My Goals as a Instructional (Learning) Designer

In starting my graduate journey, I have set out a few goals for myself. These goals will allow me to celebrate both little milestones and big wins alike. I have created one short-term goal, one medium-term goal, and one long-term goal that will allow me to track my progress across the Learning Design and Technology courses within my graduate study. To make these goals comprehensible some context is needed- let's get into what got me to this place to begin with! I have a Bachelor of Science in Speech and Hearing Science, started my professional work post-undergrad in the speech therapy realm, and currently work in the higher education sector. I am a highly creative individual and can be introverted (I know how to turn on extrovert-ism when needed but often need to recharge after some time). Through personal research coupled with a shadowing opportunity at the institution I currently work for, I found myself very intrigued in this field I discovered called, “Instructional Design '' as a branch off the Learning Design and Technologies area. This career path seems to hit all my personal areas of interest- media, content creation, learning methods, documentation, analysis, creativity, design, psychology, communication - the list goes on and on! The type of work an Instructional Designer does, seems to allow me to show up as my whole self- creative, innovative, introverted but extroverted, when need be, all to attend to a shared goal in the field- generate better learning outcomes.

I was nervous to get back into school after having some time away; However, after much consideration, I mustered up the courage to submit an application for the graduate certificate in Instructional Design (Learning Design and Technologies) as ASU Online. I was initially scared to fully jump into an entire master's program, as an important factor for me in my educational journey was a broad range of study. I, like many undergraduate alumni, no longer work in the field I received my bachelors in, and I did not want to enable myself to make that same mistake again. With time, I was able to find the Master of Education program at ASU Online that allows for students to select two focal points. Based on the goals I have laid out below and my personal interests, I have selected the Instructional Design concentration coupled with Digital Media Strategies. It is my hope that these two concentrations, paired with courses centered around education, will provide me with a robust skill set to enter a line of work that fosters my showing up as the creative, innovative, and at times, introverted person I can be to develop solutions to solve real world problems as it pertains to learning and media. 

Let’s begin with a short-term goal I have set out for myself to accomplish by the end of my first graduate level course in Learning Design and Technology:

1. Develop an understanding of and demonstrated ability to use learning models (ex: ADDIE, SAM, MPI etc.) to create well written objectives and learning goals for a course or training.

I have not had the pleasure of leveraging the use of learning models when creating such objectives and goals in a professional or academic setting yet. Learning goals and writing objectives are something that I did in the speech therapy realm previously; However, bridging that to instructional design will require additional time and dedication. I am ready for the challenge and believe that my prior experience with SOAP notes and progress reports for clients I served as a Speech Language Pathology Assistant (SLPA) will be strengths I can lean into during the learning process. I can reach out to instructional designers who I have connected with at my workplace to have a greater conversation about the above goal and how they might go about developing measurable well written goals/objectives. 

A goal I hope to achieve by the mid-point of the course has to do with materials:

2.  Demonstrates the ability to develop instructional design materials to serve a specific population of learners whilst leveraging learning models (ex: ADDIE, SAM, MPI etc.) and implementing objectives/goals.

This medium sized goal allows me time to get familiar with the learning models and methods detailed in the first goal, before applying it into an entire piece of material or module. The skills accumulated in the first goal can be leveraged and built upon in this second goal making it achievable for me as the learner. Developing instructional design materials is something I am eager to participate in and create. I can continue my outreach to professionals in the field to get a further understanding of how all of the above-mentioned items come together in the form of instructional design materials. This goal also will promote my creative touch to the process of learning design.

Finally, one long-term goal that I want to accomplish by the end of the program is more abstract than the two prior goals. 

3. Upon completing my Master of Education with a focus on Instructional Design and Digital Audience Strategies, I want to confidently apply advanced instructional models and digital engagement methods to create impactful learning experiences across the communities I will serve. 

This goal allows me to make meaningful contributions to an educational environment, regardless of the specific population of learners I reach with my work. It upholds my desire to keep my career prospects broad, allowing my personal professional development and creativity to guide me into different areas within the avenue of learning development and technology. 

I look forward to making meaningful contributions to this blog as a way to measure my progress throughout the Learning Technology and Design courses, and throughout my master's journey with concentrations in both Instructional Design (ID) and Digital Audience Strategies. Due to this, I have fittingly named this blog, “The ID Journey with Gabriela”. The field is new, exciting, and to be fully transparent, daunting to me. Being able to look back at my earlier posts and see how far I have come personally, academically, and professionally will be not only satisfying but provide a measurable history of little wins along the way. This blog journey will facilitate my connection with members in the field and foster a community related to instruction design where feedback can be exchanged, and a portfolio of work can be demonstrated.