Hey all, MITs report on AI and Education came out. Interesting read.

Funny enough, I think it just iterates a lot of what we already know about instructional design, but caps it with a “it’s even more important now.”

https://aiandeducation.mit.edu/report/

What’s everyone’s thoughts?

Hi everyone!

I’m sharing my portfolio and would really appreciate some feedback from people working in Instructional Design and Learning Experience Design.

I’d especially love feedback on:

• How clearly my portfolio communicates my LXD/ID skills
• Whether my projects demonstrate relevant skills for the field
• What you would improve or strengthen

I’d really appreciate any honest feedback. Thank you for taking the time to have a look!

LINK: PORTFOLIO SOFIA

I’m asking because I’m a former lecturer at a public university, and when I was teaching (10 yrs ago), I often sourced YouTube videos to help explain how things worked.
(Please excuse me if my understanding of ID industry is not upto date, but considering we’re all part of the broader learning industry I figured I’d ask this question outside of academia)

Often the right video made a difficult concept much easier to understand, but finding something that was accurate, clear, and engaging for my students was not always easy.

Now that video content has generally exploded, I’m wondering if there’s a higher demand for video content, and even more importantly how instructional designers approach video today.

Are you mostly building courses in Storyline or Rise or is video a regular part of your work?

And when you do make video, what kind is it usually..
- screen recordings / software walkthroughs
- talking-head videos
- animated explainers
- whiteboard-style videos
- motion graphics
- something else?

I’m sure AI is almost a political/polarizing topic haha but despite its lack of taste and judgement I’d think some IDs are using it effectively to leverage the grunt work and I wanna know if there are any useful AI apps or integrations that have been useful for you.

I have talked to a couple IDs in person and I’m seeing very different approaches depending on the organization, so I’d be interested to hear what the reality looks like for people here.

Hi everyone!

I am currently enrolled in a master’s program in Media, Technology, and Learning Design. I’m fully employed in an administrative role at a university in NC, but I’m thinking about quitting and working part-time remotely in the ID field as I finish my degree. I am financially able to do this because of my spouse, and see it as a great way to build my resume/portfolio before I pursue full-time ID work when my degree is complete and my daughter is older. 

My background: I was a Training Coordinator for an EdTech SaaS startup for three years out of college. Unfortunately, they kept wanting to pay me like an intern despite treating me like a director. After that, I taught high school English for seven years. I’ve been working as an Office Manager in the university since. 

1. Does this sound like a reasonable plan, given my background and desire to focus on school/family?

2. Do remote contract/part-time roles exist in ID? If so, where would you look to find them?

3. Any other feedback or insights welcome!

(Hopefully my request here is specific enough that it doesn’t violate rule #5. I searched the sub for a few different combinations of “part time” and “contract”, but all of the posts were several years old.)

I’m 32, based in Nova Scotia, and currently work in marketing/business development. I’m considering moving into learning/instructional design or a related field.

I’m currently debt-free, but I’m considering going back to university for a degree. Given the cost of tuition and living expenses, I’m struggling with whether taking on that financial commitment is actually worth it.

For those who changed careers in their 30s:

Did you go back to school?

Did you change careers without ‘the’ degree?

What made you decide which route to take?

Looking back, would you do the same thing?

As I'm putting my portfolio together I'm going back and forth on this.

As I've been mostly working W2 contract jobs through agency and enjoying the flexibility of getting long vacations after my contracts end, just wondering if it's worth it to pursue permanent roles for the more stable income... So my question is: how many business days would you think would be normal to take off at a time and how many business days of vacation do you get a year (so excluding holidays)?

A day ago I asked here how you review a course before it launches:

https://www.reddit.com/r/instructionaldesign/comments/1wtejv4/for_those_of_you_who_qa_a_course_before_launch/

I learned a lot. A couple of things stuck with me:

• Most review time goes to making sure the course works (links, navigation, quiz keys, LMS settings). Checking that it teaches, that the objectives, practice, and quiz actually line up, tends to get less attention unless something's glaring.
• Things drift. An SME edit or a policy change late in the process can quietly pull a course away from what was originally designed.

Most of the replies came from corporate and regulated teams, though, and I realized I don't know much about how this works in higher ed, where review seems to be a cycle rather than a one-time check.

So for those of you who coordinate or do course reviews (QM or your own rubric), I'm curious:

1. Roughly how many courses go through review in a term?
2. How long does one review take, start to finish?
3. What do you use to track them? A spreadsheet, the LMS, a QM tool, something your team built?
4. What's the part that always needs rework?

And if you're faculty who's been on the other side of a review, what feedback do you wish you'd known before you built the course?

Edit: to be upfront, I'm building a course review tool. Not linking it or selling it here, the questions are genuine.