2019 - 08 - 25 - Talking To Friends And Family About Instructional Design

One of the interesting challenges instructional designers face is talking to friends and family about instructional design. And the inevitable "What's That?" response. And it's even further complicated by the lack of job title consistency within the field. A funny story is that my mom's cousin is also an instructional designer and I could have used her help throughout school and while working on many projects but never knew because my mother could only describe what she did as "Fancy and Important". I adjust my description of instructional design depending on the audience, sometimes I say I make instructional media, sometimes I say I make sure people who go through training get something out of it, sometimes I try to make training not suck. It can be tough when the world isn't familiar with your entire field, and also tough when your own mother doesn't understand. But I think I'm doing well on that last front because at least my mother has been primed by her cousin into knowing that instructional design is "fancy and important"