With the world becoming increasingly digital, people need the right skills to stay on top of the constantly changing technological landscape. Often, there is a disparity between individuals’ digital skills and those required to succeed in today’s job market. This imbalance is known as the digital skills gap, and it’s affecting almost every country in the world, where the fast-paced digital transformation of the job market is leaving many struggling to keep up.
This is where the EdTech company Growth Tribe comes in. The company’s mission is to help bridge the digital skills gap and enable people to elevate their knowledge and skills through learning. To achieve this, Growth Tribe offers adult learners an online learning platform with various on-demand courses in data and analytics, marketing, business development, and UX design. These courses are designed to be accessible, flexible, and convenient for independent learners and businesses. They are developed by Learning Experience Designers who collaborate with industry-leading Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to integrate their extensive knowledge and experience and design and create engaging, effective, and transformative courses.
I’m Noa, and today I want to share my experience working for Growth Tribe and introduce you to the world of learning experience design. In full disclosure, I had already been working in Growth Tribe’s Operations department before my internship began. I was always passionate about education and social interventions, and the company’s goals really resonated with me. I absolutely loved working there, so when I heard that an intern position for a Learning Experience Designer was opening up in the Learning Studios department, I was the first in line to apply. And I’m still here today, even though my internship ended, working as a full-time learning experience designer.
Now, you might be wondering, what does any of this have to do with communication science? In all honesty, when I applied for the position, I was asking myself the same thing.
The answer is that, in addition to my broad range of general academic transferable skills, my experience as a learning experience designer has allowed me to gain valuable practical skills that align perfectly with our program’s objectives. The Communication Science program and Growth Tribe’s mission are both centred around equipping individuals with the necessary skills and hands-on experience to succeed in the digital world and evolving landscape. Thanks to that, the knowledge I gained in my studies allowed me to develop effective communication strategies that go beyond the scope of persuasive, corporate, political, or entertainment communication and into the fascinating and impactful field of Instructional communication.
Instructional communication refers to the process of designing and delivering instructional materials and messages to facilitate effective learning. This field draws from various disciplines, including communication science, education, psychology, and technology, to design and implement instructional messages, media, and technology that enhance learning and create effective and engaging educational experiences for learners.
Basically, it’s all about making sure people understand how to do something by communicating information effectively. Imagine, for example, trying to teach your friend how to do a new dance move. You need to be able to explain it in a way that makes sense to them, motivates them and helps them get the steps right. Instructional communication is the same idea but on a larger scale. It’s all about ensuring people have the information they need to do something and that it’s presented in a way they can understand and act on.
Now for the sake of keeping the word limit, I’ll conclude by saying that although challenging and sometimes intensive, my experience as a learning experience designer at Growth Tribe has been incredibly fulfilling and meaningful. If you are interested, I encourage you to read more about the topic. I highly recommend this internship to anyone willing to think outside the box and passionate about education and design.