Instructional Design and Technology

Any advice on affordable instructional design and technology programs? I am not looking to pursue any degree. I hope to obtain a position in the future as a director of online learning or an online program manager. What are micro masters? Are they basically certificates? Do you think I even need to obtain any credentials to achieve my goal?

I have already completed the following:

Learning to Teach Online*
Content Development (Blackboard)*
Faculty Training: Teaching Online*
Faculty Training: Quality Matters (Canvas)**

I am teaching my second online course as an adjunct at a Catholic school this fall, and three of my four courses in my full-time job will be online as well. The Catholic school has asked if I'd be interested in developing a Quality Matters compliant version of the course, so I can continue to teach it online each fall. Doubt I will because I have a lot on my plate, but the chair said I should take some time to think about it. Of course, they are paying for me to develop the course. I added a new adjunct gig at a fully online school (classes are 8-weeks long). I haven't taught my first course as yet, as I just wrapped up onboarding. I recently received course clearance at a non-profit, traditional university to serve as a dissertation chair/committee member in their criminal justice online/hybrid doctorate, as needed.

Do you think it makes sense to pursue anything in instructional design and technology, or will my continued experience in online teaching/facilitating be enough to prepare me to achieve my career goal?

*certificate of completion issued
**no certificate of completion issued

 

For the knowledge purposes would be Udemy, SkillShare, and YouTube.

 

The University of Wisconsin and UNC-Charlotte both have well regarded and affordable graduate certificate programs in Instructional Design. There are many people working in high level positions and as very high earning consultants in instructional design and learning and design, who do not have formal credentials in ID. Can credentials help though? Of course. While the value of Quality Matters is somewhat disputed, it is a common enough quality control standard that experience/credentials in it can help build your portfolio. Transitioning that schools program(s) to QM compliant would be incredibly valuable to have on a resume, if you're pivoting into this direction. Many instructional designers are also doing a significant amount of work and consulting in the corporate world now, where there is significantly greater income potential. Keep following your dreams Chris, just hope you're not overloading your plate. As you start the new TT Faculty position, they'll likely be many formal/informal obligations beyond your basic faculty contract/CBA/job description, that will be quite time consuming your first few years there.

 

I got my M.S. in IDLT. What are you looking to "learn" exactly? For practical hands on stuff, I think Tekman is right on with those resources. Another one to consider is ATD, The Association for Talent Development, they are a professional association for corporate trainers, and they have some certifications and such that are focused on hands-on training program building. Here is the link to their certificate program:
https://www.td.org/education-courses/instructional-design-certificate?index=courses&objectId=00000167-c712-d916-a1ef-e77e1e470000&queryId=4d3f8e06f149301b04cf4d9fae58c2aa&searchQuery=

It's a professional cert though, not an accredited academic cert although ATD and their certs are established and carry a certain amount of respect in corporate / HR circles - it's a legit thing to add to a resume. I thought about taking this exact course myself even though I have the Master's because I wanted access to their templates and tools - I love simplified process templates - and felt like it would be more practical than a lot of the theory and such covered in my degree program.

 

Good question. Maybe not a good idea, especially in my first year. I was already told it would be a busy first year. As it relates to the intersection of DL and CJ, I think career-wise, they would compliment each other if I was to be an online program manager for a CJ program. However, to supervise/manage all online programs, I doubt CJ or any specific discipline outside of instructional technology, distance learning, or a related field would stand out. That's why I am wondering if experience would suffice. I remember applying for an online program manager at Penn for the MCIT program last year. During the interview, the director was concerned about how my background fit into the position and how it would help my career goals. He didn't doubt that I could do the job but was also concerned because he said the job tends to be filled with mundane tasks. Needless to say, I didn't get the job.

 

Thanks. I think having the knowledge is good. However, will it be helpful if I have nothing to show?

