brittany nicole

My last assignment…

Graduate school courses are not easy and going to school full time is a challenge (regardless) but especially when you also work full time. As some of you may know, I was enrolled in an MBA program and with 5 classes left, I was dismissed from the program. The part that stung the most was that I could see the finish line and was no longer going to be able to cross it. The only person that I could blame was myself for getting distracted and devoting so much of my time to others at work that I failed to properly set boundaries so that I could be successful academically in my grad school pursuits. Luckily, I learned quite a bit from taking graduate level business courses and I also took enough credits to be certified in Leadership. In my field of education and where I desire to end up, that’s beneficial for me on a personal level and a professional level.

I’ve been working in higher education since October 2014 and I’m convinced that I may stick it out for the next 2 years so that I can be vested with the state of Alabama. Honestly, I think it’s suppose to help you once you retire. According to Retirement Systems of Alabama, I have 32 more years to go. Trust me, I can’t wait and hope to hit the jackpot sooner than that so that I can retire early.

I started researching fields that would provide flexibility and the opportunity to assist in leaving an organization better than I found it. I started applying for jobs in tech at the beginning of this year and I never received an interview opportunity. Some of the recruiters so graciously followed up with me via email to express that my resume was “impressive” but didn’t give any reference to having any experience in the tech industry. So I started doing research and I’ve discovered that I too can break into tech when the time comes for me to leave higher ed and while I wait, I’m going to be a sponge and soak in information.

So this semester, I took a course to help me understand the field more and it was insightful. This course helped me to understand the many avenues that an instructional designer (ITD) has to choose from as far as a career and also how to describe what an ID does in certain roles. I love the uniqueness behind the work of an ITD and I look forward to one day filling in the gap for a company/work organization. There’s so many tools that exist to help ITD professionals and I’m naturally a creative being. It’s been refreshing to use my marketing background with each assignment.

As one who aspires to work in tech with the mindset that I have the capabilities to be successful in the field, here’s a few things that I didn’t know before the class.

• The field of instructional designers is projected to grow since the pandemic pushed companies/schools to lean more on e-learning and technology.
• An instructional designer will have the opportunity to help the consumer/target audience learn the value in using certain technologies over a different one
• Instructional designers have the option to work as contractor, which would be my long term goal of course so that I can maintain flexibility in my career path

The Communities of Practice forums that I joined have been a great tool and resource as I can see daily the pros and cons of certain departments/fields and to know that I’ll one day be a skilled practitioner sharing insight of my own experiences. I read every post even though I don’t feel that I have a strong enough background to respond yet.

I’m viewing this as my second chance to work towards receiving my next degree and begin working in a field that has been sitting at the top of my goal list since last year.

This field is so fitting for me for me because I can merge my two worlds: education (8 years of experience) and technology (1 semester down). I didn’t expect to learn so much outside of the introductory information but the class set up and structure was great. Syllabus and modules was easy to follow. I also greatly appreciated the detailed description and the rubric for each assignment to properly explain the professor’s expectations. My initial challenges revolved around shifting my perspective to see things differently to help me navigate learning the information and applying the information learned during each module.

If I was teaching the course, I’d incorporate many of the tools used and the only other component that I might add to this introductory course would be to require for students to interview practitioners in the field. This way the student can hear from those working in the field and also begin creating a network of ITD professionals.

Never give up on your dreams.

Never be afraid to start over.

Never be too fearful of trying something new, it could be the one thing that opens up doors for you that align with your purpose.

#BNspired2day