What I got out of this week's papers is that teachers are falling short in the area of using Web 2.0 technologies effectively and optimally. This reminds me of a topic we discussed in Trends & Issues in IDT - that despite each technological innovation we've had since early 20th century, and despite the great hopes and expectations people had of that technology's effect on the education system, there has been little real change. It seems to me that in all of teacher education, there is room left for instructional designers to work in schools in a larger capacity than they do currently.
I have looked up "instructional designer" in the BLS, and I found entries under Training Specialist and Instructional Coordinator. Unfortunately, neither of these covers the e-learning component of instructional design. I wonder how those individuals are categorized?
If you've ever met me, you might have guessed that I have an aversion to working in highly corporate environments, and thus have chosen to focus on online instructional development over performance improvement, as those seemed to be the two main avenues we can go down. But what I really like is teaching people. I like explaining things and helping people understand concepts they couldn't get their heads around.
I'm drawn to the idea of being a teaching consultant, or "instructional coordinator", if that's the same thing. The person who teaches the teachers how to teach. Surely there ought to be more of these, especially at the higher ed level.
Do you guys know about these kinds of jobs? What careers are you interested in pursuing post grad school?
Where, oh where, might you be? This has definitely been an active summer for students and the instructor of Web 2.0. Your blog post spawned my blog post.
ReplyDeleteHope you got it all done in time and still made your flight. Cutting things that close gives me a rash!
Thanks for checking in, Yvette. Last week was full of traveling, followed by a week of trying to recover all of the lost energy and sleep from the weeks previous. I actually am in Tampa for the next 10 days or so, but I think this trip will be a lot less stressful :)
DeleteYour post made me think about a job that could potentially combine teaching and performance improvement - leadership coaching. Leadership coaching is emerging as a growing field where consultants provide coaching and mentoring to managers and executives on multiple different topics from how to be a better listener to how to improve their interpersonal skills. This could possibly combine your love for teaching, but also utilize human performance improvement.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I'm an organizational change management consultant that works with people undergoing change. I identify areas of resistance and work to help employees overcome resistance and go through the transition of the organizational change. I enjoy my job because it combines so many different aspects of communications, HPI, training, and process improvement. I hope to be a stronger consultant after I finish grad school.
Interesting! My last mentor was a leadership coach, among other things. I'm curious, ChangeAgent, how much does the "corporate" (serious/businesslike/whatever it means to you) atmosphere permeate your job?
DeleteHi Camille. In K-12 you may find the title Instructional Coach, Media Specialist, and Instructional technologist. The instructional coach position and media specialist would probably be the closest to an Instructional designer since the person would at times be asked to help with lesson plans. Media specialist assist teachers with incorporating technology into the curriculum while the instructional coach will help with teaching and classroom management strategies. The instructional technologist would do computer tech support and technology integration (little to no instructional design). I think the corporate environment will provide more opportunity to work as an instructional designer (providing the most opportunity to design courses and training). The higher education environment provides some opportunity depending on where you work. Even if you see positions advertised as Instructional Designers, you really have to ask a lot of questions during the interview because these position may actually provide primarily instructional technology support. With that said if you want to work in higher education for the entire length of your career, I think it's best to further your education and becoming faculty (or at least get the educational background where you can teach courses).
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info and advice :)
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