Lately I’ve been asked by a few people on how to get started with a career in instructional design and elearning. Here are some of the questions I received:
- Could someone suggest that how to start my career in Instructional Systems Design field?
- I'm interested in joining the field of Instructional Design. I've done my MA in English and also a diploma course in multimedia. I would really appreciate it if you could guide me on which companies to approach and how, to secure an entry level position. I am looking for something in the NCR region.
- Can u tell me how relevant is teaching exp to ID?.....If I've 4 yrs of teaching exp, what would be the starting salary in ID?
- Lots of my friends want to know about some good courses they can take on ID - ISDT / Symbiosis ID are amongst courses they are considering. Any suggestions?
- Well i wud lik to get som information of ID work. if u share some link and actual ID work for elearning.
Getting Started
So what does it really take to be an instructional designer? What is instructional design anyway? Christy Tucker has a great series of six posts that can help you get started. Start with her first post in the series – What does an Instructional Designer do? and follow her other posts. Closer home, Rupa Rajagopalan also provides practical tips about instructional design in her blog One-Stop Resource for Instructional Designing. Start with archives on her blog and read your way up chronological posts. I also found an interesting article by Shilpa Shet on instructional design as a career. I have also written in the past about competencies required for an instructional design role. That post also has links to other sources for the same.
You could start with the following sites to get more information about elearning, instructional design, course development, although some of these just might be too heavy for absolutely new users.
- Hitchhiker’s Guide to Course Development
- Web-Based Training Information Center
- Florida Gulf Coast University
Elearning/Content development Companies
There are many elearning/content development companies in NCR region. NIIT, Genpact, IBM are the larger ones and Infopro, Liqvid, Servetium, G-Cube are some of the smaller companies in NCR region. I have compiled a small list of companies on eCube Directory listing. It is not comprehensive by any means, but a start nevertheless. I am told that there are more than 100 elearning/content development companies in India.
Instructional Design Courses
I am not sure how good the courses in India are. I recommend getting a job instead. Symbiosis is quoted more often in conversations and so must be gaining some popularity as an instructional design course. But honestly, as a manager who has had to recruit for ID, I look for prior experience, and if there is no prior experience, I look for their core writing skills and ability to learn. Having a diploma is good but not essential.
Having said that, here are some of the courses you could look at. I have not evaluated any of them and don’t necessarily endorse any of them.
- Symbosis Center for Distance Learning – Certificate Course in Instructional Design
- S.N.D.T. Women’s University – 4-Credit Online Course on Instructional Design
- Wavelength eLearning Consulting and Training in Noida provides ID & content writing, and Flash programming.
- Vyaktitva in Delhi provides some advance courses on training design and facilitation skills.
- Technopoint in Bangalore seems to be offering some courses on Instructional Design.
Career and Salaries in Instructional Design Jobs
Teaching experience helps but it actually depends on what you were teaching and what content you will be creating when you start with instructional design. If you were teaching in a school and you get a job to create K-12 (school) content, then your teaching experience will be relevant and may be considered when the company decides your starting salary. Most companies though will take your past work experience into consideration and give you some weightage for the same.
Basically you need to have good writing skills. This is most critical to get into instructional design job. Without good writing skills, it will be difficult to get into the role of ID. Writing skills is typically what is tested by companies for taking on new IDs.
Starting salary with 4 yrs exp but no exp in ID can vary from company to company. You can expect between 1.5 lac to 4 lac per annum CTC. The range is wide since the industry is relatively small. CTC will include PF, medical insurance etc. Refer to my unofficial salary survey of elearning and content development jobs for more inputs.
One could also try to land a job as technical writer to start with. Many technology companies hire tech writers, though it helps if you have a tech background to get started in a tech company. You will first probably start as content developer or tech writer, before moving to actual design. Good writing skills are essential for getting entry into the field.
18 comments:
Manish, this post is certainly going to attract aspiring Instructional Designers.
Thanks for posting this info.
regards
Rupa
The latest post on ID is very informative. Do any of those elearning companies operate from Mumbai? However, the salaries you mention don't encourage me to leave my current job. Many of those questions you listed on the blog echo in my mind as well. I guess ID is used more often in corporate training and is probably getting to be popular in K-12 education. I was interested in knowing if ID is being used in the higher education field (in India).
