Interview of an Instructional Design Professional

This Blog post is from an interview I conducted November 8, 2022 with Cristina Colquhoun, an Instructional Design and Online Learning Librarian from Oklahoma State University.

Cristina granted me permission to use her name in this report.

Interview Q&A

1. Q) What led you to a career as an instructional designer/what influenced you to

choose this career path?

A) Cristina did not originally start out intending to be an instructional designer, her goal

had always been to work towards equity in education. Her path to becoming an

instructional designer started when she became a teacher through Teach for America,

and then transitioned to a public middle/high school curriculum specialist specializing in

designing and implementing curriculum for state standardized testing. During this time,

she decided that she wanted to move away from the K-12 setting while still remaining in

education. She landed her first instructional designer job with an online program

management company. Then she went back and got her Master’s in Educational

Technology. Cristina said, “I kinda fell into it via wanting to stay in that lane and then I

loved it and kept going.”

2. Q) What would you tell someone that was interested in entering the field of

instructional design?

A) There are so many different variations in instructional design, and the field has such

a wide variety of careers to offer. If you chose to work in academia, you can be either in

front of a class teaching, behind the scenes developing, or both. You can choose to

work on all the parts or specialize in one certain area of instructional design, it literally

just depends on the job and what you want to do. Almost every industry that you can

think of would or could employ an instructional designer, so the possibilities are almost

limitless. “Never stop learning, ever.” Always keep a look out for what’s new or

something that you haven’t learned before, try to learn something new every day. Don’t

be afraid to change and evolve, and there is no substitute for real instructional designer

experience.

3. Q) What does an average day look like for you?

A) Every day is different but starts with eating breakfast while checking emails both

work emails and industry peer emails. After that a check on what the team has going on

for the day, then a ten to fifteen-minute break to walk the dog around the neighborhood

just to get the brain working and juices flowing to get ready for the day. Then it is on to

whatever project is working for the day. If someone has questions or needs help then

there is either an email or phone call worked in somewhere throughout the day, and

then maybe a consultation meeting or group meeting. Then a daily close out just to

follow up and see what is coming up the next day.

4. Q) If you had it to do over again would you still choose this field?

A) “100% yes, yes, yes, I love what I do.” You get to learn new things all the time and

get involved with different areas of interest. If you get bored, then you can just look for a

totally different instructional designer position and learn something new.

5. Q) Was it your goal to have a remote position? Advantages/disadvantages to being

remote?

A) No. Cristina found the position she is in because her husband was pursuing his

Ph.D. at Oklahoma State. Once he graduated from the program, he got a job in Mobile

Alabama, so she approached her manager about the possibility of switching to a remote

position. They agreed and got to work to help her make the switch to a full-time remote

position. The savings from the commute alone are a huge advantage to being remote.

The work life balance is a huge advantage but can also be a disadvantage if you don’t

know how to separate the two. Another disadvantage is not being around people, both

for the fellowship aspect and also the creative aspect of just overhearing someone in a

conversation and being able to help them out or bounce ideas off of them.

6. Q) Was it hard to find a job/did it take you a while to find one?

A.) It was a little difficult to initially find a job when I got into instructional design about

ten years ago. It does seem to be a wide-open field right now with a booming market for

instructional designers.

7. Q) Is there anything else that you can think of that maybe I didn’t ask and should

have?

A) Accessibility, I have found that it is not gone over as much in the academic side of

instructional design. It is something that is federally required, and it seems like it gets

talked about a lot but then no one really says who is going to do it. So, just making sure

that you learn what you can about that side of instructional design as well.

Analytical Reflection

I feel that what Cristina said about the field of instructional design being wide open right

now is a true statement. Based not only on her experience but also on our experience in

class performing a search of available instructional designer positions. I also found an

article in Tech Guide in which Julie A. Gniadek said, “According to the Bureau of Labor

Statistics (BLS), approximately 20,000 positions related to instructional designer jobs—

and similar positions, such as instructional coordinator—will be available over the next

decade” (Julie A. Gniadek 2022). She went on to say that jobs in educations were set

to increase by 11 percent through 2030 (Julie A. Gniadek 2022).

As an instructional designer it is our job to ensure that we are up to date on the newest

technology and the latest practices available to see if they can help our students. My

favorite quote from Cristina during my interview was, “Never stop learning, ever.” Julie

Gniadek wrote, “Instructional designers analyze and enhance the faculty’s professional

development by incorporating workshops, leveraging tools and technologies, and

collaborating with subject matter experts to recommend and introduce new and

innovative teaching methods, techniques, and strategies” (Julie A. Gniadek 2022). I feel

like they are both saying the same thing, we can never stop pushing forward and

learning what is new in our field. If we do, then we will surely be left behind.

Another thing I brough away from my interview with Cristina was that I need to begin

researching accessibility and how it pertains to instructional design. I found an article

titled Why Accessibility Matters and How Innovation Will Drive Progress in L&D. It says

that e-learning is often described as difficult and confusing for employees with

disabilities (Danielle Hart 2017). Danielle states, “according to the U.S. Department of

Labor, there are over 18 million people with disabilities working in the U.S. alone, and

these employees desire – and deserve – opportunities to learn and grow in their

professional careers” (Danielle Hart 2017). We have got to do better than this. Someone

should not be limited in their career because of the failure of someone else to make

training material that is suitable for their disability. Training can often be difficult enough

without the added hurdle of it not being made accessible.

This assignment to interview a professional in the field of instructional design proved to

enhance my desire to enter this field even more. All of the interviewees sounded like

they still have a passion and a love of their job. You don’t always hear that from people

that have been in a field for ten plus years.

References

Julie A. Gniadek (2022). Instructional Designer Jobs and Salary Guide Tech

Guide. https://techguide.org/jobs/instructional-design/

Danielle Hart (2017). Why Accessibility Matters and How Innovation Will Drive

Progress in L&D Training Industry. https://trainingindustry.com/articles/learningtechnologies/

why-accessibility-matters-and-how-innovation-will-drive-progress-in-ld