George Mason University announced on May 6 that its learning design and technology master’s program is providing students with practical experience through partnerships with live clients. The program, part of the College of Education and Human Development, integrates learning experience design (LXD) and user experience (UX) research to prepare students for real-world challenges.
The initiative allows students to work directly with organizations, offering them a chance to apply theoretical knowledge in actual workplace settings. Lisa Giacumo, associate professor of learning design and technology at George Mason University, said, “Large multinational or national organizations need people with knowledge of how people learn and how to create systems and supports for learning and development.”
Giacumo has developed courses focused on accessible workplace learning that combine theory with hands-on application. She explained that her research and design courses pair students with live clients so they can develop solutions for LXD problems or explore new opportunities. “The recursive loop of asking for input, getting feedback, professional reflection, and making revisions is an important part of the process that is hard to conceptualize from textbook alone,” said Giacumo. “With live clients, students get a chance to see how things might work outside of a textbook while learning how to communicate as a consultant.”
This semester’s projects included collaborations with EMK Learning Solutions LLC and Research Sphere. George Mason alumna Georgiana Patrichi-Abarca described the client-based approach: “Working with a live client and a team really made the whole experience feel more like a UX job. You have deadlines, you have limitations, you have to make decisions and iterate. It feels very realistic.” Master’s student Tyler Girvan also highlighted the value of practical experience: “Getting that practical experience from research inception to executing a prototype was the stand-out element of the course for me,” he said.
Maurine Kwende, founder and CEO of EMK Learning Solutions LLC—and herself an alumna—worked closely with students who developed a professional development chatbot for her company. Kwende praised their dedication: “They’re dedicated and passionate about our field,” she said. She added that working together was mutually beneficial: “In the beginning it felt like a mentoring process ,which was very exciting. Then it became a two-way process: I mentored them as a consultant, and they reverse-mentored me in the areas of technology… They grew a seed into a full tree.”
Giacumo concluded by noting that these experiences help set up graduates for future success: “These students contribute to these organizations’ success stories. And after the classes are over, my students build their own success stories by landing their next job or promotion and continue developing their consulting practices on a solid foundation.”