Thanks Manish, That was informative. I only knew about Symbiosis, which seems more credible with their experience with teaching Mass Com etc.
How does one distinguish a good writer, does it necessarily mean a qualified/certified one. If so what kind of certification could one get. I feel I am good at writing.. or expressing in words, though may not be technically correct English all the time.
hi manish..nice to see ur blog giving such relevant information.
i have a doubt in the elearning presentation tool CAMTASIA 5.0
CAN U CLARIFY IT?
i wanted to know how to control the speed of the clip with callouts
i am facing problem in sinking both the callouts with the clip speed
please guide me a solution, i will be thankful to u
@Rajiv -- Well if you are asking about a good Technical Writer, then correct English is a must. You should be able to write concisely and to the point. Brevity in writing and correct grammar are critical for technical writing. Tech Writing employers would get very worried if you told them that you are "good at expressing in words, though may not be technically correct English all the time."
@Saikrishna -- I haven't used Camtasia recently. I will check with others and see if we can get an answer. You could also try posting this query on technical forums about Camtasia/multimedia tools.
No.. Not for technical writing. But for ID. Do IDs always get some support on that front? Maybe a content writer/Editor. If I were to do ID. I would be a more visually inclined person curious to learn ID. Since I have worked with IDs in the past, done visual design, created storyboards and handling a team to execute e-learning content.
Really informative article. Since I am working as an ID, I feel OJT is the way way to learn. But to get a fair knowlege about the basics of ID a diploma would be useful. But again the study material that SCDL provides is not upto the mark I feel. I can access the information that is complied in the study material (SCDL)by surfing on the net.
Hi Mousumi
Thanks for sharing your experiences. There is a discussion ongoing at eCube team blog about the ID training programs in India. Would love to hear from you on the subject.
Even I feel that SCDL provides upto the mark, as I am one of the student of SCDL. Manish your blog truly contains good information. Thanks for sharing this with us..:)
Hello Manish,
Thanks for the post. I’m an English Hons. Graduate and pursuing my MA in English through a correspondence course. I’m working as a content writer since past 1.5 years, and find ID interesting. I have sound writing skills, but no diploma or ID certified course. Can I make a career in ID straight away?
Hi Vibha
You absolutely can start with a career in instructional design. In fact your content writing experience will also help you. All the best.
Thanks Manish.
i dont understand what instructional designers mean.i am a computer teacher with the knowledge of languages basically c++ java etc. Now i Have been asked by the school to take a chargeof multimedia conyent developr for classes 5 to 12 all the subject.so i would like to know what course should i do to match the need.
Hi Anonymous
According to Wikipedia, Instructional Design is the practice of creating instructional tools and content to help facilitate learning most effectively.
Since you are in a school, I am guessing that the curriculum and content is going to be pretty much defined. You say that you have been put in charge of multimedia content development. Does the school already have any multimedia content? Is the school expecting you to build all content? I would recommend that you connect with a professional company to start with instead of trying to do it all. You could also look at buying products for your school instead of building (or getting built) content specifically for your school.
You should learn Adobe Flash, and Photoshop at the very minimum. You should also read a lot about Instructional Design and Content Development on the Internet. You could start with the Wikipedia link in this message above.
Hi Manish,
I am currently pursuing my Masters in Instructional Design and Technology at a University in the US. I was wondering if my degree will be of any value in India.
Any thoughts from a IDT veteran like you would be helpful.
Thank You.
Hi Prathi
I do believe that your degree will be considered in your employment. The weightage given to your degree while considering you for employment may be different in different companies. I would be interested in knowing your experiences when you do start your job hunt in India. You can share your experience in this blog or write to me at manishmo2007 at gmail.
All the best.
Hi All,
I am an Instructional Designer with 1.5 years experience and 2 years in content Development. Now I have got an offer for Sr.Instructional Designer. What should be the expected salary...?
Hi Anonymous
Your salary depends on city, company, previous salary, education and of course your negotiation skills. You may want to check out the latest elearning salary survey findings to get more data points.
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