Asbury University offers a major called Instructional Design to online and Adult Professional Studies students, and after seeing its success with those students, the university has made it available to traditional undergraduate students.
Instructional design is the study of creating teaching tools that best help people learn. Dr. Lisa Jones, program coordinator and professor of instructional design at Asbury, describes it as “the combination of learning science and design along with IT [information technology], sometimes called Educational Technology.”
“ID focuses on the use of long-standing processes for design, such as the ADDIE process, to analyze and problem-solve to address a learning or training issue and then create effective learning experiences to close the gap in knowledge or skill,” Jones said. ADDIE refers to the process instructional designers use to create work and stands for analyze, design, develop, implement and evaluate.
Asbury is offering three 8-week online courses for on-campus students this fall taught by Lisa Jones, Amy Bessin and Heather Hornbeak. Intro to Instructional Design (ID199) and Design/Online Interactions (ID 325) are running from Aug. 19 — Oct. 11. Foundations, Theory and Practice (ID 201) will run from Oct. 14 — Dec. 6.
Under the Media, Journalism and Digital Storytelling Department, the major is 42 credit hours and classes are mainly online. Students must have at least a 2.75 GPA to take the online classes and can only take two 8-week courses in a semester.
The Asbury University website states that the skills learned in ID can be adapted to teaching, training, web design and consulting. “An instructional designer will often work with educators or large organizations in need of training such as corporations, the military and nonprofits to create courses or training using 21st century technology,” said Jones.
Two undergraduate students have already started the major this fall, and more have expressed interest. According to Jones, the Adult Professional Studies program consistently has around 50 students in the ID major.
Jones is excited to expand the program. “As more students understand what Instructional Design is and how adaptable the degree is to careers, we believe that more students and incoming students will choose this career path,” she said.
The average national salary for an instructional designer is $79,291 per year, according to ZipRecruiter. Entry-level salaries average at $55,851 per year.
Jones noted that the field is always changing with technology. As the trend toward using technology for learning continues to grow, the Instructional Design career path will grow as a result.
“If students are intrigued by assisting others with learning or training skills, excited to problem solve and think deeply about how we learn, love to be creative and interested in utilizing the latest 21st century technology, then the Instructional Design major might be a career choice they want to look into,” said Jones.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a faster-than-average job growth rate of 11% over 10 years. Instructional designers rated their job satisfaction a 4 out of 5 on Payscale.com.
“When our students delve into creating their own examples using technology, I am so impressed in how they utilize current technology in more creative and inspiring ways,” said Jones. “Instructional Design is never boring.”
