What does your typical day look like? 

This is the number one question I get from people wanting to transition to instructional design. This month we are here to answer that question.

Kristi

Each instructional designer’s day most likely looks different. However, having an idea of what an instructional designer encounters most often can help shed light on what to expect.

Kristi

My company works under a “self-directed” policy. All employees are trusted with their positions and to get their work done. Therefore, my schedule is pretty much up to me. As long as I get in 40 hours a week, my boss is very flexible with how and when I get that time done. With that said, I do have team meetings to attend, SME discovery meetings, and one-on-ones with my boss. The discovery meetings with SMEs, while they do depend on the schedule of the SMEs, are scheduled by me so I can decide when I would like to hold those. Other than meetings like this, I schedule my...

Month one is when the job starts to get real. You are expected to start producing and moving past the “I’m new here” stage. 

Based on what we have learned this first month, here are the main take-aways for how to prepare yourself for the first month as a new IDOL.

Feedback is Hard.

As a teacher, I got used to kids being brutally honest with how they felt about my lessons so I thought I was prepared for feedback in the ID process. I did not know what I had coming. Receiving and processing difficult feedback is something that comes with the territory. However, I was not prepared for how personally I would take the feedback I was given. I need to work on this!

Follow the ID Process.

There is a reason there are so many models of ID processes. And they all begin with Analysis. I decided I could skip this step on one of my first projects and learned the hard way that following the process is important.  

Be Creative in How You Get Creative.

Working for...

The first week at a new job can feel like the first week of school.  There are nerves, excitement, and “first day jitters.”  You don’t know if you will make new friends or anything else that is going to happen. The first week goes by in a blur and yet takes forever. Here is the low down of our first week as IDOLs.

Kristi:

My first week started off crazy with my orientation day (which you can read about in the Day 1 blog). Tuesday I started working remotely. I worked on what the company calls technology-based training (TBT) ALL. DAY. I literally sat at my computer all day clicking through the epitome of bad training. The team reassured me that these were made by a higher level of the company, not by them and we all laughed. I checked my calendar for Wednesday and I was invited to a training session by the Learning Consultant on my team. It was a four hour training! Basically it consisted of the Learning Consultant and the other...

Hello, this is Kristi Oliva and Veronica Reed. We each come from different backgrounds and have taken different paths to where we are today, but we have both worked hard and are now proud to be starting new roles as IDOLs. Through this blog/vlog we will be sharing with you what it is like as new IDOLs. We will shed light on our journey from the first day to day 90 and tell you what happens behind the scenes when you land your first ID role.

We hope that our experience can help others have the confidence to apply for and land that IDOL role without doubting their abilities.

Kristi:

I come from a teaching background. After 12 years of teaching, I knew that it wasn’t what I wanted to do anymore. Even though I wanted to switch careers, I didn’t know what I was qualified for. I honestly thought my only options were to either become a school administrator, or get my PhD and teach at a university. Neither of which really got me excited. 

While doing a job...