The Learning Architect

Here's my working definition of an IED which I will continue to modify and adapt as I learn more:


The work of an Instructional Experience Designer is to design, deliver and evaluate training programs that effectively bridge knowledge gaps of stakeholders and influence best practices and behaviors.

They are responsible for assessing stakeholders' specific training needs, designing multi-medium courses that are appropriate to learning needs, conduct usability testing, deliver trainings, and continually evaluate, modify and improve.

A designer doesn't necessarily need to know the subject at hand but must be able to engage with Subject Matter Experts (SME) of the field such as programmers, developers, and managers to develop a  task analysis and effective course of action.

Personally however, the scope of an ID has a much broader impact on the future of society than this. IDs' have enormous depth of knowledge about what allows people to learn best, how we adapt to change, and how to use multiple mediums to incite growth and innovation in groups.

With these incredibly powerful skills, I believe instructional experience design will be the revolutionized face of our education system for the next generation.

I'm particularly excited about this field because I see enormous potential for change in the way we will understand school and learning.

Instructional Designers:

1. Are always looking for best ways to minimize information clutter that confuses and frustrates new learners.

2. Believe in creating an experience that promotes intrinsic curiosity.

3. Talk about the importance of addressing the heart and body of the learner, not just simply the mind

4. Incorporate visual aesthetics as an important design process because it is a major component to learning.

5. My FAVORITE: Designers want to create a learning experience where people leave the room not simply more conformed in their knowledge, but rather more diversified in their ideas for change and action.

Gone will be the days of horrendous PowerPoint lectures which are like parasites infecting universities all across the country, sucking the passion out of learning and creativity for college students.

At least, that's what I hope.

ID career map

I want to introduce this blog by sharing my career map that I mentioned in my book review of, Problem Solving 101.

The question I've been wrestling with for the last few weeks is, "How do I get my foot into the door for Instructional Design?" I come from 6+ years in human services, education and communication but my experience doesn't exactly line up with the qualifications asked for by ID employers.

So where do I start to bridge that knowledge gap into ID?

Ultimately, I narrowed down where I should focus my energy into three major task categories:

The percentage is how much time I'm going to allocate to each task. This is based on amount of time invested vs. yield amount in terms of helping me attain my goal.

For example, it's important for me to spend time researching about various employers such as Google, Amazon, T-Mobile and Expedia so that I can tailor my resume and develop answers for interviews, but if I don't have solid competencies in ID skills such as Adobe Captivate, Dreamweaver, HTML, PowerPoint, and learning theories, I can forget about even landing an interview.

Another reason why I'm investing more time to develop ID skills is because it will improve my candidacy for both of the other categories.

Hence, 70% of my time will be for familiarizing myself with Adobe E-Learning Suite 6 ($1,600 software which I still need to figure out how to get my hands on...), HTML, learning theory, and blogging to document my learning and increase my online presence.

15% will be dedicated to researching on the products and cultures of different companies. Another 15% will be dedicated to researching various subsidized Ph.D. programs related to the field and meeting admission advisors.

Somewhere down the line, once I gather enough information, I'll plot out a pros/cons table between going straight to work for corporate vs. conducting research in academia.

More to come!

Mapping out what matters most

A few days ago I picked up an incredibly useful book on Amazon called, Problem Solving 101 - A Simple Book for Smart People by Ken Watanabe. Price: $ 14.52 hardcover

This book was creatively written and illustrated for young children as well as adult learners about how to work towards the meaningful things in my life using very elementary thought processes.

I've never been too big on dissecting my precious life goals using cold systematic graphing and mapping. Nevertheless, Ken's book was just too charming, fun and non-intimidating with light-hearted stories of John the octopus kid and Kiwi the aspiring soccer girl. I thought I'd at least give it one try.



30 committed minutes later...
here's what one of my mind maps looked like:

Please don't mind the convict-like handwriting.

Basically what this book did for me was gently encourage me to sit my restless butt down to draw out a simple and logical plan of what I wanted to be and how I would get there within the 2-year span I allowed myself.

I normally would run 10 feet away from these exercises but after mapping out my career goals, I think this kind of footwork is just too important to ignore if you have any ounce of ambition in your life - which you should.

The key to getting something out of this is that you absolutely HAVE to put what you learn into practice. Don't read the book without a notepad and pencil/pen in hand.

For $14.52, this 110-paged book that I finished in one sitting transfigured my seemingly gigantic life goals into small manageable bite sizes.

That's priceless value for a fraction of the price.