Bethany Lamer Vogel

Bethany was bit by the travel bug on a trip to Norway to visit a friend and subsequently traveled to Israel, Portugal, and France - among other destinations. Her travels are a vital inspiration to her work in the challenging and ever changing field of instructional design.

Bethany Lamer Vogel attained a bachelor's degree in Technical Communications from Metropolitan State University of Denver before attending University of Michigan-Flint where she earned her masters in Technology in Education with a Global Focus.

  “The notion of travel is just about gaining different perspectives.”

Bethany’s travels first started while she was pursuing her undergraduate studies, in Denver. The Democratic National Convention was being held there and due to the flood of people visiting the city she found herself with a week off of both work and school. She took this opportunity to do something she had always wanted to do, visit a childhood friend that had moved to Norway. It was during that trip that she got bit by the travel bug. According to Bethany, “[t]he notion of travel is just about gaining different perspectives” and this philosophy is vital to her learner centered design approach that she utilizes in daily work. It is this understanding of how different minds work that benefits her work in instructional design.

What is Instructional Design?

  Search for “instructional design” online and you will come across a multitude of definitions where it seems the only similarity between the definitions is that the field revolves around designing instruction. When asked about this Bethany explains that the reason it is such a “fuzzy” job description is because instructional designers can, and often do, fulfil a variety of different roles. One role someone might take is that of an eLearning developer, who mainly focuses on the development of the course materials and technology into a suitable delivery format. Another designer might focus more on the theory of learning and may help an organization with their structure and system for training. There are additionally a plethora of job titles that fit within this field as well. Some of these titles include: Instructional Systems Designer, Instructional Technologist, Learning Specialist, and Learning Experience Designer.

Currently Bethany works with GP Strategies, as in Instructional Designer, with a team, in a consultant type role. She focuses on the design of the learning, or how the learning will be delivered and used by her clients. Her team can include a variety of people, almost like a production team that is utilized in other fields. This production team can include individuals that specialize in developing the media (video, animations, etc.) that enhance the educational experience, and content developers that focus on the development and refinement of the course’s instructional material.

“I love learning about how other people learn.”

One of the skills that someone should have in this field is a love of learning, and one that Bethany deeply has. The variety of challenges and experiences in her daily work environment are often brought about through working with clients, who are often the experts in the content area for the project being designed. Bethany says that she “love[s] learning about how other people learn,” and it is that energy and expertise that she brings to the table in each of her projects. Her current work allows her to immerse herself in her love of learning new things. Each project that she works on provides new material and content to familiarize herself with. Each project offers opportunities to gain knowledge, new information and content to organize and mold into a platform and experience that best benefits the learner. These unique perspectives and challenges are what truly sparks her interest in the field of Instructional Design.

She currently works from home, which many instructional designers do, and it is a flexibility option that she prefers. Her duties can include developing templates, course materials, and on the occasion that she has some downtime she actively pursues researching the changes and current events that are going on in the field.

Making a Game Out of It

  One of the ways to develop a content delivery system is through gamification, which brings some elements of play motivation into the learning environment. One such project that Bethany was part of and used this method for was Rock Director. While those taking this particular course would complete assignments they would receive various elements that were inspired by rewards of the popular game, Guitar Hero. Bethany finds the use of gamification an interesting element to incorporate into her work, and has been part of implementing these type of systems into other projects (not just the aforementioned, Rock Director). She finds that the implementation of play elements can really inspire others to take part more actively in the learning process. Bethany also finds it fascinating to see how this approach can really impact the learning process for adult learners. The process of play can really tap into making learning relevant, useful, and interesting, the three elements that together can create a successful learning experience. Written by: Kathleen McCurley August, 2017