Business – it Management Portfolio Requirement — Pfit

Top Five Strengths Essay

The top Five strengths that I bring to the field of Instructional Design are my Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Project Management Skills, Problem Solving Skills, and Research Skills.

Critical Thinking Skills

My critical thinking Skills or my ability to obtain through logic and reason any positive or negative aspects of a specific situation has served me well in my career as an instructional designer. I recall one time when this skill was particularly useful during my time facilitating online trainings for a software company. I would start my presentation by instructing user how to access the system the first time. The procedure was simple in that you placed your email in the login field and left the password field black. Immediately after I would end a online training session the support call center would get a flood of calls from the users I just trained online requesting help to Login the first time. Through my critical thinking skills a discerned that having the login information at the start and only the start of the training was not sufficient to have trainees effectively retain that information. I started covering this Login information both at the start and end of each online training sessions and calls to the call center regarding Login drop by over 80%.

Communication Skills

Communication is vital to an Instructional Designer after all the whole point of building curriculum is to communicate new skills or processes to the learner. Specifically, in my role as an instructional designer, I choose what communication mediums are appropriate to convey the skills and knowledge required.

Project Management Skills

An Instructional Designer always works as part of team. A learning project can include not only the instructional designer but Managers, Graphic Designers and many others. Keeping a project running smoothly and on time is extremely challenging. That is why as part of my project management skills I always obtain an agreed upon “Learning Development Agreement” this document is key to managing any project.

Problem Solving Skills

All Instructional Designers must be good problem solvers. It is the Instructional Designers Job to solve problems or help prevent them in the first place through the dissemination of knowledge. In my professional career I have solved many problems in fact I was solving a problem when I discovered the role of an instructional designer. I was working as an instructor doing online training and completing several trainings a day every day. I could not keep up this pace and still be productive at my other job duties, so I research and found online learning software. Where I could produce the content once and learners could learn at their own pace.

Research Skills

Research is the starting point of any learning project. When researching the best way to introduce a new data software system to clinicians in a medical setting. I was given the info on the new system but no info on the old system. In doing research I was able to find out that the new system was not just replacing one old system but five. I was then able to convey the new system in terms of the old systems is was replacing thereby facilitating the users learning.

Educational and Career Reflections

My education background in the field of information technology helps me in my everyday interactions. I am often developing training for end users of industry specific software. This software is usually actively being developed as I am creating the instructional design materials. Having the ability to cross over and interact with the information technology professionals not only for me to obtain the pertinent information quickly. It also gives me an amount of credibility with those professionals as they can see that I am not completely unknowledgeable when asking my questions.

In my career I have been fortunate enough to work in industries as varied as Hotel Management, Mortgage Lending, Marketing, Health Insurance Services, Auto Insurance, Motorcycle Dealer Operations and Manufacturing This fast breath of knowledge has taught me many things about each respective industry but also about different companies culture and management styles. These styles can vary drastically, and each have their benefits and draw backs. I am very fortunate that I have learned the skills to succeed in any business environment.

I have also been able to train vastly differing learners that brought different life skills and experience of their own. I remember when I was working in the hotel industry one of the sites, I was sent to deliver computer training had never had a computer in the hotel before. In fact, one of the employees had never used a computer before. This taught me that you cannot assume what the skills that a learner already has. As I had to go ack on several occasions and teach users on how to operate a mouse.

My career path is with any future path is unknown. However, I feel extremely optimistic about the future of my career. As the past couple of months have taught us distance or online learning is vitally in a globally world. As the world of online learning grows so will I.

Career Outlook Report: Instructional Designer

What Is Instructional Design?

Instructional design is the creation of learning materials that results in the application of knowledge and skills. The discipline follows a system of assessing needs, designing a process, developing materials, and evaluating their effectiveness. In workplace learning, Instructional Design provides a practical and systematic approach for effectively designing effective curricula.1

What is an Instructional Designer?

An instructional designer applies this methodology (rooted in instructional theory) to design and develop content, and other solutions to support the acquisition of new knowledge or skills.1

Salary

The median annual wage for instructional Designer was $64,450 in May 20182

Employment Outlook

Instructional Designer jobs are projected to grow 6 percent in the next 10 years.

Types of Positions

Many instructional designers work, converting in-person materials into online courses. While others develop training for corporations. Each organization defines instructional designer jobs a little differently. Instructional designers do not usually have direct contact with students. Instructional Designers can work in any field and generally work full-time year-round schedules.

Education Required

A bachelor's degree is often the minimum educational requirement for an instructional designer. Some employers such as colleges and universities require a master’s degree in instructional design or instructional technology. Experience in teaching, training, writing, or web technology is also expected. Many people often come to the instructional design profession after first having been teachers, writers, editors, media specialists, or trainers.

Works Cited

1. “What Is Instructional Design?” ATD, www.td.org/talent-development-glossary-terms/what-is-instructional-design.
2. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Instructional Coordinators, on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/instructional-coordinators.htm (visited April 16, 2020)

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