Instructional Design Courses, Certificates or Programs

[Christopher Pappas]

Currently the job market for instructional design is strong and appears to be growing. Several Universities, Colleges, Organization offers instructional design courses, certificates or programs.

Have you ever attend in an instructional design course, certificates or program?

Did it worth it?

Based on a research that I did one month ago, I find the following certificates, has anyone of you attend anyone of these? What is your opinion about them?

ASTD (E-Learning Instructional Design Certificate)

Washington State University (Instructional Design Certificate)

Athabasca University (Instructional Design Certificate)

[Chris Roderick]

Probably the most well-known (and oldest) program/major in instructional design would be at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana (www.indiana.edu). I believe that they grant Masters and Ph.D.s in the field. This is where Thiagi went as well as many other "old salts" in the field. Another strong program is at the University of Southern California (again, Masters & Ph.D.s granted). I've completed some courses at IU (graduate workshops) and known/have hired several practitioners from USC...I completed my training (back in the dark ages) at San Francisco State University. As far as learning programs/certificates/vendor-led training, I like the training offered by Bob Mager's people for its down-to-earth approach to making learning work. I also think that Dr. Ruth Clark offers an extremely solid training curriculum, including research-based training on e-learning. Hope this is helpful. There are many more superb training providers, I believe, but these come to mind.
Chris

[Christopher Pappas]

Chris, I very much appreciate your message!!! It seems that you have done a good research.

[Julie Radachy]

Greetings! I received my M.Ed. in Instructional Technology from AIU Online in 2004. Their degree program was wonderful! Not only did we learn instructional design principles for f2f meetings, but we spent time learning design techniques for online modules. Learning the theory and applying it in an online setting prepared me for an online instructional design career, so yes, it was definitely worth it! :-)

[Christopher Pappas]

Hi Julie,

Thank you very much for the info. I very much appreciate that you shared with me your opinion about the M.Ed. in Instructional Technology from AIU.

[Christy Tucker]

The comments and discussion for this post on Tony Karrer's blog mention a number of e-learning certificates and programs: Online Programs that Offer Training in eLearning? This is a nice list of programs, including several outside the US.

[Christopher Pappas]

Thank you very much Christy.

[June Talvitie-Siple, Ed.D.]

HI,

I have never attended a specific certificate or program for instructional design. However, I have attended multiple graduate courses in Instructional Systems Design while working on my Ed.D. at UNC-Chapel Hill.

I have mixed ratings of my experiences in these courses as they were taught by the same person, and ultimately I found him good in some areas and horrible in others. However, I learned something and if I learn something new from an experience I feel the experience was successful, even if it felt horrible at the time.

As for Masters degrees or certificates, one of the best is at George Mason University .

[Maya]

This discussion has been really helpful to me. I am in the midst of deciding on whether to pursue a Master in instructional design. Have been looking through some websites especially on what to expect after getting the qualification, whats the career path gonna be like. Ive told some of my friends of my plans of further studies, while some say its a good field, others are saying that in bad times like this the position you would be in will be considered to be out first... but anyways I have personally grown a great interest in instructional design through my work but feel that I would need to upskill myself and learn more about it through getting the necessary knowledge to climb up the ladder and be specialized in this field.

One thing I noticed with the programs offered by some universities mentioned is that the subjects vary and while some offers it as Master of Science, some offers it as Master or Arts. Why is it different?

[Marty Bartreau]

Hi Julie,

As June mentioned above, George Mason has one of the most successful programs around. I am enrolled in the Instructional Technology Program at GMU for the e-Learning Graduate Certificate. My next class this Summer will be Web Accessibility and Design. All of the courses under this program can be completed online. For more info check here: http://it.gse.gmu.edu/.

Marty

[Sage Adams]

I haven't heard of any of those programs but I agree with Brenda that Athabasca has a strong reputation although I'm sure Washington State is solid as well.