in education technology, and developing powerful pedagogies to improve learning outcomes. You will experience a diverse, inclusive, and high-energy environment, while learning from leading HGSE faculty and top industry practitioners, as well as your fellow cohort members. Our LDIT Program will equip you to work in educational media and technology, instructional design, and curriculum development, to create new learning materials and experiences for preK–12 schools, colleges and universities, 21st century workplaces, and informal settings.

"LDIT explores the art and science of learning design to create impactful educational experiences. Our program cultivates creative, collaborative problem-solvers who possess deep understanding of how people learn and the ability to craft powerful learner-centered experiences across varied contexts. Our graduates are prepared to lead in the evolving educational landscape, in a time rich with opportunities for reimagination."

Karen Brennan
Faculty Co-Chair

After completing the LDIT Program, you will have gained a deeper understanding of core competencies that explore how to: 

  • Determine learning needs and goals
  • Create learning materials and experiences
  • Assess impacts of a learning design
  • Manage design processes, collaboratively and reflectively
  • Foreground diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in design

The LDIT Program is designed to help you gain the knowledge and practice the skills essential to designing and implementing learning experiences. A minimum of 42 credits are required to graduate with an Ed.M. degree from HGSE.

The main elements of this academic year curriculum are:

  • The Foundation courses (12 credits) — How People Learn, Leading Change, Evidence, and Equity and Opportunity — in which students gain core skills central to the profession of education.
    • This program commences with How People Learn, an immersive online course that runs June–July and requires a time commitment of 12–15 hours per week.
    • You will continue Foundations with Leading Change, Evidence, and Equity and Opportunity on campus in August. 
    • Your Equity and Opportunity Foundations experience culminates in an elected course, which will take place during terms when electives are available.

To fulfill the program requirement, you must take a minimum of 12 credits specific to LDIT, including the following:  

  • The LDIT Program Core Experience (4 credits in the fall semester), you will explore how to design learning across a wide variety of settings, from classrooms to conferences and online networks, in architecture, media, and emerging technologies. You will engage with outstanding design practitioners who are using design theory and strategies to make learning more appealing and more successful in a wide variety of settings. Across these different domains, faculty will highlight competencies that are critical tools for learning designers.
  • LDIT-related course work (8 credits), you may choose from more than 30 courses taught by LDIT faculty members. Topics include deeper learning, innovation by design, learning through arts, entrepreneurship in education, learning analytics, universal design, creativity and curiosity, and many more.
  • The remaining credits are taken via elective coursework, which includes the opportunity to specialize in a Concentration and to cross-register for complementary courses in other Harvard schools and at MIT.

Explore our course catalog.
Note, all information and courses are subject to change.

Students will work closely with faculty associated with their area of study, but students can also work with and take courses with faculty throughout HGSE and Harvard. View our faculty directory for a full list of HGSE faculty.

Faculty Co-Chairs

The LDIT Program prepares you for a variety of career pathways, including: 

  • Instructional designer 
  • Learning technologist 
  • Learning media producer
  • Curriculum designer 
  • Product manager
  • Digital-learning designer 
  • User-experience designer 
  • Museum educator 
  • Project manager
  • Learning-assessment developer 
  • Professional and workplace learning manager 

Though LDIT, you will join a remarkable cohort of passionate educators and creative thinkers who represent diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experience levels. Guest speakers, alumni networking, student-organized initiatives, and social events all contribute to the creation of a cohesive and supportive peer group. The LDIT community also is part of the larger HGSE family — preparing you and your cohort members for the opportunity to change the world through your impact on excellence and equity in education.

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Program Highlights

Explore examples of the Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology experience and the impact its community is making on the field:

Contact Information

  • Connect with Program Staff

    If you have program-specific questions, please contact LDIT Assistant Director Shaelyn Casey.

    Connect with Admissions

    If you have admissions-related questions, please email gseadmissions@harvard.edu.

Admissions Information