In this chapter, we provide recommendations for choosing your advisor based on our survey of current and recently graduated Ph.D. and master’s students’ experiences. While all graduate students may not be able to choose their advisor, these principles can also be applied to working with assigned advisors or choosing additional faculty mentors. While we direct our discussion towards students choosing an advisor, these ideas may also be relevant to faculty members, particularly new faculty members, seeking to be good mentors. The graduate student who chooses their advisor with the criteria recommended can benefit from a graduate mentoring experience that will positively impact their academic degree, the research they discover and share, and the scholar they become

After completing formal education, Learning and Instructional Design Technology (LIDT) professionals routinely ask the question, “what is next?” The structures of formal education (e.g., semesters, courses, assignments, etc.) provide a recognizable path for continuing our learning. Developing skills and habits of lifelong learning are essential for success in the profession. But how do you keep learning after your formal education concludes? This chapter provides a roadmap to planning professional development by explaining how LIDT professionals can customize their lifelong, informal learning pathways using ‘mind’-sets, ‘skill-sets’ and ‘tool’ sets.

Jered Borup, Leanna Archambault, and Cecil Short share their experiences with conference networking. They offer tips, strategies, and experiences to make networking at conferences a little less daunting. The 4Ps of conference networking - Prepare, Provide, Participate, Pursue - can help you to make the most of networking opportunities.

PIDT is an annual meeting that has become a favorite for many faculty to discuss issues related to curriculum, doctoral student advising and teaching, research, professional service, and emerging theories and technologies. By designing a small conference, focused on networking, discussion, informality, and professional growth, PIDT has a tradition of providing key opportunities for professional development. This chapter explains what PIDT is, and how to participate and attend a future conference.

Ritzhaupt et al. (2012) asked, “Where should educational technologists publish their research?” This question remains relevant for today’s researchers. Most researchers argue that high caliber, peer-reviewed works should be the benchmark for quality. But which journals are high caliber? In this chapter, we share results of a survey of professionals and researchers, identifying which journals in the field are most visible and considered prestigious.

Professional ethics are reflected in the design decisions we make. They arise in our considerations of how decisions will impact individuals and the environment, as well as organizations we serve with our learning and instructional design work. In this chapter, we argue the importance of ethics in the learning and instructional design and technology (LIDT) field, for newcomers and current practitioners alike. Cognizant of how ethics are often discussed in terms of codes of conduct, we first problematize a disconnect and some limitations of the codes-based approaches. We then offer a different way to think about professional ethics in LIDT by advancing an approach that reframes professional ethics as three central practices: reflection, interrogation, and design. We offer practical designerly tools for ethics that LIDT practitioners can use to support the integration of ethics into design work and technology decision making. These three practices—reflection, interrogation, and design—offer fresh ways to think about professional ethics and professional practice. By reframing ethics, we can turn them into parameters and specifications that can then be folded into learning technology designs, artifacts, projects and decision making.

Instructional designers are frequently expected to create learning materials such as infographics and presentations. Visual communication is among the top five skills for instructional designers in higher education. In addition, understanding brand style guides is crucial for creating visually customized learning assets for a particular audience. In this chapter, we discuss visual skills that every LIDT professional needs, divided into two parts: creating visuals for learning and showcasing your work.

As of September 2022, there were 2,322 instructional systems specialists working in the U.S. federal government. However, these professionals work in a space very unique and different from other LIDT professionals. In this chapter, we discuss how to understand the differences in these positions, how to prepare and apply for a position with the U.S. government or military, and the skillsets needed for success.

In today’s school districts and schools, technology and instructional design skills are required of individuals with various roles. We will discuss the skills, knowledge, and roles of school personnel related to the field of educational/instructional technology. In this chapter, we will explore how to get and succeed at a job in K-12 settings.

Museums have a long and storied place in communities around the world. Museums are places where people go to understand the past, to inform their present, and to gain insight into and even influence the future. Because of their community and informal learning focus, careers in museum learning are different than for other LIDT professionals. In this chapter, we discuss the nuances of museum design careers, and how to navigate preparing for and succeeding in this career.

The field of instructional design continues to grow and evolve based on the impact that emergent technologies and education trends have on education institutions. Higher education institutions keep adding positions for instructional designers, educational technologists, or learning design experts. In this chapter we will discuss instructional design jobs in higher education and how to be qualified for one.