Defining the Role of the Instructional Designer in Higher Education - a look at master's program course requirements and recent vacancy announcements. What should new graduates expect of the workplace? Where can they find the best professional development opportunities
Micro-Scholarship, What it is, How can it help me.pdf
Other Duties as Assigned
1. Other Duties as Assigned:
Defining the Role of the
Instructional Designer in
Higher Education
Amy J. Hilbelink, PhD
Melissa A. Venable, PhD
20th Annual
Online Learning Consortium
International Conference
October 29-31, 2014 - Orlando, FL --- #aln14
2. WhoWe Are: Why this Topic?
Instructional Technologist
Dean of Curriculum and Online Programs
Director of Academic Strategies and
Development
Exec. Dir. Online Design and Development
Instructional Designer
Online Course Developer
Online Instructor
Curriculum Manager
Education Writer/Blogger
5. ID Roles:
What did we want to know?
• How are instructional designers academically
prepared for work in higher education?
• What are higher education employers looking for
in new master’s level graduates?
• What are the existing gaps between formal
learning and current job skill requirements?
• What are the emerging needs in the instructional
design field?
6. We gathered information from two sources:
eLearning Guild: 23 Master’s-level Instructional
Design Programs (U.S.)
HigherEdJobs.com: 25 open vacancy
announcements for “Instructional Designer”
posted by colleges and universities
7. How are instructional designers academically
prepared for work in higher education?
Master’s Degrees in ID (core courses only) N (23) %
Foundations/ Fundamentals in Instructional
Design/ Instructional Technology
19 83
Multimedia 14 60
Designing & Developing Courseware 14 60
Theories of Learning and Curriculum 10 43
Assessment and Evaluation of Courseware 8 34
Project Management 5 22
Current Trends in ID/ IT 4 17
8. What are higher ed employers looking for?
Task/Function N (25) %
Consult, guide faculty on new course design/dev, selection of instructional
17 68
strategies
Provide faculty development resources such as workshops, training materials,
tutorials
16 64
Collaborate with faculty on course design, development, implementation 15 60
Work under specific approach or theoretical direction 13 52
Project management duties 12 48
Evaluate or test emerging edtech, delivery methods, trends, best practices 12 48
Implement, oversee quality assurance practices 11 44
Administer or support course production in LMS, assessment systems in
collaboration with IT resources
11 44
Design and develop learning and support materials for faculty and/or students 11 44
Revise or assist faculty with revision of existing courses, periodic course reviews 9 36
Provide first-line tech support to faculty 6 24
9. What instructional design skills are needed?
Technology Skills n (20) %
Learning Management Systems 11 55
Multimedia design and production 9 45
“Instructional technologies” 7 35
Graphic design and editing 6 30
Web design 6 30
MS Office (spreadsheets, documents,
5 25
presentations)
HTML – Digital Media – Web-based Communication Tools
Web 2.0 technologies – Cross-platform – Web Conferencing Social
Media – Mobile Devices – PHP – Desktop Publishing
K-12 Technologies – Animation – Cloud-based Tools
Instant Messaging and Texting – Internet Skills
Coding and Scripting
10. What are the expectations for education and
experience?
Master’s 12 positions 48%
Bachelor’s 11 44%
Master’s or Bachelor’s + 2-3 yrs exp. 2 8%
Instructional Design 18 positions 72%
Instructional Technology 13 52%
Education 6 24%
Educational Technology 6 24%
Curriculum Design 4 16%
3 years 5 positions
5 2
3-5 2
2 2
1-3 2
DEGREE
FIELD OF STUDY
EXPERIENCE
11. Is there a gap between formal education and
soft skills needed on the job?
Task/Function
Consult, guide faculty on new course design/dev, selection of instructional strategies
Provide faculty development resources such as workshops, training materials, tutorials
Collaborate with faculty on course design, development, implementation
Project management duties
Evaluate or test emerging edtech, delivery methods, trends, best practices
Implement, oversee quality assurance practices
Administer or support course production in LMS, assessment systems in collaboration with
IT resources
Revise or assist faculty with revision of existing courses, periodic course reviews
Provide first-line tech support to faculty
12. What are the emerging needs of the
instructional design field?
13. What are the emerging needs of the
instructional design field?
• Social media management skills: moving into
marketing and promotion
• Applied media knowledge
• Recognition as experts in course and
curriculum design
• Project management tasks and roles
• Collaboration among: key stakeholders!
16. Other “duties as assigned”… ?!
• Represent department on campus
committees
• Identify and recommend OER
• Evaluate adjunct faculty
• Manage contractor deliverables
• Event planning
17. Where is the best professional
development for instructional
designers?
In this challenging economy, it's up to
workers to make sure they learn the
skills they need.
– PayScale.com
18. Thank you for participating!
Amy J. Hilbelink, PhD
– Laureate Education
– ahilbelink@gmail.com
– www.linkedin.com/in/amyhilbelink/
Melissa A. Venable, PhD
– OnlineColleges.net
– melissa.a.venable@gmail.com
– www.linkedin.com/in/melissavenable/
Enjoy the conference!
19. References & Resources
Job Descriptions are Mostly Fiction and You
Should Ignore Them – Max Nisen, Quartz
Instructional Designers and Technologists –
O*Net Online
Notas do Editor
Freelance work
Hiring f/t, p/t, contract instructional designers
Teaching instructional design courses at master’s level
May wear many hats, or go by a job title or role similar to those you see here.
Chances are even if you aren’t an instructional designer – you are working with instructional designers! This graphic from Arizona State University Online attempts to describe the role(s) these professionals play in higher education
25 vacancy announcements reviewed:
All posted between 6/25/2014 and 8/12/2014 on higheredjobs.com
All from higher education institutions: including private, public, for-profit
All "entry level" not "lead", "senior", "director", Instructional designer II" etc.
All include "instructional designer" in job title not "elearning specialist" etc.
23 Institutions that offer grad degrees in ID. We looked at only Master’s level core courses in programs.
Remember: context we’re focusing on is higher education! 25 postings.
We had a few ideas about this – from our own experience working in these positions, but also in hiring for this role. One way to get at this is to review current job vacancy announcements – how are employers describing the work and what they need people to do in these brief narratives?
For Presentation purposes – drew a line at ~25%
Only 20 of the 25 schools/ads listed skills in this kind of way. Semantics, some overlap, but a lot more items listed by just one or two of the schools. Sample of these below the table.
Includes only the "minimum" requirements, not "preferred" or "desired"
Again … we’re talking about higher education context of the work.
What education and experience are those doing the hiring looking for?
This Includes only the "minimum" requirements, not "preferred" or "desired”
Majors – many others! And many list more than one area
16 of 25 schools asked for some previous, relevant experience. 64%
24 Institutions that offer grad degrees in ID. We looked at only Master’s level core courses in programs. we see gaps in areas needed on the job but not immediately evident in a core course list. These areas may very well be covered in electives and specializations as well as internships, but students need to be aware of the importance of looking for and choosing these options if they are concerned about the employment side of things.
Ask the crowd?
What do you think?
What have you observed?
Some of these from our review of curricula and vacancy announcements, others our observations
Ask the crowd!
What do you think?
What have you observed?
Some of these were in the vacancy announcements we reviewed, others, our own experiences.
PayScale article references underemployment and the skills gap. Ultimately, the student makes choices about programs and experiences …. What can they do in addition to formal academic coursework?