Mentorship can lay the foundation for success when onboarding new instructional designers. This panel session will share how one instructional design mentorship program has evolved to help new IDs to bridge the expertise gap, foster growth, and enhance skills that help them flourish in their new role.

In the ever-evolving landscape of instructional design, mentorship has become increasingly central to the onboarding of new instructional designers (IDs) (Mancilla & Frey, 2020). This session aims to address the multifaceted nature of ID roles and the absence of a systematic method for preparing new IDs to become experts in their role within their organization. 

This panel session will delve into the complexities of the ID profession, acknowledging the diversity of educational backgrounds and the lack of a common career path that often leaves new IDs unprepared for the practical challenges they face in their work. Additionally, we acknowledge that the role of an instructional designer might vary greatly from organization to organization. Thus, we will introduce a structured mentorship program that can be adapted to the needs of different organizations to facilitate the transition of new IDs into their role. 

In this panel session we will outline how our onboarding process and mentorship program have evolved over the last few years through multiple hiring cycles. We will hear from our associate director of instructional design, who inspired the mentorship program, a senior instructional designer who oversees the new ID onboarding process, an ID who has served as a mentor multiple times over the duration of the program, and an ID who is about two years out from the mentorship process. The associate vice provost of educational programs and learning innovation will moderate the panel. We will share the structure of our onboarding program and do a deep dive into the various stages of our mentorship program, which includes an assessment of the new ID’s skillset, assignment of multiple mentors to work with the new ID, a shadowing phase followed by a reverse shadowing phase, and regular communication among mentoring team members. We will identify how the program is designed to develop and monitor growth while targeting areas that still require development. 

Participants in this panel session will engage in an activity where they evaluate their current onboarding and mentorship processes and identify areas for improvement. We also plan to engage participants through an interactive Q&A experience. 

This session will highlight the correlation between onboarding, mentorship, and employee satisfaction and retention. By connecting these elements, we aim to inspire instructional design teams or online learning leaders to consider implementing their own mentorship programs. 

Attendees will leave the session with a clear understanding of the complexities of instructional design work. They will learn how mentorship helps new IDs overcome training gaps they may encounter during onboarding. Our mentorship program will inspire participants with successful strategies they can apply in their own context, fostering an environment supporting continuous learning and growth. We will end our session with a call to action, asking participants to draft an action statement based on something in the session that might be applied at their own organization. 

In short, this session is more than just a panel, it's a movement towards a mentorship culture that values the professional growth and job satisfaction of instructional designers. It's an opportunity to be part of a community that's committed to nurturing the next generation of instructional designers, ensuring that they are not only prepared but inspired to excel in their careers. 

Participants in our session will: 

• Recognize the value of mentorship within the complex and multifaceted nature of ID work. 
• Make connections between onboarding, mentorship, and employee satisfaction and retention. 
• Identify successful onboarding and mentoring strategies for new IDs that are applicable in their organizational context. 

References: 

Mancilla, R. & Frey, B. (2020). A Model for Developing Instructional Design Professionals for Higher Education Through Apprenticeship: Blending Theory and Practice. The Journal of Applied Instructional Design, 9(2). https://dx.doi.org/10.51869/92rmbf