ID Career & Training

Instructional Design Career

Differences between Instructional Design, Curriculum Developer and Content Developer

Instructional Designer

Instructional Design is the process of determining the best way to teach user new concepts using principles of how adults learn.

Curriculum Developer

Curriculum Development involves identifying what should be taught to which audience and in what sequence.

Course ware Developer

Course ware is any type of training content--the materials used to deliver instruction.

Such materials include Power Points for Instructor-Led Training in a classroom or webinar, workbooks, exercises, guides, or hand-outs.

In the online environment, this type of content includes self-paced video tutorials and assessments, video simulations of an interface, or simulated hands-on practice.

Content Developer

Content development is the process of researching, writing, gathering, organizing, and editing information for publication on web sites. Web site content may consist of prose, graphics, pictures, recordings, movies or other media assets that could be distributed by a hypertext transfer protocol server, and viewed by a web browser…Content developers are specialized web site developers who have mastered content generation skills. They can integrate content into new or existing web sites, but they may not have skills such as script language programming, database programming and graphic design. Content developers may also be search engine optimization specialists, or Internet marketing professionals.

Instructional Designing Syllabus

1. Introductions

a) What is Instructional Design

b) Why Instructional Design

c) Typographical Elements

2. Instructional System Designing

a) ADDIE model

b) Rapid Prototype Model

c) Bloom’s Taxonomy

3. Instructional Theories

a) Behaviourism

b) Constructivism

c) Cognitivism

4. E-learning

a) E-learning Technology

b) Levels of e-learning

c) LMS

d) LCMS

5. ID Standards

a) SCORM

b) AICC

6. ID Contents Framing

a) Organize

b) Storyboard

c) Incorporate Text and images

d) Audio

e) Video

f) Animations

g) Quiz or Test

7. Designing, Development and Sequencing of learning objects

8. Instructional Delivery Methods

9. Technical Writing Concepts

10. ID Types &Modes

a) CBT

b) WBT

c) Streaming

d) Prototyping

e) Simulation

f) Demonstration

g) Video Tutorials

h) Tests and quizzes

11. ID Tools

a) Creation Tools

b) Content Tools

c) Publishing Tools

12. Ms Word

a) Introduction & Features

b) Formatting Text, Font and Paragraph settings

c) Bullets and Numbering, Borders and Shading

d) Styles and Formatting

e) Template Creation

f) Cross-references, Bookmark & Hyperlinks

g) Creating Sections

h) Generating Table of Contents/ Table of Figures/Index

i) Header and Footer

j) Working with Reviewing toolbar

k) Footnote and Endnote

l) Protecting the Document

m) Auto text and Auto Correct

n) Watermarks/Columns/Change Case/Tables

13. Ms PowerPoint

a) Getting Started

b) Creating new presentations

c) Saving presentations

d) Formatting Slides

e) Drawing objects

f) Working With Graphics

g) Modifying Presentations

h) Proofing And Delivering Presentations

i) Set-up presentations

14. Adobe Captivate

a) Related file formats and extensions

b) Slides Adding/Editing Text Captions

c) Adding Boxes, Buttons, images

d) Editing Mouse Button

e) Creating question slides or Quiz

f) Changing Timelines

g) Recording/ Inserting the Audio

h) Importing PowerPoint

i) Publishing the output and Creating Menu Builder

15. Articulate Storyline / Studio / Adobe Presenter

16. MS Excel

17. Audio Editing tool: Audacity

18. Image Editing Tool: Adobe Photoshop

ID interview structure

Most of the interview processes I have gone through are as follows. Again, this is a generic process and varies from company to company. I understand that all of us are aware of all these process. However, I if this could be of help to someone new to this field.

1. Call from Human Resource Executive (HR)
2. Offline Test
3. Telephonic Interview (s)
4. ID skills test
5. Face-to-face interview (s)
6. HR Manager’s Interview

Call from Human Resource Executive

Once your resume reaches a company, someone from the HR department will first call you to ask you about the position you are currently holding, the salary and your expectations. You can grab this opportunity to know more about the company and position. Also, you can request for a job description (JD) if it is not available with you. The HR person will forward your profile to the Instructional Design Team Manager for further interview process. At times, they will forward it only after you have gone through the offline test.

Offline Test

Offline test is a major hurdle as it creates an impression about your language and ID skills.

The duration of the test varies as per the number of questions and the interviewer. One company gave me five hours while another one gave only 1.5 minutes to complete the test. It all depends on the company. Don’t panic if you are unable to complete the test on time, the quality matters. I believe, most companies don’t mind if you take a little more time.

For offline test, you have to create storyboard on a given topic. During one of the interviews, I was given an excerpt on certain topic and was asked to create the design document, frame learning objectives, and create a storyboard based on the same.

During another interview I had to choose one topic from the two excerpts given and prepare a storyboard. In addition, there was a question to test editing skills, procedure writing, and grammar test.

In case you are unable to complete the test within the give time frame, you can always call up the person who sent you the test and request for a few more minutes or you can opt to send whatever you have completed and let the interviewer know of the same. It is perfectly alright if you take a few more minutes, with product based companies where the timelines are not a big deal but the quality matters more. However, it might be a concern for a service based company where it is timelines are crucial.

Telephonic Interview

If your interviewers are happy with your offline test scores, they will call you for the next round of interviews. In some companies, the telephonic round happens first, followed by the offline test.

In telephonic interviews you will have to encounter questions on your current roles and responsibilities, reason for job change, the kind of projects you have worked on, ID strategies, methods, learning theories, and so on. You could also expect questions like which version of Adobe Captivate are you using? Have you used Articulate? What is your greatest strength as an ID? What are you best at?

ID skills test

After the telephonic round, the interviewers will ask you to come for a face-to-face interview. Most good companies will book flight tickets for you, if you are in another city.

Most of the time, you will have to undergo a written test after reaching office. When I had only one year experience, I happened to attend an interview with a reputed product based company. During the interview, I was given a computer and was asked to create a storyboard, record a demo, and edit an article. The interviewers from another reputed BPO company asked me to write a storyboard and answer a few other questions. I was really surprised to see sheets of paper and pen in front of me. It was like a university exam!

Face-to-face interview (s)

The skill test will be followed by face-to-face interviews with Team Lead or senior members of the team and also, your manager. The questions asked will be more or less the same asked during telephonic interview. I was asked about the greatest challenge I faced as an ID, on how confident I am to learn new technologies, my knowledge of project estimation and management, and so on.

HR Manager’s Interview

Finally, if you are asked to meet the HR manager, be happy, you are almost there. You just need to go through a few stereotypical questions. Be firm on your expectations from the company and show a positive attitude. They will soon send you the offer!

I hope this article helps! All the best!

Source: http://myportfolio2009.wordpress.com/