The world of education has long progressed past the days of blackboards and chalk stains. Instead, many educators use curriculum development, educational theories, and the latest technologies to develop lessons. However, teachers can't do all this work alone. That's where an instructional systems specialist comes in.
The instructional systems specialist helps coordinate lessons and educational content by training professionals in the latest developments in the field, mastering technological tools such as eLearning platforms, and monitoring the development process. They usually work with a team of educators to develop this process.
Even though instructional systems specialists work in education, that doesn't mean they can only work in schools. They can work for private companies looking to keep their employees fresh or even for the government or military. Wherever people are learning, an instructional systems specialist helps make the process more efficient and effective.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an instructional systems specialist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $32.88 an hour? That's $68,384 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 11,500 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many instructional systems specialists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, communication skills and decision-making skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be an instructional systems specialist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 19.7% of instructional systems specialists included instructional materials, while 16.4% of resumes included instructional design, and 12.0% of resumes included clearance. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the instructional systems specialist job title. But what industry to start with? Most instructional systems specialists actually find jobs in the technology and professional industries.
If you're interested in becoming an instructional systems specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 28.2% of instructional systems specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 49.2% of instructional systems specialists have master's degrees. Even though most instructional systems specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an instructional systems specialist. When we researched the most common majors for an instructional systems specialist, we found that they most commonly earn master's degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on instructional systems specialist resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an instructional systems specialist. In fact, many instructional systems specialist jobs require experience in a role such as teacher. Meanwhile, many instructional systems specialists also have previous career experience in roles such as instructor or instructional designer.