Page 62 - Campus Technology, October/November 2019

C-LEVEL VIEW Wagner: It used to be that the people interest- ed in e-learning typically came to their e-learn- ing jobs from other learning organizations — training departments, corporate universities, on-boarding centers, compliance centers, col- leges or universities, or counseling and testing centers. E-learning positions typically called for experience in training, teaching and curriculum design, with degrees in education, psychology, HR, ID, training and communications. Graduate degrees in education technology and instruc- tional design provided the experience with the- oretical knowledge and research methods. The ability to add certifications and credentials from professional associations and from technology companies themselves helped expand technical knowledge of an ever-evolving field. However, as the web increasingly became the preferred medium of expression, especially for e-learning, online learning and digital learning, more and more user experience (UX) designers found their way into instructional design studios, creating rich, engaging instructional teaching, training and learning resources, environments and assets. “Accidental” instructional designers found their way into the craft of ID by coming from sales organizations and product organiza- tions. Accidental IDs studied ID models and methods through self-help curricula and online courses, and through the use of rapid authoring tools as well as through the support and encour- agement of professional communities including the eLearning Guild communities, Articulate’s eLearning Heroes, AECT, Educause and the Online Learning Consortium, to name just a very few examples. Other accidental IDs joined the learning and development professional ranks after shifting from academic, instructional and information technology-focused positions in institutions, agencies and enterprises to jobs that focused more on the users and less on the plat- forms. They, too, often found their ID-specific skills being augmented by short courses, work- shops and webcasts from associations, commu- nities of practice and from commercial providers of professional development resources. CT: But what is happening now? Wagner: These days, with data from organiza- tional transactions, platforms, assessments, engagements and interactions surrounding us, people from across lines of business are increas- ingly interested in taking a look at these data, in conjunction with other organizational perfor- mance data, to seek ways to improve enterprise performance. What if we could compare invest- ments in learning experiences and interventions used in the workplace, training, product devel- opment and even experimental testing settings with other measures, such as sales performance, product rollouts or employee retention? It becomes harder and harder to justify not being interested in putting data back to work to answer questions in support of the success of the enterprise. In doing so, it becomes harder and harder to separate learning functions from the rest of the enterprise. This is a significant shift in the role that learning enterprises can play in today’s enterprises. 62 CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | Oct/Nov 2019