Master of Arts in Professional Education (Training and Development)

Master (Coursework)

Programme Type

Full-time, Part-time

NIE Graduate Programmes

[email protected]

The Master of Arts in Professional Education (MAPE) seeks to deepen academic knowledge and competencies for individuals who work in or wish to move into professional roles within various settings of higher and adult professional education.

Within workplaces, services, and organizations, employees are expected to engage in ongoing improvement through continuing professional education. Professional learning has become even more important in recent years with the increasing pressure on schools and academic institutions for greater evidence of quality work and outcomes in the continual education of their own educators. Professional educators play critical roles in professional learning of staff working in schools, universities, and public/ private educational institutions (e.g., teachers, faculty members, administrators and professional development staff) play critical roles in teaching, leading, and researching about their practices and carry out multiple missions of the institution.

This programme aims to provide a rigorous understanding of educational practices and systems from social, philosophical, psychological, cross-national and normative perspectives. It also seeks to foster an understanding of central issues in learning and development, education and training, and educational leadership in the various professional contexts. Its specific objective is to educate professional educators with values and beliefs as well as equipping them with a distinct set of skills to drive mentoring and coaching, innovative training, assessment and design practices.

MAPE is suitable for experienced professionals involved in:

  • School staff development
  • Facilitating Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) in schools
  • Mentoring and coaching
  • Managing training and professional development organizations
  • Managing teams of Adult Educators
  • Leading Adult Education project teams
  • Policy-making for institutions and professional bodies
  • Researching in higher education, and adult and life-long learning
Note:
Teachers who are interested in school-based ICT innovation could check out the Master of Education (Learning Sciences & Technologies Programme).

Curious to know what our faculty and students think about our programmes? Click here to find out!

The MAPE (Training and Development) is unique and differentiated from other Masters programmes in Singapore and in the region based on the high degree of local content.

The unique features of the programme include:

  • experiential components focusing on applying learning in authentic workplace contexts.
  • development of specialised skill sets required for professional development such as evaluating and developing workplace mentoring and coaching skill sets, both of which need greater emphasis in the increasingly complex and dynamic organizational environment.
  • development of participants’ capacity to engage in disciplined reflection on their experiences, studies and practices in the local contexts.
  • Incorporation of latest development in theories of learning from the learning sciences perspective as well as providing opportunities for participants to understand theories and practice of technology-enhanced learning.

  • A good Bachelor's degree, preferably with an Honours degree, or a relevant NTU FlexiMasters with good grades
  • At least one year of working experience in one of the following:
    • Teacher Professional Development
    • Educational Leadership
    • Higher Education
    • Continuing Education and Training
    • Other relevant adult education or management

See detailed requirements for competency in English Language here.

There is generally only one intake for this programme, in August. You are advised to visit the website and look out for NIE’s announcements in November/December to confirm if the programme will be open for application at any particular intake.

Applicants who are currently working with sponsors, donors or financial institutions to fund their studies, are encouraged to submit their applications early to NIE so as not to miss out on our application period.

Applications are to be made online. Click here to sign up for an ISAAC (Integrated Student and Academic Administration System) account to apply with us. For those with an existing account, login to apply.

More information on required documents for application can be found  here.

The MAPE (Training and Development) is a coursework Masters programme of 30 Academic Units. You are required to complete four core courses and four electives. Three out of four electives must be selected from the MAPE electives. The other elective can be either from the MAPE elective courses or open elective.

Core Courses (14 AUs)

  • MTD900 Professional Practice Inquiry Skills
  • MTD901 Professional Practice Inquiry Project
  • MTD902 Foundations of Learning and Instruction
  • MTD903 Instructional Design Models and Practices

MAPE Elective Courses (4 AUs each, select at least 3 Courses)

  • MTD905 Workplace Coaching and Mentoring
  • MTD907 Training Needs Assessment and Solutions
  • MTD908 Training Methods and Strategies
  • MTD909 E-learning Tools for Training
  • MTD910 Multimedia Design
  • MTD911 Facilitating Adult Learning 
  • MTD912 Programme Evaluation Models and Methods
  • MTD913 Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Open Elective Courses (4 AUs)

Select one course from the list of MAPE Elective Courses given above or the open elective courses offered across all NIE Master's Degree programmes. 

Important note for matriculated students:
Please refer to the ISAAC system for the programme structure relevant to your intake during Course Registration or consult Asst/P Li Qiujie, your programme leader if you need clarifications.

The programme is offered on both full-time and part-time basis. The candidature periods are as follows:

Full-time

Minimum

1 year

Maximum

2 years

Part-time

Minimum

2 years

Maximum

4 years

Course Descriptors

MTD900 Professional Practice Inquiry Skills (2 AUs)
This course equips students with the methodological skills to conduct professional practice inquiry in the training, workplace learning and adult learning contexts. It also helps students to start preliminary work for their professional practice inquiry project.

● Design survey instruments, interview protocols, and observation protocols for an instructional design project.

● Analyze quantitative and qualitative data associated with common data collection methods required in the field of instructional design for an instructional design project.

● Draft an IRB application for an instructional design project.

