How did I do this?

Many instructional design hiring managers state one of the first things they look for when it comes to the hiring process is the candidate’s portfolio of work samples. In this blog, I will discuss my 45-day journey to completing my instructional design portfolio and landing a job with the help of IDOL courses Academy. 

What is an...

Are you at a point in your career where you are looking for a change?  Are you looking for something new, but you can’t transfer your current skills? Or your school went remote, and in your research about working from home and creating online courses, you learned about instructional design as a career option. Then I am speaking to you!

IDOL courses is the sponsor of the Become an Instructional Designer and Online Learning (IDOL) Developer Facebook group.  When a person joins, there are 3 questions you need to answer, so owner Robin Sargent can provide content and help those who have the goal of becoming an IDOL or advance their career. 

1. Are you looking for a career change, or are you an instructional design expert looking to help and mentor new instructional designers?
2. What is your instructional design experience? 
3. What are your challenges? What keeps you stuck from becoming an IDOL? Or what would you like to learn from this group?

Today, I want to...

• “Hey professor, I thought I made it clear that I did not want to teach children.”
• “What in the heck are all these new terms and authoring tools: LMS, Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, Vyond, Lectora, stakeholders, and so on?”
• “I can’t afford to spend another dollar.“
• “How is this lady going to help me when my master’s degree has not done the job?”

I searched through the online college catalog for a major in the master's program with no certification requirements, and where my bachelor's degree might meet the criteria for admittance. All I knew was that I wanted to educate adults in a way that would impact their lives with stability and growth. One program grabbed my undivided attention, and it was Instructional Technology Design and Development. Once I read the description and the classes needed to earn my degree, I felt compelled to step into this program with both feet.

 At the beginning of the...

Fast forward to now, I have added a master's in instructional design and technology to this costly brain of mine, and I have gone to mentor from mentee while having my mentor by Robin Sargent of IDOL Courses.

I have connected with other people along the way to help me grow like Lance...

You have made a choice and  have done all the research for your next career move.

Instructional Design, Yes it is; So, Instructional design is your next dream career.

You have the transferable skills, creativity, passion, all that it would take to become an amazing Instructional Designer, and then, you stumble on this question - Do you have any Instructional Design experience?

What you thought was a cakewalk for you, now turns out to be a frustrating situation.

How would you handle this situation, how would you let your passion not die because of this one question?

Of course you can start volunteering for – e-learning for kids, Designers for learning, Learn appeal, etc. But what else can you do?

The answer is planning and following a step-by-step approach.

Without further ado, let’s see the steps that will help you bring closer to your dream career-

1.   Understand the job responsibilities of an Instructional Designer

As per an infographic posted on the ATD ...

Staying Connected and Positive During Shelter-In-Place Orders

All of us at IDOL Courses, like many of you across the learning and development world, have seen the things we tackle daily become part of the national and international dialogue around the many shifts taking place in response to COVID19 - shifting learning from in-person to online, figuring out and implementing technology quickly, wearing many hats (from designer, to developer, to deployment support, and everything in between). And as shelter-in-place orders are more common than not across North America and Europe, in major cities in Asia and Africa, it feels like the whole world is attempting to practice social distancing (or at least they should be). If you are fortunate and privileged enough to not be on the front lines of this unprecedented crisis or directly impacted by the over 940,000 cases that have been identified at the time this was written, if you have some space to breathe and or feel like you have extra...

After a few phone interviews with recruiters, I finally received an invitation to have an in-person interview. Immediately, I went from excitement to shock. Well, my thoughts were, “How am I going to convince the interview panel that my previous teaching experience is transferable? How do I NOT talk about my teaching experience? Will my instructional design experience in the school district even matter? I placed my fears aside and sent Dr. Robin Sargent an email, informing her that I had an upcoming interview. She reminded me to use the resources in the IDOL Academy and provided me with a few interview questions to ask.

During the interview, I was able to speak confidently about how my teaching experience, graduate and specialist...

1. What is storyboarding?
2. Is storyboarding really that important?
3. Is it OK to skip this step?
4. What needs to be included in my storyboard?

After you have conducted a thorough analysis of “all the things,” you can begin to brainstorm how to present the material to the learners in the best possible way. Once you have decided on the best modality for instruction and how you want the training to go, you need to present your ideas to your stakeholders, clients, and boss. That is where storyboarding comes into play. 

• WHAT IS STORYBOARDING? Storyboarding is a way to organize your thoughts and ideas for delivering instruction. You will...