ID2ID Mentorship Program Returns for Second Year
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA – Teaching and Learning with Technology at Penn State has announced that it has teamed up with EDUCAUSE to host the ID2ID program for the second consecutive year. Instructional designers who are accepted into the program will be matched as mentors, mentees, or buddies based on their desired achievements.
Applications for the 2018-19 edition of ID2ID are currently being accepted and the deadline to apply is May 7, 2018. The program will begin in June 2018 and conclude in January 2019.
"It is a thrill to offer this peer-based mentoring program for instructional designers on an international scale,” says Kyle Bowen, director of education technology with Teaching and Learning with Technology. “As a program, ID2ID’s roots trace back to an internal effort at Penn State but now, thanks to our partnership with the Educause Learning Initiative, it has grown to help nearly 300 IDs throughout the world.”
Last year ID2ID brought together participants from the United States, Canada, China, Australia, Columbia, South Africa, Lebanon, and South Korea.
ID2ID is intentionally loosely guided so that participants’ experiences can be tailored to meet specific goals. Mentors, mentees, and buddies utilize an array of online communication tools to discuss their challenges and ideas, collaborate on presentation topics, and more.
According to Veronica Diaz, director of professional learning with EDUCAUSE, the human connection between ID2ID participants is the driving force behind their professional development. She also notes the crucial role that technology played in making the program possible.
“It was interesting that participating in ID2ID, although it was virtual, still supported participants making significant professional connections,” says Diaz. “We could not have reached the number of individuals that we did last year without the effective use of technology to support the mentoring and personalized learning that took place through the professional development we offered.”
Not only did participants in the inaugural ID2ID program reap the benefits of career development, their feedback laid the foundation for improvements to this year’s edition.
“We received some wonderful suggestions at the conclusion of last year’s program,” notes Angela Dick, learning design manager at Penn State. “For this year we have added small groups in addition to the mentor/mentee and buddy pairs. This will allow participants to tap into an even broader knowledge base and expand their professional networks even further.”
Additionally, at the conclusion of this year’s ID2ID program, participants will receive digital badges.
According to ID2ID leadership, applicants and participants can expect a simplified application process, clearer requirements for the badge track, and streamlined communications.
Prior to its nationwide scope, ID2ID was piloted at Penn State and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Brian Wilson, an instructional designer at Nebraska, serves on the advisory board and looks forward to helping an even greater number of instructional designers overcome common challenges in their field.
“IDs often battle uphill when attempting to work with faculty on course design/redesign,” Wilson said. “Faculty may not know what an instructional designer is, and ID2ID has allowed for a better understanding of ways that IDs function across multiple institutions.”
Interested instructional designers can visit the ID2ID website for more information.