This fall, Drexel University’s College of Computing & Informatics (CCI) will launch a new Master of Science in Information program, which includes three graduate majors in Digital Content Management, Human Computer Interaction and User Experience (UX), and Library and Information Science. The College will also offer a Graduate Certificate in Human-Computer Interaction and UX.
CCI’s newest graduate program will prepare students to be information professionals who can innovate data-driven solutions to advance society, culture and the economy. Housed in the College’s Department of Information Science, the new degree program will be offered both online and on-campus to students who hold a bachelor’s degree from any accredited university.
CCI’s graduate information degree program draws on the expertise of the College’s world-class faculty, who bring a wide range of academic interests and industry experience to the classroom. Students in the program will train for a range of information and data-oriented careers, which often require agility and multidisciplinarity to solve multi-faceted problems in a world where constraints can change quickly.
“Today’s economy demands professionals who have a deep understanding of the increasing information and data challenges that we face, and the skills to help to solve them,” said Yi Deng, PhD, Isaac L. Auerbach Professor and CCI Dean. “We are excited to offer a new, market-responsive master’s program that prepares students to lead in the information and technology economy.”
The three majors in the new MSI degree represent different yet complementary facets of information services. Students will have the flexibility of choosing to focus their degrees with one of the three major areas, or they can opt to do a double-major to expand their knowledge and skills to meet the demands of the emerging and growing information and technology job markets. Finally, the program culminates in a multi-term capstone project to help students gain real-world experience in the field before they graduate.
“The MSI is a game-changer for people who want to work at the intersection of technology, people and information,” said MSI Program Director and Associate Professor Andrea Forte, PhD. “This degree program brings together foundational ideas, tools and techniques from fields like user experience design, digital content management and library sciences to train a new generation of information professionals.”
The Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience (HCI/UX) graduate major leverages CCI’s concentration of world-class HCI faculty experts in preparing students to create technologies that support and complement human needs and abilities in a broad range of contexts such as work, wellness, home, entertainment and artistic expression. HCI is a rapidly growing and in-demand field; it was ranked as the fourth best graduate degree for jobs by Fortune Magazine in 2015 and in 2017, User Experience Researcher was ranked among the best 40 jobs in America by CNN Money with a projected growth of 19% in the coming decade.
The Digital Content Management (DCM) major prepares students for professional careers in an economy that is increasingly reliant on data. The intelligent management of digital content reflects the next big wave in job growth, and the need for information professionals with skills and knowledge for capturing, cleaning, organizing, visualizing and manipulating digital content for decision making and innovation. Students in the DCM program gain skills and knowledge necessary for managing and leveraging digital assets through a curriculum that uniquely integrates the principles of design thinking, information processes, and technology to service both people and organizations.
The MS in Information’s Library and Information Science (LIS) major was formed from the College’s MS in Library and Information Science program and offers an updated curriculum to respond to the rapidly changing information environment in libraries and other information organizations. The graduate major in LIS emphasizes an interdisciplinary curriculum where students can gain skills and knowledge from the traditional library and information science field as well as from related fields such as information systems, information technology, informatics, human-computer interaction, and content management. CCI’s LIS program has been continuously accredited by the American Library Association (ALA) since 1924 and is the second oldest LIS program in the country. CCI is a proud member of the iSchools organization, an international consortium of Information Schools dedicated to advancing the information field.
In addition to CCI’s broad range of electives and graduate minors, students with specific disciplinary interests can choose to take relevant elective courses across the University in areas such as Computer Science, Business, Media Arts & Design, Psychology, Education, Communication, Engineering and Sociology.
The MS in Information will offer six new courses: INFO 676 Applied Ontology and INFO 654 Enterprise Content Management, both of which target the intersection of information systems and library and information science; INFO 508 Information Innovation through Design Thinking, which provides an overview of basic phases of design processes; INFO 690 Understanding Users: User Experience Research Methods, which introduces common user experience (UX) research methods that designers use to inform, generate, and test design ideas; INFO 691 Prototyping the User Experience, which introduces students to prototyping techniques and tools for a range of user experience and design contexts; and INFO 615 Designing with Data, which introduces students to A/B testing and statistical methods to prepare them to design and run large-scale user experiments that can inform design decisions.
The Graduate Certificate in Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience (UX) offers professionals of all backgrounds with the practical skills necessary to design and evaluate a wide variety of user experiences and computer interfaces. Credits earned in the three-course certificate program can be applied toward the MS in Information.
To learn more about the MSI program, please submit a Request for Information to be contacted by CCI’s recruitment team.