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Overall Reflection
Overall Reflection
I grew up with a lot of experience in technology- my dad has been a software engineer for almost 30 years and loves to build computers from scratch, so new technologies and theories always surrounded me. When I became an ESOL teacher, I enjoyed finding ways to use technology to help my students communicate with others in English. Though I ultimately ended up leaving teaching, this degree program has helped tremendously in my career transition.
Teachers design instruction, but it’s a fairly different process than instructional designers. Teachers are often their own subject matter experts (SMEs), so their process can be quite independent without the need to get their content approved for accuracy and design very often. Also, unless they’re working for a company that makes K-12 content, their audiences are significantly younger than an instructional designer's typical audience. Corporate instructional design is different because the process is much more iterative than in K-12, deliverables are often for asynchronous learning, and, though adults can love games as much as a kid, the content must be considerate of an adult learner’s time and dignity.
Because of this, teachers seeking a career change to instructional design and training have a hard time getting positions in the field without some work on changing their thinking process. Aside from this degree, I knew that I would need some more specific help, so I also enrolled in another program with self-paced courses on corporate instructional design and lifetime access to industry mentors. With that program’s focus on corporate instructional design, and this degree program’s focus on K-12 instructional design, I was able to make a smooth transition between K-12 and corporate instruction. The connections I made between my teaching process and what I was learning from my mentors in my coursework made thinking about instructional design the way they do in the corporate world much easier. It’s also been helpful in my first year as an instructional designer since I am still learning about the field, and this degree has reinforced several of the theories and processes I use daily. For example, I often used game-based learning principles in my classroom, but taking the Digital Game-Based Learning course and making content in that class for my current job helped the concepts really click for me! There were several instances of this in my coursework, from discussion posts to full projects. I don’t think I could have made a career transition without completing this degree.
Future Career Plans
Future Career Plans
As mentioned in my reflection, I've been able to use what I learned in this degree quite a bit in my new career as an instructional designer. I've mostly used my new knowledge toward game-based learning and gamification since my team decided to focus on it for this year. Because of what I’ve learned, I was able to give a presentation on the psychology of game-based learning at a small training conference within my company. I'm also attending GamiCon in New Orleans, Louisiana this September, which will allow me to explore game-based learning even more and learn from industry experts.
I've considered getting a Ph.D. for a long time but hadn’t found a topic I was passionate about enough to research extensively for years until now. I’m still not sure if I’ll pursue the degree, but if I do, I'll most likely research game-based learning and theory. I discovered this interest while taking Digital Game-Based Learning, my favorite course in the program. However, a Ph.D. seems to carry more value in academia than in corporate spaces, and I’m not sure if I want to step into that world and be a professor at the moment. For now, I plan to wait a few years until I make a final decision when I’ve been in the corporate instructional design field for a while and can fully evaluate whether research will help me reach my career goals.
I'd like to eventually become a senior instructional designer so I can continue designing learning content and possibly have a leadership role. The requirements of this role vary from company to company, so it will probably take a few years to gain the experience necessary to have this title. In the meantime, I’ll continue keeping up with current trends, attending conferences, and networking in the field to help. In the far future, I may take on a management role. I've taken a few courses on leadership and management during this degree program, so I know I have a foundational understanding of what I would need to do in this role, but I’d like to see how I fare in a senior position before I make being a manager a career aspiration.
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