A Degree in ID Needed? or Not. I Say It’s Needed!!!

Ok, once again someone has brought up the argument that just because there is a lot of information on the web about ID and that the tools are “so simple to use even a SME can create a course” that a degree in instructional design is not really needed by everyone. Please, this argument drives me crazy.

While Tom Kuhlmann does a great job of providing a balanced approach to having or not having a degree, I must weigh in with an unbalanced view because, a degree, in my opinion makes our field a field. If you don’t need a degree, then its not a profession.

Also TOM WERNER weighs in with this statement

I’ve always thought that you could cover in one good day all the key theories, big ideas, and grand arguments of instructional design. Then the rest is learning to use today’s best tools of the trade to create good stuff.

Tom, really? All the appropriate instructional strategies, learning theories and concepts in ONE day. With no application of instructional design strategies of reflection, application or practice. After a day one just instantly knows how to be an effective instructional designer through careful cramming? As a learning professional, you should know that while cramming works in the short-term it certainly does NOT work in the long term for retention, recall or application. (This is something we teach in our, supposedly unneeded and unnecessarily long, instructional design degree program.) The key to being a good designer is not only applying good tools, its applying good design.

The other argument that drives me crazy is “I have been designing instruction for years so, by default, I must be a great instructional designer…and I don’t have a degree.”

Here are my thoughts for a previous blog post in response to that crazy idea.

The argument “I develop instructional design and therefore, I am an instructional designer” is like saying, “I have driven a car fast and therefore I am a NASCAR driver.” Or, “I have skied down the same slope as many Olympians, therefore am an Olympic skier.” Or, “I have read a lot of medical journals, I am a doctor.”

The unfortunate thing is that people forget instructional design is about improving performance and altering behavior not about technology or nice looking screens. Being able to apply the right instructional strategy to the right situation is more than a template, an algorithm or a set of unwaivering steps that can be followed like a recipe. It takes savvy understanding of learning theory, instructional strategies and cognitive learning to really create impactful instruction. The technology is the easy part.

Otherwise we create an army of people creating the lowest level of e-learning possible, the shovelware junk that passes as e-learning because it looks good but really doesn’t help anyone learn a darn thing. It is the creation of the opportunity to learn and creating learner motivation that makes ID successful not the use of some tool’ du jour.

Then we get the argument that goes something like this:

“I met a graduate from an ID program and they were a total dinosaur, they didn’t have any experience with real world ID projects. Therefore, every graduate from any ID program is out of touch and programs obviously foster this thinking so don’t hire an ID from a graduate program.”

Really? Every program produces the same type of graduate….no way. When you get a bad car mechanic, you don’t condemn everyone who has studied to be a mechanic….you get a new mechanic. Same with your accountant or lawyer. You don’t condemn law school because your lawyer is an idiot.

And as a colleague of mine, Andy Petroski, states Could you imagine Architects or Accountants having this discussion?

So, over the years I have written several blog entries about this recurring topic.

1) We Need a Degree in Instructional Design–Making points about why a degree is critical.

2) Why an Instructional Design Degree from Bloomsburg University ROCKS!–which explains how NOT out of touch an instructional design/technology degree can actually be.

3) Accidental Instructional Designers May Want to Just Say No–describing why the field needs a degree.

4) Value of Instructional Designers

So, do I think our field needs a degree? Yeah, it really does.

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