MTD901 Professional Practice Inquiry Project (4 AUs)
This course aims to provide participants with a capstone experience to apply the theories and concepts learnt in the programme towards a workplace project. Participants will choose one option from the following: Needs Analysis Report, Instructional Package and Programme Evaluation and execute the project with a specific client. For each project, participants need to articulate the performance problems, collect data and articulate solutions using a data-driven and data-supported perspective. Throughout the process, participants work with supervisors who will serve as mentors for the project

MTD902 Foundations of Learning and Instruction (4 AUs)
This course helps participants to build foundational knowledge of theories and principles of learning to support instructional design, training, and human resource development. Students will be able to critically analyze learning theories from the behaviourist, cognitivist, constructivist, and social constructivist perspectives. Students will also critically evaluate instructional theories from the different perspectives and relate it to their personal teaching practice through individual papers and online discussions.

MTD903 Instructional Design Models and Practices (4 AUs)
This course provides participants with an understanding of the process of systematic instructional design and how it can be executed in practice. Participants will explore the pros and cons of different instructional design models. Using an experiential learning approach, participants will execute instructional design projects to analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate training they have designed. Students will also examine the instructional design models versus their own workplace practices through online discussions.

MTD905 Workplace Coaching and Mentoring (4 AUs)
In todays dynamic working environments, training programmes alone cannot comprehensively fulfill all the competency development needs of organizations. Training professionals need to be equipped with skills for designing and implementing coaching and mentoring as a total competency development solution in organizations.

At the end of the course, you should be able to:

1. Identify and develop the knowledge and skills necessary for effective mentoring and coaching in the workplace for both individual and team settings.

2. Demonstrate their ability to critically reflect on their own experience of coaching and mentoring in various roles such a coach, mentor, coachee, mentee, participants and observers.

3. Be able to confidently deploy the acquired coaching and mentoring skills acquired in your work place.

MTD907 Training Needs Assessment and Solutions (4 AUs)
Training needs analysis (TNA) is a basic process in instructional design that determines the needs of organizations prior to the development of training. It is one of the fundamental instructional design skills that students need to master. Given a performance problem, students should be able to conceptualize a training needs assessment by appropriately applying goal analysis, performance analysis, learner analysis, needs and wants analysis, task analysis, contextual analysis, and feasibility analysis.

MTD908 Training Methods and Strategies (4 AUs)
Instructional designers need to have the knowledge of a wide repertoire of instructional theories, methods and strategies in order to address different types of performance gap. This course aims to provide conceptual understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of selected training/instructional methods and strategies. It aims to provide opportunities for students to explore concrete training/instructional design theories and to design appropriate strategies and/or activities to achieve the instructional objectives. Given a performance problem, the students will be able to apply the instructional theories and approaches to address the needs of the learners and the performance gap.

MTD909 E-learning tools for Training (4 AUs)
In the new information age, many traditional classroom courses or training programs need to be re-developed and conducted online to meet the needs of adult learners who often have to balance their work demands with their social lives. In this course, the participants will learn how to use web-based tools, e-learning authoring tools and produce videos so that they can easily develop and conduct e-learning sessions for teaching and training in practice.

Through readings, online learning, discussions, and hands-on activities, participants will be able to: 

*  Compare the pros and cons of various web-based tools for training 

*  Compare the pros and cons of various e-learning authoring tools; 

*  Design and develop e-learning lessons by using appropriate tools. 

*  Identify key features of a learning management system and to use a web-based LMS 

*  Apply techniques in digital video production from pre-production, production to post-production to produce an interview video and a training video

MTD910 Multimedia Design (4 AUs)
Computer-based instruction allows the possibility of delivering lessons to students that employ multiple information modes (text, graphics, sounds, etc.) within a non-linear structure, which collectively falls under the rubric Multimedia.

This subject covers the following areas: screen design, the use of media, learner control, navigation, and metaphor.

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

*  Describe the following medias pros and cons: text, graphics, audio, animations, and videos. 

*  Describe the pros and cons of at least 4 navigation tools. 

*  Apply the various design guidelines to develop a multimedia package

MTD911 Facilitating Adult Learning (4 AUs)
This course explores issues related to the process of learning in adulthood. Students will learn about the theories and concepts related to adult learning. This course is ideal for those who are currently working or planning to work in an adult teaching or training capacity in an organization/educational institution. Instructional designers and trainers who needs to design, develop, or implement training programmes to adult learners will find the course useful. 

MTD912 Programme Evaluation Models and Methods (4 AUs)
This course is intended to provide participants with an understanding basic theoretical, procedural, and technical aspects of evaluation. The goal is to help participants develop some basic knowledge and skills in the application of evaluation models to various training programmes.

MTD913 Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (4 AUs)
The Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (TLHE) course aims to provide a structured environment for early career faculty, within which they can develop their practical skills and understanding of teaching in higher education. This course begins by exploring learning theories, course design, evidence-based teaching approaches, assessment, and communication with students within the context of their own teaching. Then, learners are provided with opportunities to sharpen their understanding by putting theory into practice. Through this course, they will have opportunities to develop their confidence in the teaching practice through reflection and participation in a community of practice, and as a result, develop a critical mindset that will continue to challenge the way they teach.

Content Topics: 
- Teaching in specific higher education contexts, e.g. NTU, Poly, etc. Learning theories
- Teaching in your discipline
- Course design
- Constructive alignment
- Assessment
- Designing learning activities
- Planning a lesson
- Facilitating Learning
- Evaluating your teaching
- Increasing your impact in teaching
- Showcasing your teaching
- Blended learning 


For tuition fees, please click here.

For more information about scholarships, please click here.

For programme-related matters, please consult the programme leader, Asst/P Li Qiujiefor more information.

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