My professional journey in instructional design/ educational technology tends to be unique since I have never worked for academics divisions and make my home in student affairs. Fortunately, most ID/EdTech job descriptions do not require individuals to be subject matter experts in anything but technology, yay!
I scoured the internet and found some postings that caught my eye which I would be interested in if I was in job searching mode. Luckily, I love my current position and I am very fortunate to have written my own job description, read more about that here.
Job Posting 1: Director of Educational Technology at The Bishop's School in La Jolla, California. This position is great for graduates of the master's program in educational technology listing an education requirement of a bachelor's degree. Job duties involve providing support and guidance to the faculty in regards to the use of technology in the classroom and academic instruction. This posting does not have a salary listing but the school is private with about 800 student so it should be adequate for the cost of living in the San Diego area.
Job Posting 2: Coordinator of Technology Development and Training at Maricopa Community Colleges in Mesa, Arizona. This position is a good mid-level position in educational technology for individuals who have experience hosting workshops with adult learners. Personally, I would need more practical experience hosting training sessions in some of the programs the description specifies. The salary range is adequate for starting off and working with several campuses would be a plus for me so I'm not stuck in an office all day and there is a change of pace throughout the day. Basic job duties would include supporting instructors in delivering classroom instruction via the use of technology on multiple campuses for the community college system.
Job Posting 3 (aka dream job!): Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Oregon State University. This is definitely why I am pursuing my PhD in ID and Curriculum upon completing this program! In addition to a PhD some other requirements are experience delivering faculty development programs, teaching in higher education and the ability to form partnerships. The position asks that the director supervise 8 professional staff members, the center's budget, provide leadership and collaboration and actively design programs.
Self Assessment
Career One Stop Skills Profiler Self-Assessment allows you to identify your skill competency in several areas and then cross reference your assessment with the skill set typically required for an occupational field of choice. I completed my assessment using the "Technical Directors/Managers" occupation and the results yielded that I was average or above average in competencies typically required of the job. As a result I decided to go back and re-enter my self-assessment of the skill sets to be more modest in reflection. I know that if I was truly average or above average in the field I would indeed be a director/manager. This also helps me accurately reflect my skill set on my resume.
Professional Organizations & Publications
The following organizations have been a major influence in my decision to redirect my professional goals and become incorporated in the amazing field of educational technology. The organization's websites and publications are a staple to my continual professional development.
ISTE: International Society for Technology in Education
The ISTE mission is: ISTE advances excellence in learning and teaching through innovative and effective uses of technology".ISTE hosts two large conferences a year including their annual conference and a leadership conference. Membership pricing is available at different intervals with the standard membership in the U.S. costing $99 per year. There are various opportunities for online professional development including a graduate certificate program. ISTE has several publications including journals, research and white papers on various topics within the field. The three journals are Journal of Research on Technology in Education, Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education and Journal for Computing Teachers. The JRTE is a peer reviewed journal with approximately 15% acceptance rate of submissions received. JDLTE and JCT are article based journals that have their own guidelines. The journals are available online with a subscription.
EDUCAUSE
EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology." EDUCAUSE has several conferences, workshops and seminars that are held on national and regional levels throughout the year a full listing is available online. Professional development is available in the form of web based materials, fellowship opportunities, career center and through volunteer opportunities. EDUCAUSE has a quarterly journal which features a combination of peer reviewed articles, opinions and insights. Publication guidelines encourages the submitter to be conscience of their audience, create mobile friendly publications and use alternative methods of communicating thoughts. Publications are available online and included in the membership fee. EDUCAUSE membership is typically per institution or corporation with a number of delegates depending on the membership package purchased. Pricing is generally based on the number of full time employees at the institution or corporation with some consideration for multiple-campus institutions, community colleges and non-profit organizations.
ID and Technology Competencies
This is a hard one! My colleagues and I constantly fib over what competencies should be required. For example, what does a social media expert do? There are "experts" it's only been around for less than a decade?!?@!?
However, in line with the text and general technology positions there are some basic competencies including:
- the ability to manage projects with a team of professionals, budget and timeline
- choosing or recommending appropriate projects for the task goal
- determining, performing and analyzing assessment measures
- developing integration and training strategies
- demonstrate clear communication and visual aids through various mediums
- active in the professional community as a contributor and observer
These competencies are very basic and integral to performing well in a technology field. Without the ability master the above it will become difficult to integrate learning theories, stay abreast of current trends and modify/edit existing ID models.
Wrap-Up
Personally I am a professional development JUNKY. I love conferences, presenting, reading and participating in online communities within the field. Unfortunately due to hard times in education I will have to forgo conferences this year and follow Twitter back channels and live streams of the festivities but I won't be alone!
Here's a peek into ISTE...
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