Certification in Instructional Designing

Hi Gayathri!

You'll get loads of advice about this. I wasn't looking for more degrees , just best practices, when I transitioned from instructional design for ILT to instructional design for e-learning. I took the online versions of ASTD's two certificate courses - their E-Learning Instructional Design Certificate and their Advanced E-Learning Instructional Design Certificate. Both fantastic, and largely based on Michael Allen's work. They take just a few weeks each and I highly recommend them.

For a multitude of other angles and advice, Connie Malamed is always answering questions about this. Here's a post she wrote very recently where she answers the same question for people in a variety of situations: Answers to Instructional Design Career Questions. She includes links to a variety of online and offline instructional design programs, too.

Good luck to you!

I've heard great things about Athabasca's Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Instructional Design! (http://calendar.athabascau.ca/grad/current/distance_05.php)

Hi Gayathri - I took both the ASTD courses mentioned by Jackie and found they overlapped a lot. I'd suggest only taking one of those.

If you decide to pursue an online graduate certificate, you can complete one in as little as about eight months. Check http://idhunter.com/search-programs/ for a list of about 70 certificate programs that I put together.

Hi all

thank you for those suggestions.

Nicole and jackie - I was considering ASTD thank for your endorsement

But wasn't sure of how about taking it because of their one year long program.

I'm in the ISD Masters program at University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC).  Aside from the Masters Program they also offer several certificate programs.  The school is well known in ISD and people attend from all over the world.  All classes are offered online.  I've been in the field for 7 years and just started my program last year.  I can't believe all of the new things I am learning!

http://www.umbc.edu/isd/gradcertificates.html 

If you're looking for a credential to wave around, consider ASTD's (sorry, ATD's) Certified Professional in Learning and Performance Certification (CPLP).

Personally, I would be very careful about more degree work, you could end up spending a lot of time and money for not much return.

Build a business case for yourself that weighs the time and money cost of whatever it is you're thinking about doing versus the return you reasonably expect to get from it.

Candidly, if I were going to be hiring an instructional designer, I'd be more interested in seeing work samples and satisfying myself that the person can actually get things done.

I was once asked in a job interview the difference between formative and summative evaluation, and my response was "I used to know the answer to that, but I'm a doer, not a theoretician, so I'm sorry I'd have to look the terms up" I then discussed different methods of developing and evaluating training and ended up getting the job anyway.

Hi Brian,

Thanks for suggesting the program. i tried the link and it said the requested URL was not found on the server.

That's an interesting story you got there John . I've been there too.

I believe instructional designing is more common sense than theory. For instance, while the audience and task analysis will give an insight into what kind of a course design will help the learner as well as the organization achieve their respective goals, I've never been able to directly perform a tangible application of the ID theories. Yes, the models and theories behind them help us understand many concepts associated with writing or creating course material such as what andragogy and pedagogy are etc. But hanging on to them for dear life has never worked for me.

But, I want a certification to substantiate my experience or in your words "wave around" :).

Thanks for the link.

I agree Bruce. Unfortunately for me I've always been associated with a company as an ID. So access to courses I've created is restricted because of NDA. So, if I have to build a portfolio I won't have much that I can include in it. They won't allow me to take samples to showcase. But I can certainly talk about them.