It probably comes as no real "news" that we live in a so-called "permanent upgrade culture." Those of us in IT know that ours is a field of perpetual innovation. There is no end point for "stabilization" or "stasis" per se.

What does that mean for our work as instructional designers?

The Challenges of Agility

One analogy for the many incoming changes would be that of incoming waves battering a shore. New technologies. New ways of interacting (Web 2.0). New professional expectations. New clients on and off campus. New authoring tools. New conference topics. New opportunities for thinking and writing.

Course curriculums aging out. Digital preservation endeavors. New visionaries. New paradigms. New patches. New storage devices. New educational theories. New applied curricular builds. New texts.

These roll in, some with tsunami-like strength. These seem to cycle in faster and faster with ever higher demands for adaptability. This has become clearer as we've changed a system for recording our work types, and a lot of my work day (and weekends) is spent focused on new learning.

If I wanted to expand to other areas of work and understanding, there's plenty of potential there, too. There's no way to keep up with it all, so then it becomes a choice of which areas I need to focus on and which I prefer to specialize in. I get to choose my own skill set based on what I can do well and what intrigues me.

The Why

I know why I left behind the protections of tenure and guaranteed work and 9-month years. It's to ride these shimmery digital waves.