\n<\/p>\n
Luke Hobson does it all. He is not only assistant director of instructional design for MIT xPRO and a lecturer at the University of Miami\u2019s School of Education and Human Development, but Luke also writes books, hosts a podcast, blogs, publishes a newsletter, creates videos on YouTube and seems to know everyone in our field. <\/p>\n
I asked if Luke would be willing to step away from all these commitments and projects to answer my questions, and he graciously agreed.<\/p>\n
Q: How did your career progress from an individual learning design contributor to advancing into a leadership role at your institution, as well as a thought leader and creator in the learning, technology and design space? What advice do you have for others in our field looking to increase their campus and national impact?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: <\/strong>I have a bit of an obsession within our field. I still find it remarkable that, for a living, I get to care about designing learning experiences. Funny enough, I had no idea this field even existed until I met an instructional designer back in 2013. As soon as I\u00a0learned that this was a career, I went all in. That obsessive mentality stayed with me when I became a contributor at Northeastern University and later at MIT. I wanted to find every possible way to create the most effective and meaningful kinds of courses and programs.<\/p>\n Through all of my seldom successes and many, many failures, I learned a thing or two along the way, and I decided to start sharing these stories online. It began with answering questions in Facebook groups, which eventually turned into a blog, a podcast, a YouTube channel, a book and more. What I discovered through sharing these moments is that I\u00a0developed a love for teaching about instructional design. This led me to pursue a leadership role at MIT and to build a team of instructional designers. It also led me to teach in the University of Miami\u2019s online Ed.D. program. Being able to teach future leaders in learning science has been an incredibly rewarding experience.<\/p>\n The best piece of advice I can give is to share. Share everything. Share your wins. Share your losses. Share your moments of glory. Share the times you fall flat on your face. People appreciate transparency. That\u2019s how I built my brand online and my presence at MIT. I didn\u2019t realize how much of an impact I was having until multiple faculty members mentioned following me on LinkedIn and asked how they could hire an instructional designer for their team. It\u2019s been amazing to see the growth of IDs here from when I first started to now.<\/p>\n Another step you can take today is to build your network. Dig the well before you\u2019re thirsty. You mentioned how it seems like I know everyone in our field and I chuckled, thinking back to when I didn\u2019t know a soul in instructional design. The pandemic opened my eyes: Everyone was stuck at home and on Zoom, so I took advantage of that. I reached out to people on LinkedIn for virtual coffee chats, invited them on my podcast, gave webinars for universities and companies, and more. All of this was to get to know people. If you want to make an impact, you can\u2019t do it alone. You need the support of others, and there is no better community than the learning nerds.<\/p>\n Q: Your Ed.D. is in educational leadership. Please tell us about your program and how completing a terminal degree in this field has impacted your career. For our community of nonfaculty educators\u2014learning nerds\u2014what are your recommendations around pursuing a doctorate while working?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: <\/strong>I\u2019m thankful that I had a truly fantastic Ed.D. experience. I have to give all the credit in the world to Dr. Peg Ford for what she built at Southern New Hampshire University. I was on the fence about pursuing this degree, but after speaking with current students at the time, I felt like it was the right place for me. The program was built on a core foundation of a cohort-based model and forging strong bonds with fellow members. Dr. Ford understood the perils and curve balls life throws your way when you\u2019re pursuing a doctorate and how easily those challenges can land you in A.B.D. limbo. It didn\u2019t take long to see she was absolutely right. Our cohort faced major life events\u2014losing loved ones, taking on new roles, having children, relocating to new cities and more. Through it all, we stuck together.<\/p>\n What I appreciated most about my Ed.D. in educational leadership was the range of educators I met. From business professors to special education teachers, from deans to superintendents, I had the opportunity to hear a wide variety of perspectives on education and what it means to support students and fellow educators. I was introduced to the good, the bad and the ugly. By taking in all of those voices, I was able to apply their teachings and life lessons to my own learning experiences. That program shaped me into the educator I am today.<\/p>\n What I find most surprising is that I now teach in an online Ed.D. program in applied learning sciences at the University of Miami. I often share with my students the same message about sticking together as a cohort and how those bonds will carry them through. While Dr. Ford is no longer associated with SNHU\u2019s program, my dissertation chair, Dr. Audrey Rodgers, is now leading it. I recently had the chance to speak with current students, and it\u2019s amazing to see how much the program has grown since I graduated.