Finding Your Place In Instructional Design
July 13, 2010
Whether you choose to follow a career in Instructional Design or just happen to fall into it, there’s no reason to be a square peg in a round hole. You’ll discover there are numerous paths you can follow in this field.
The roles and responsibilities can be so diverse and varied, that you might not even recognize there’s an instructional designer behind the curtain. Here are ten of the many twists, turns and directions you might want to consider. Help us out by adding more in the Comments section.
1. Designing for different learning experiences
Some instructional designers specialize in designing for one particular type of media or learning format and others are comfortable designing for all types. One might get involved in designing for online training (synchronous or asynchronous); educational games; video; television; instructor-led training (print and PowerPoint); self-paced guides; electronic performance support systems; audio only (podcasts and CDs); and social media, including wikis, blogging and micro-blogging.
2. Corporate, nonprofit, academic or government
The workplace mission and purpose can make a big difference in the type of work an instructional designer performs. For example, a corporate environment might be geared toward developing custom work for customers, whereas designing in an academic or educational environment often involves training and working with faculty and teachers. Government work might involve managing vendors who create the courses. And nonprofit work, such as that for an association, might involve designing and delivering classroom training to member sites around the country. Bottom line: there’s lots of choice and variety.
3. Internal, client-based, or commercial products
Many organizations hire instructional designers to create internal training for their own employees. Others create custom content for external clients or develop education and training products for the marketplace. The pressures, deadlines and focus of each of these approaches will affect the intensity of the workplace environment.
4. Content specialist
Instructional designers are typically content neutral, but some concentrate in one field. This usually occurs when they start out as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and transition into Instructional Design or when a designer works solely in one content area for years. If you have a special area of interest or knowledge, this path might be for you.
5. Authoring specialist
Although most instructional designers focus on the design aspect, quite a few migrate partially or wholly into the technical development side. This usually involves gaining competence in several authoring systems, learning website development and possibly mastering Flash.
6. Media specialist
In smaller organizations and academic centers, instructional designers wear many hats, which might include audio and video production and editing, as well as graphic production. Some fall in love with this side of the industry and become specialists in this area, using their instructional design know-how to ensure their productions are instructionally sound.
7. Project management
All design and development projects require management or supervision and some instructional designers are naturally good at creating and following through on project plans. Those interested in this path should get supplemental training, as project management often requires exceptional people skills, financial savvy and knowledge of PM applications.
8. Curriculum design
Through instructional design one can take a big picture view and help school systems, higher education and organizations develop curriculum for online and instructor-led courses. The curriculum designer analyzes the standards, goals and purpose of a curriculum and devises high-level learning strategies to meet these goals. Curriculum designers might also be involved in selecting textbooks, defining certification requirements and creating assessments.
9. Managing an LMS
Some organizations and institutions are so large, they require a full-time person to manage their Learning Management System (LMS). Technically-minded instructional designers are capable of taking on this position. Large LMS products can be complex and require special training from the vendor to make full use of the program’s capabilities. The LMS manager ensures the system is running smoothly, trains others in its use, creates standards for the many detailed issues that arise and troubleshoots technical problems.
10. Community Manager
As social media for informal learning becomes increasingly accepted by organizations, there will be a need for online community managers. These individuals need to understand the cognitive benefits of learning through groups that share common interests. The community manager oversees online relationship building, content creation and the use of social media tools, like forums and microblogs for learning. See 18 Rules of Community Engagement
You can see the diverse paths that might emerge from an education or experience in Instructional Design. There’s no reason to be a square peg forced into a round hole. You can find the space that’s right for you.
Very interesting!
There’s also the age for which you’re designing: K-12, undergraduate, graduate, corporate training, and others. Also, experience level of the students: mainstream education, special education, remedial/credit recovery, supplementary training, and more. I think these audience characteristics change the nature of what you’re creating quite a bit.
Nice suggestions Adam! Thanks.
Thank you for this overview, Connie! Having fallen into this field recently, I’ve found your list interesting and useful in getting a wider vision of what I’m actually doing or trying to figure out how to do!
So glad you find this useful, Rachel. Thanks for letting me know.
Connie
If you are talking about career paths, I think that #1 is one of the biggest decisions to consider. Your medium choice will really affect where you go, the type of clients you engage with, and what services you offer to others. As for the others, including Adam’s posting and good catch, these are all important aspects of ID to think of.
Thanks, Connie.
-Mark
Great overview of career possibilities, Connie. It’s good to be reminded that this is a broad field and we have choices.
This is a really helpful post Connie. Like so many people at the moment (it seems) I have fallen into ID via another career path. Trying to get up to speed quickly through reading blogs and other resources totally stressed me out! Depending on which site you read, ID can be technical, academic, creative or managerial – sometimes all at once!
It’s certainly clear to me that ID is still very much a field that is seeking to define itself. I personally love the combination of creativity and analysis, and I think it’s the most exciting field out there at the moment. However, it is nice to know that I don’t need to sign up to 3 different degrees just to get started!
Thanks again.
Great perspective, Lisa. You’re right–the field can be all those things and you don’t need a degree or lots of experience in every single one of them. So glad to clarify this!
Connie
Thank you, this is great information for those following the path of an Instructional Designer. This is an excellent field for those who love education and design. I discovered my passion for this field a year ago, and am trying to absorb as much information as possible. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Sheraill,
I think it’s an awesome career too. So varied and fascinating!
Connie
I am about to graduate with an ISD Masters Degree and am still not sure how to get where, I think, I want to be. I know that I do not love designing on-line classes. I am much more of an extrovert and can not sit in front of a computer all day long. I enjoy analysis type work (especially HPT type), I love designing soft skill stand-up trainings however, I am not sure how to break into that field. I have an undergrad degree in Criminal Justice and would love to teach in that arena. I have been a stay at home Mom longer than any other ‘career’ so I guess you could say I am a career changer of sorts. I have really enjoyed the applied ISD program I have been a part of and am looking forward to actually building a career with these skills.
I appreciate the article on how it showcases all of the areas that an ISD can go in. I am a little older and would love to work in a venue that I really enjoy. I would rather not jump from place to place. I am very open for suggestions on where to go from here.
Hi Gina,
I think there are many organizations that would be thrilled to have an IDer who can write and give stand-up training. That’s a fairly standard job and if you are living in an area that is not too depressed, I’m pretty sure you can find work in that area. I didn’t mention it in this article, because I’m more focused on eLearning. Some places to look for those types of jobs are the ASTD job board, the eLearning Guild’s job board, and searches in all of the online job boards, like INDEED and Craigslist for “trainer” and “instructional designer” and set up alerts in INDEED. Having your ISD degree will be a wonderful bonus for any employer. If anyone has other suggestions for Gina, please chime in.
Best of luck,
Connie
Connie,
Thank you for the advice. I know a few of those places you mentioned. I am looking forward to looking at the ones I did not know about that you pointed out.
I know in my heart I will land where I am supposed to be. Age has taught me that stressing about ‘whatever’ does not change a thing.
I look forward to keeping up with your site.
Have a super day!
Gina