Starting out as an instructor and instructional designer, I questioned my teaching methods, qualifications, design models, and how to provide support. No longer a newbie in either field, this session discusses some challenges/questions I and many others face when first starting out, and the answers found along the way.
Starting a new job is often filled with anxiety, questions, and fears. Individuals feel anxiety over information they do not know yet, over strategy effectiveness, over how to establish authority...and much more. There is even evidence to suggest that individuals may experience the feelings of being an impostor or fraud, that they are not qualified or knowledgeable enough to do the job they have. This is called Impostor Syndrome. While I am no stranger to these feelings, what I did not know was that others experience them also.
As a new instructor, I questioned my teaching qualifications and methods. No one had ever taught me how to be a teacher, how to connect with students, how to establish my role as their instructor/authority figure, or what to do when I experienced a behavioral problem in my course. Was I doing things wrong? Likewise, as a newly hired instructional designer, I experienced anxiety trying to determine what my role was around faculty, staff, and administration. All the while, I was also trying to decipher the best design model, navigate the changing work landscape, and take on new responsibilities. It wasn’t until almost a year into both roles, that I learned I was not alone in these worries. Others experience these same challenges, but many never seek or get the resources/support they need.
This interactive session is designed to open the conversation to some of the questions and challenges experienced by novices in the fields of teaching and instructional design. By analyzing these issues and exploring some answers/solutions, the session intends to provide beneficial information to current novices, as well as strategies for administrative-level individuals for information sharing with new employees under their supervision. Using personal examples and experiences for demonstrative purposes, Novice No More: What Newbies Need to Know explores elements of teaching and instructional design key to gaining stable footing in these fields.
During this presentation, participants will identify common questions novices have in the fields of teaching and instructional design; identify the potential answers/solutions to those questions, and discuss techniques and strategies for recognizing and providing supportive resources for these and other questions, fears, and/or anxieties that novices may encounter.
This presentation will be beneficial for all novice instructors and instructional designers, as well as managers and supervisors for novice instructors and instructional designers.
Finally, participants will have the opportunity to self-reflect and discuss in small groups about common questions they had when first starting work as instructors and instructional designers (ID); to list (in our large group) common questions and fears of "newbie" teachers and IDs; and to summarize answers and supportive resources to the questions/fears discussed as a group.