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what I wish I knew before pursuing a doctorate: It\u2019s absolutely possible to do, but it will be the hardest thing you\u2019ve ever done. There\u2019s a reason why only a small fraction of the population holds the title of doctor. No matter which school you attend, it\u2019s going to be difficult. But in my opinion, it\u2019s worth it. I knew I wanted to work in academia, and after speaking with a few colleagues, they all advised me to go back to grad school. Every role I wanted in the future required either an Ed.D. or a Ph.D., so it was the logical choice.<\/p>\n With all that said, the first step in your journey as a working professional should be finding the right program for your needs. Not all programs are created equal. After all, you\u2019re about to commit at least three to seven years of your life to this institution, so it\u2019s important to choose wisely. Do your due diligence. Contact the institution and ask as many questions as you want. Watch program webinars. Find currently enrolled students on LinkedIn and ask for a quick chat about their experience. Connect with faculty and administrators. Read online reviews. Go the extra mile before starting this journey.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve found the right program for your goals, my best advice is to set up a system that works for your life. Your schedule has to shift to make space for classwork, research, lectures, readings and everything else. For me, this meant starting my days earlier. I found myself constantly distracted during the day, so I decided to wake up before everyone else. Surprisingly, it worked. Once you find a system that fits, it needs to become sacred and a top priority. I also relied heavily on the Pomodoro technique to stay focused and on track. If you haven\u2019t used the \u201cstudy with me\u201d videos on YouTube, you\u2019re missing out. Whatever helps you get into a state of flow is going to be key.<\/p>\n And I know your question was about going back to school while working, but honestly, work wasn\u2019t the hardest part of my academic journey. For me, it was family and my social life. Work will always be there. But when you start missing family functions, birthdays and social events, it\u2019s tough. I\u00a0essentially became a hermit during the final stretch of my dissertation. That was the only way I could stay focused and meet my goals.<\/p>\n Q: The growth of online programs has increased the demand for learning designers. There is concern within our profession that in the (near) future, AI will be able to do much of the work that learning designers have traditionally done. How worried should learning designers be and what can they do to ensure they are not replaced by\u00a0AI?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: <\/strong>Ah yes, the million-dollar question. What\u2019s funny is that I\u2019ve been designing AI courses long before the generative AI boom, and I could\u2019ve never predicted that AI would find its way into our space. In health care, medication discovery or 3-D printing? Sure. But instructional design? That thought never crossed my mind. Yet here we are.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s break down your question a bit, starting with the concern around AI. You\u2019re going to see this come in waves. A new breakthrough will happen, there will be mass pandemonium online and, within a few weeks, it fades. AI tools will continue to evolve and become more helpful, but someone still has to drive the bus. AI can\u2019t do everything for you. I think that\u2019s where many decision-makers are getting confused. Everyone is trying to add AI into their products, but do people actually want those features? The answer is often no.<\/p>\n AI can be helpful for kick-starting ideas. But if you\u2019re a student and you find out that your entire course was generated by AI and not created by a human, you\u2019d likely be furious.<\/p>\n A great source of insight on this is Reddit. You\u2019ll find post after post from students deeply concerned about how AI is being used, whether by classmates or even by professors. LLMs tend to have a certain tone and style. It\u2019s hard to describe exactly, but the writing often feels off. Unnatural. AI isn\u2019t magical, even though that\u2019s exactly how marketers are presenting it. LLMs work by predicting patterns based on data and trying to say the next most probable thing to please the user. In many cases, this doesn\u2019t add up.<\/p>\n Now, on to the second part of your question: What can instructional designers do to ensure they\u2019re not replaced?<\/p>\n We do what we\u2019ve always done. We learn. Become the most knowledgeable person on your team when it comes to the ins and outs of AI. For many, AI still feels like a black box, and that\u2019s understandable. But if you know which tool serves which purpose and how to use these tools to enhance your designs, ensure accessibility, create flexible learning pathways, transform content into different formats and generate compelling visuals, you\u2019ll be far ahead of the curve.<\/p>\n As you experiment, you\u2019ll also encounter the limits of these tools. And when you see where AI stumbles, you\u2019ll feel much more secure about your place in this evolving landscape. It\u2019s not there yet. And getting an entire industry to adopt something at scale, especially something as complex as AI, is a massive undertaking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Luke Hobson does it all. He is not only assistant director of instructional design for MIT xPRO and a lecturer at the University of Miami\u2019s School of Education and Human Development, but Luke also writes books, hosts a podcast, blogs, publishes a newsletter, creates videos on YouTube and seems to know everyone in our field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[18918,7123,18917,1226],"class_list":{"0":"post-32901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-hobson","9":"tag-luke","10":"tag-mits","11":"tag-questions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}