What does it mean to be an instructional designer? Mini-Series – Details, episodes & analysis

In the last episode of the mini-series I go over the completion of the qualitative study that this podcast aimed to document. I cover the major culminating themes found within the study and how they've effected me as a researcher and as a designer. I really appreciate each and every one of you whom came along on the journey. Ever Forward!

In the last One on One of the series, I sit down with Jeremy McLaughlin a brilliant physics and astrology teacher and researcher of instructional design at Old Dominion University. In this episode, we span the spectrum from very practical instructional design considerations to a 15 minute riff session about the challenges surrounding our field. 

Cara's one of those people that is 100% walking the walk and talking the talk. She's an incredibly active instructional designer whom is likely doing double shifts every day not only to bring the best instructional products to market in her day job, but also acting as a true ambassador for the field at large. If somehow you've stumbled upon this podcast without finding her on LinkedIn, YouTube, or elsewhere you need to go rectify that immediately!

Hey everyone, thank you for your patience as Comprehensive Exams put the whole podcast situation on a brief hiatus. With that behind me, I have the distinguished pleasure to bring you this one on one interview with Heidi Kirby, an absolutely brilliant ID who's got gobs of experience and far more skill then I in podcasting. In fact you should 100% check out here pod here as well as connect with her on LinkedIn where she curates some incredible ID content for the field

We're changing it up! I'd initially planned on this 4th episode to be a bit a of a mixture of all the one on one interviews but they all wound up being so good. I'm going to release them individually, this'll bring the final episode count up to 8 so I'm not quite sure I can quantify it as a mini-series at this point but that's not the point! Anyway, this episode features Clarke Dale, who is the Product Lead for Distance Based Learning at FlightSafety International, and is just one of the most solid, nice, dangerously handsome people I know on this planet. In this episode we take a deeper dive into some of the questions and topics that were brought up in the focus group as well as hear the unique elements that make Instructional Design meaningful to Clarke. Hope you enjoy! 

After a short snow induced delay in production (thank you Texas) I'm back this week with episode 3 of mini-series. This week I host an amazing conversation between Heidi Kirby, Jeremy McLaughlin, Cara North, and Clarke Dale, where we answer some big questions, squirrel down some rabbit holes, complain a little, and have some laughs. 

In part two this week, I take a deep dive in on some of the job descriptions used out in the field when describing what an instructional designer is meant to be up to. We've got some winners, and some losers, and ultimately the whole process is a bit eye opening.

Part 1 of a 6 part mini-series

In this episode, I talk about the goals of the mini-series, where the idea came from, and why you should give it a listen