How instructional designers can change the world

Instructional design can be an inspirational and rewarding career, but it doesn't seem to get the recognition it deserves.

aAron Pont argues it’s time to start celebrating instructional design and its potential to help change the world.

For the past 20 years, the Jobs Rated Almanac has produced an annual report on the best and worst rated jobs. Using US data about pay, work environment, stress and hiring outlook, a list of the top 200 jobs for each year is produced.

In 2015, the top-rated job was…an Actuary. 

Job satisfaction contributed heavily to this number one rating; apparently, actuaries love what they do, which involves using statistics to evaluate risks and probabilities. 

Good for the world’s actuaries!

Interestingly, instructional designer was not listed in the top 200, despite 317 jobs being advertised on the Jobs Rated site compared to just 26 actuary posts.

Of course, this could be interpreted in a number of ways, but one thing I take from the statistics is that instructional design needs a bit of a publicity campaign.

It’s certainly a growing sector with lots of exciting opportunities, especially on the learning technologies side.  According to the Elearning Guild’s 2015 Global Elearning Salary & Compensation Report, the average global salary is on the increase, although there are national variations.

The average global base elearning salary for 2015 is $78,310, up 2.5% from last year – Elearning Guild Global Salary & Compensation Report

Instructional or learning design is creative, varied and challenging, but what really needs to be promoted is its status as a rewarding career. A good instructional designer can contribute towards positive behaviour change and help people to reach their full potential. I’d go as far as saying that instructional designers can help change the world.

Here are some of the things I'm proud to have been a part of:

• Contributing to the eradication of Measles and Rubella globally through awareness education
• Helping to teach the world about the next big thing - Open Data
• Educating Australian indigenous health workers on managing diabetes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
• Helping to introduce new teaching and learning practices and technologies into just about every industry area

I think we could all shout a little louder about the rewarding side of what we do.

Please share your stories and tell us what you are most proud of achieving as an instructional designer, learning architect or training professional. 

Simply tweet #IChangedTheWorldBy and complete the sentence.

Follow @Sponge_UK where we’ll be sharing some of the contributions.

Author: aAron Pont, Learning Solutions Architect, Sponge