How did you learn about instructional design?
Tonight I'm thinking about how I stumbled into this field and I'm curious about your stories as well! I was actually a year into going to back to school to get my prerequisites for PT school and was finishing up a semester of Chemistry and Lifespan Psychology and beginning to wonder if PT was really the way that I wanted to go... I had at least a year more of prerequisites and many observation hours to go before even applying to PT school and it just wasn't sitting right with me. Then one day, my sister in law was talking about how cool her friend's job is - she designs training materials, sometimes gets to record voice overs, sometimes does video editing, works with a lot of different people on different types of projects, one time had to create a mechanical bull (I know now that this isn't something I should necessarily expect, haha), and really really loves everything that she does. As someone who likes to work with others, wear multiple hats, and find solutions to problems, I was immediately interested and had to inquire about what exactly her job title was and how did she become it? Instructional Design. I had never heard of it but knew that I wanted to learn more! My SIL connected me with her friend and I was able to chat with her to make sure it was really something I wanted to get into and our talk made me more excited and confident that this was the direction I wanted to go with my career. I looked at different masters programs and landed on FSU to begin my journey to instructional design!
Anyway, I'm super curious how everyone else made their way here! It seems like the most "standard" route is through teaching, but I know that is probably not the case for everyone. Please share in the comments!! :)
I love this topic! I enjoyed reading how you found out about ID. As an elementary school teacher, I was interested to know if there was a profession that was more focused on the parts of teaching that I most enjoy: designing lessons, planning learning and creating learning materials. I was disappointed with the reality of teaching, in particular how my day was filled with managing behaviours rather than actually getting to teach. I started looking for careers and jobs that involved whatI loved doing as a teacher and found instructional design, similar to you, I was drawn to the variety in the field and creativity designers can have in their design process. I spent months connecting with people, zooming strangers who were willing to talk to me and answer questions about ID and I decided that this is the path I want to go down, so I applied to FSU's ISLT Master's program. I am not sure however, if I am more interested in Higher ed or corporate, do you know for yourself yet? I have been learning some tools on the side, so far I have only learned Camtasia, but next on the list is Articulate storyline (this one will take me some time)! How about you?
ReplyDeleteYay! I'm so glad this topic resonated with others and I love hearing your story. I have heard from several teachers about the realities of teaching not being what they expected.. I can imagine that being incredibly frustrating! I have found that most people in this field love their work and are so willing to help newbies out. My SIL's friend actually did this Master's program as well and has been such an invaluable resource for me to ask questions and understand the field a little bit better - she even told me to reach out when I need to do my internship! I am definitely leaning more towards corporate at this point, but I could probably be persuaded into Higher ed. My husband and I are actually about to move to a smaller college town an hour or so north of Houston so I'm not sure if there will be corporate work available when I finish, unless I am able to find remote work (I'm hoping in the post covid world remote work will be more abundant). I have not started learning any tools on the side yet.. I plan to start some outside learning once we get moved and this semester wraps up. Taking care of a 1 year old and 3 year old, prepping to move, and taking 2 classes is really taking all of my time and energy right now! What did you think of Camtasia? Was it a tough learning curve or did you find it to be pretty straightforward? I definitely want to spend some time getting comfortable in both platforms.
DeleteOhh that is very exciting! I am nervous about finding an internship when the time comes (it is great to have connections, it puts your mind at ease a bit). If you hear of anything, let me know! Oh yes, I feel that two courses takes up a lot of time! I love Camtasia! It takes a bit to get used to, I learned through the TechSmith free videos and then bought a Udemy course and learned that way. There is still a lot to learn (the tools feel overwhelming sometimes)
DeleteI pretty much stumbled into it when I was involved in the Curriculum Transformation Exercise in my military institute! I really enjoyed learning more about how training can be structured and designed in certain ways to maximize learner outcomes, before I knew it, I was hooked! I love to learn how other people got into this too!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! Have you taken Introduction to Instructional Systems (EME5601) yet? We've been learning all about the systematic approach to designed learning materials and it has been so fascinating to me. I think it's really cool that we can all come from such different backgrounds into the same field and all find something to love about it!
DeleteI literally stumbled on this. It happened after I sold my Montessori Preschool: I wasn’t a teacher, I was the owner/operator, as I wanted to create a place for my boys to go to preschool that I could trust. Semi-retired, bored to tears, I was at a social gathering and a friend who owns an employment agency urged me to apply for a position at FDLE writing training. I completed an application, was never interviewed, and worked OPS for 6 months before they offered me the position as a “state worker.” My first task was, as part of a team, to wrote goals and objectives from a job task analysis that was already developed. Now if you haven’t done that yet, some think it incredibly boring, cerebral, and exhaustive – if you do it right. I loved it but had no idea what I was doing. They gave me the formula and I ran with it. Later I took 5601 and 5603 before embarking on developing any stand-alone courses and had many ah ha moments as I better understood why I was doing what I was doing.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like we all kind of stumbled into this! We are literally just beginning to cover job task analysis in EME5601 so I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I am so glad you came to find something that you love doing! I am looking forward to taking more courses and having some of those great ah ha moments as well. Thanks for sharing your story!
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