The Disconnect Between Instructional Design Degrees, the Real World, and How to Fix It

I need to take you behind the scenes for a moment to discuss a huge issue within the instructional design field. 

There is a disconnect between instructional design degrees and real world expectations. It’s been a trend I’ve been monitoring for years, and it only seems to be getting worse. Students are graduating with these degrees and don’t know how to apply the lessons into the real world. They aren’t ready and don’t feel confident to take their next steps. When asked why, I hear that they spent two to four years learning about theories, models, and processes, but did not gain experience in practicing them. The topics of working with subject matter experts, managing projects, building a portfolio, and career guidance never even came up in some of these degrees, yet they advertise on their websites that they prepare students for a competitive job market.

On today’s podcast, I’m going to share with you what I’ve been hearing directly from instructional design students. The hope is that we can acknowledge their thoughts and make changes to fix this problem now before it gets any worse. You’ll also hear about institutions who are doing everything right to prepare their students for the real world and I give a shout out to a few of them. 

After you’ve read the transcript or listened to the show, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

👉 Mentioned Links:

• Transcript

👉 Recommendations:

• 🎓Take your instructional design skills to the next level
• 📚So, you want to become an instructional designer?
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• 📗The Do It Messy Approach: A Step-by-Step Guide for Instructional Designers and Online Learning Developers (IDOLs)
• 🎤 My interview platform recommendation (Riverside)
• ✅ Backwards Design Course
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