Competencies for Instructional Designers: A View from Employers: Competencies for ID
Abstract
Instructional designers should have a variety of skills to perform their job to expected standards. This study was conducted to identify the competencies for designers from the employers' point of view. To do so, 393 job announcements were analyzed to determine the most frequently listed competencies. In addition, 20 instructional-design (ID) project managers were interviewed to determine the most important competencies from their point of view. Findings revealed that collaborating effectively with stakeholders and being subject-matter experts and teammates were the most frequently cited skills. Ability to utilize ADDIE procedures was the most frequently listed skill in the instructional design category, and knowledge and experience with e-learning–authoring software was the most frequently listed competency in the instructional technology category. Announcements for jobs in business and industry, consulting, and health care included more skills related to instructional design, while those in the higher-education sector included additional competencies in instructional technology.
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Previous research about instructional designers' required competencies has often overlooked accessibility.
“Interestingly, previous research about instructional designers' required competencies has often overlooked accessibility (Klein & Kelly, 2018; Kumar & Ritzhaupt, 2017; Ritzhaupt et al., 2021).”
From Instructional Designers’ Perceptions of Accessible and Inclusive Online Course Design (2024) · cites this paper as Klein & Kelly, 2018
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- Authors
- Klein, J. D., & Kelly, W. Q.
- Affiliations
- Florida State University (US)
- ORCID
- Klein, James D.
- Venue
- Performance Improvement Quarterly
- Published
- 2018-10
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 225-247
- ISSN
- 0898-5952 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2897821739
- Cited by
- 55
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 4.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Performance Improvement Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Competency Development and Evaluation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Human Resource Development and Performance Evaluation
- Social Sciences › Education › Vocational Education and Training
- Keywords
- instructional designers, competencies, employer expectations, job advertisements, ADDIE model, educational technology, stakeholder collaboration, subject matter expertise, university teaching
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