You've already heard from two experts on going back to school for another degree. The conclusion is that there is no right or wrong path to becoming an instructional designer. Whether you decide to do this journey on your own or go for a degree, what matters is how much you are willing to dedicate to your own growth. In this episode, I talk about different paths to take to help you with finding your own way into the field and how to figure out which instructional design degree is right for you.

Should you go back to school for an instructional design degree? So far, we’ve covered how to be a successful ID without a degree. Today’s episode though covers the benefits of ID degrees and their value. To dive on deep into this conversation, I’m joined by Dr. Karl Kapp from Bloomsburg University. We explored topics like researching an institution’s curriculum, the differences between certs and degrees, current ID trends, and how to capitalize on the benefits of going back to school.

Do you need an instructional design degree to be an instructional designer? It’s a fantastic question since most of us accidentally fell into the ID field. So, how do you know if a degree is right for you and your career? To help with your decision, I brought in two experts in the ID field to share their perspectives. The first you are going to hear from is Tim Slade, the founder of eLearning Designer’s Academy and the author of the wildly popular The eLearning Designer's Handbook. You’ll hear from Tim about his ID journey, his thoughts around degrees, and what employers are looking for in an instructional designer. He also talks about strategies for aspiring instructional designers on how to maneuver around the degree qualification topic.

Today, June 1st, is officially the one year anniversary of the Dr. Luke Hobson Podcast! As a thank you for sticking around with me for this long, this episode combines the most downloaded episodes into one. I also talk a bit more about the behind the scenes of starting the podcast and where it's heading. Once again, thank you all for your support over this last year!

She is one of my favorite people ever in instructional design and her name is Dr. Robin Sargent. Robin is the founder of IDOL Courses Academy and in my opinion, she has changed the game when it comes to corporate instructional design. IDOL has been transforming the lives of aspiring instructional designers and the students in this academy love the learning experience. So, I wanted to know more about how IDOL came to be and how has Robin helped so many new instructional designers.

As a massive thank you for hitting 500 subscribers, this video is a Q&A extravaganza! All of the questions here about instructional design and online learning came from you wonderful people on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and email.

Today’s episode is for all of you teachers out there. Joining us today is Christie Kittle. She’s a Supervisor & Lead Instructional Designer at Washington State University and she’s a former teacher. Christie breaks down all the steps she took to transition from one role to another. She has an absolutely awesome story and if you’re a teacher, this is the episode you need to listen to.

On today’s episode, we are talking all about public speaking. Public speaking is a skill you must practice as a instructional designer. Its not a common skill to hear about in our field, but the more I was growing in my career, the more and more I was talking in front of a crowd. If you think about it, public speaking is in other areas of our lives like interviews, teaching, giving a presentation on our courses, presenting at conferences. Simply put, I believe instructional designers will be doing more in public speaking for years to come. To help us unpack all of this, I needed to find a expert in the field and luckily, I’m friends with Dr. Dawn DiPeri. She’s a learning designer at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and the Owner of East End Advertising. Besides the fact that she’s a learning nerd like us, she even did her dissertation on communication skills for online learners.

I keep hearing from instructional designers about how they are on LinkedIn, but they aren’t taking full advantage of what LinkedIn has to offer. LinkedIn is one of the reasons of how I became an ID and I know this platform can help you too, if you use it correctly. This means building your network, connecting with the right people, finding ID groups, and more.

Working with SMEs can be quite challenging. Perhaps the biggest challenge is the "kick off call," when you talk about working together, expectations, and what's involved in the course design process. This episode will cover my best tips on how to build great relationships with SMEs while providing clarity on how to work together.

I am ridiculously excited to share with you today’s episode with my new friend, Ali Siddiqui. This episode has it all! We talked about his transition from being a chemistry teacher to being an award-winning instructional designer and he’s worked on projects for ASU, NASA, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. We also talked about everything you need to know about project-based learning and how to apply this strategy to your courses and trainings. We also talked about finding the right job opportunity, universal design for learning, and more. Once again, I am ecstatic for you to listen to this one.

It's no secret that instructional design is one of the hottest fields in education. How exactly does one transition into this field though? On today's episode, Dr. Nicole Papaioannou Lugara from Your Instructional Designer, shares her experience and tips when she was an instructional design hiring manager. Whether you are trying to break into the field or you're looking to transition to another ID role, this episode is for you.

Teachers make great instructional designers. There are many similarities in both roles with pedagogy, the learning experience, designing curriculum, and more. However, how does a teacher transition to an instructional design position? On today's episode, I give five recommendations for teachers who want to become instructional designers.

How is it that some institutions have grown exponentially compared to others? Joining me today to discuss this is the Founder and CEO of Kanahoma, Seth Odell. Seth is the marketing machine behind institutions like UCLA, SNHU, and many more. In my mind, when I think of marketing, I think of Seth and his idea behind the SNHU bus commercials which helped SNHU grow from 7,000 students to 70,000 students. You are going to love this episode even if you aren’t in marketing! This conversation was absolutely fascinating to me as Seth gives us the behind the scenes look of how marketing works.

In this episode, Heidi Kirby (Host of the BLOC Podcast) talks to Dr. Luke Hobson about his popular blog post, "What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming an Instructional Designer" and discuss some of their own stories from the field. Dr. Luke Hobson is a Program Manager for Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Writing my dissertation was the hardest challenge I’ve ever faced. The only way I was able to finish it was to make my writing time the number one priority in my life. I can’t imagine trying to complete a PhD during a pandemic, but some doctoral students are doing this right now. Joining us today is Ryan Ivers, a doctoral candidate at Northeastern University. He’s projected to finish in 2021 and I had to pick his brain to hear exactly how he’s managed to stay on track. If you’re in a doctoral program, this episode is for you.

“What is learning engineering?” This was a question I recently asked myself as I kept reading more about it, but I didn’t understand how instructional design and learning engineering intersect. I sought out to find an expert in the learning engineering space and I found one! He happens to also be at MIT. Dr. Aaron Kessler comes on the show to talk about his latest research and his new framework on the learning engineering process.

What do fish, Apple Watches, the legend of Zelda, and learning science have in common? They are all featured on today’s episode! Dr. Julia Huprich from Intellum, Catcat, and Learning Science Weekly comes on the show to talk about the nerdiest of learning nerd topics.

Part 2: Which instructional design path should you follow: higher education or corporate? It’s a fantastic question that many instructional designers are trying to answer. On today’s episode, Heidi Kirby, host of the BLOC podcast, shares her perspectives about being a corporate instructional designer. We break down several topics around roles, benefits, and perks about being an instructional designer and share our experiences. There isn’t a right or wrong answer here, but this episode will help to steer you in the right direction.

Which instructional design path should you follow: higher education or corporate? It’s a fantastic question that many instructional designers are trying to answer. On today’s episode, Heidi Kirby, host of the BLOC podcast, shares her perspectives about being a corporate instructional designer. We break down several topics about being an instructional designer and share our experiences. There isn’t a right or wrong answer here, but this episode will help to steer you in the right direction.