So… I’m Becoming an Instructional Designer

If you’re reading this, hi—and yes, this is officially me starting a blog. No dramatic announcement, no “thought leadership” moment, just a place to document what I’m learning and where I’m headed. I’m currently working on my master’s degree in Learning Design and Technology at Purdue University, and this blog is part reflection, part progress log, and part proof that this whole journey is very real and actually happening.

Before this program, my career lived in a few different lanes—communications, training, operations, creative work—and at the time, none of it was labeled “instructional design.” Looking back now, that’s… hilarious, because so much of what I was doing already lived in that space. Explaining complex things. Creating resources people actually used. Figuring out why someone was stuck and adjusting the way information was presented so it finally clicked. Purdue’s program helped me put a name, a structure, and a theory-backed process around work I’d been circling for years. If you’re curious what that kind of program looks like in practice, Learning Design and Technology at Purdue University gives a solid overview—minus the late-night “why did I choose grad school again?” moments.

One thing I didn’t fully appreciate before starting is how much instructional design is about thinking, not just building. There’s a lot of “pause here,” “ask why,” and “maybe don’t make that a slide” energy. Designers spend a lot of time behind the scenes—talking with subject matter experts, untangling messy problems, and designing learning that feels simple because it’s been thought through carefully. If you’re wondering what an instructional designer actually does day to day, What Does an Instructional Designer Do? is a great, low-pressure place to start. This blog is where I’ll share what I’m building, what’s clicking, what’s confusing, and how all of this is moving me toward my next goal: landing a role in instructional design and doing this work full-time.

Next up, I’ll dig more into how my past roles quietly trained me for this path long before I had the title—and how grad school helped connect those dots. For now, welcome. We’re doing this.