 

Thanks for those two recommendations. I will check them out. I know the TT position will come with a lot of obligations. That's why I won't take on anything right now. I will wait until I have completed my first year. I will even assess, at that point, whether being a TT faculty is what I really want.

 

Awesome. Thanks for sharing that recommendation. Do you work in the field?

 

This is great advice. ATD maintains a list of schools offering degrees in talent development-related areas. (I'm a CPTD from ATD.)

On a more personal level, I like Idaho State, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Leicester. The last one for a more broad-level, research-based approach. The first two offer well-regarding degrees in this field, but offer more technical majors. (NB: I have a degree from Leicester and a certificate in online learning from UW-M.)

 

I have free access to LinkedIn Learning, so I plan to complete an instructional technology learning track since I do some training of new employees. WGU has Curriculum and Instruction, Learning and Technology, and Instructional Design master's programs that don't require a teaching license. If you can finish in six months, the cost will be $3,635.

 

I don't really work "in the field" exactly - I am a media designer (videos, etc) that have just happened to be instructional in nature for most of my career (everything from Certified CEU Nursing and medical training programs to commercial flooring installer training videos), and even in my current position - but these things are usually pretty limited in scope to a single training need and don't require extensive curriculum planning. To be honest, a good portion of "Instructional Design" is kind of "common sense" - you know, step one, step two, etc. The things I learned in the degree program were more formal than practical in a way - how to create task inventories for meaningful learning, learner analysis, writing learning objectives using "Bloom's Taxonomy" designing "mobile first" plans of study, etc. and of course there was a research project to justify the M.S. designation. Overall, great stuff, but in the end I still felt like I wanted to take a simple 'how to build a great online course' class on Udemy for a simplified step by step checklist/template type of approach. Yeah, I know, I have the M.S. and if I went back through it all, I could just build my own unique sets of templates, but I always feel like I'm missing something. :-D
That's why that ATD program still appeals to me.

I also want to mention, that it feels to me that people on this board sometimes place WAY too much importance on the specifics of a "degree" title - like "I can design a course now because I got a degree that says I'm an Instructional Designer" - if you have a PhD, or a Master's in anything - you are probably going to be able to take a course on Instructional Design on Udemy and apply it to your needs - you don't really "need" a degree in Instructional Design. In fact, I felt like my degree was really focused on teachers and educators, not on adult learning or corporate training scenarios (my usage case) - so that's what I did my research project on- not that things don't universally apply, but sometimes I feel like lots of academic boxes get checked on things, but practical things get overlooked, and I would have liked to see a bit more of that in my program. .02

 

Right. It's not like the term "degree" is in the title of the board or anything.

The point that valuable learning can occur outside of a degree program is well-founded, of course. But recognition and acceptability of credentials from non-collegiate courses is extremely uneven in a nation, like the US, lacking a national qualifications framework. You can make up for that in an interview....if you get that far. And that's the issue.

 

ATD is a great organization and provides networking opportunities at the local and state level, that can be phenomenal. Especially if one is interested in non-educational institution ID work or for faculty members interesting in transitioning their course design/instructional skills into a different direction.

 

It's also good for advancing your career without having to earn another degree. They're the issuer's of our profession's most widely recognized (by far) certification. Originally the CPLP (Certified Professional in Learning and Performance), it is now the CPTD (Certified Professional in Talent Development). (They also offer a lower-level certification, the APTD.)

I teach a course in which I discuss earning three types of credentials: certificates, certifications, and degrees. I feel that, in many cases, earning your profession's certification can be as valuable (or more, even) than doing a master's. I currently hold three: talent development (CPTD), human resources (SPHR), and coaching (PCC). I used to be a PMP, but I dropped it.

 

I'd recommend checking out the Illinois Online Network: https://www.uis.edu/ion/

You can earn Master Online Teacher certificate and, more specific to your future goals, the Master Online Leader & Administrator:
https://www.uis.edu/ion/certificates/master-online-leader-and-administrator/

These are non-credit and relatively inexpensive.