What career opportunities are there for an instructional technologist / psychology hobbyist?
April 30, 2010 7:16 AM   Subscribe

What career opportunities are there for an instructional technologist / psychology hobbyist?

I've always loved my psychology classes, but I've only ever learned enough to be dangerous. My strengths and experience are in instructional technology (teaching others to implement technology). Is there a marriage of these two paths (even if it means getting a degee in Psych)?
posted by jander03 to Work & Money (5 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: There is a lot of research conducted at the intersection of psychology and technology. Cognitive, I/O, or Applied Experimental are just a start. Tell us this, what did you like about psychology? Was there a particular area that stands out?
posted by Silvertree at 7:39 AM on April 30, 2010


Response by poster: Thanks for answering.

In particular I like things like Kohlberg's theory of development, Piaget's early development, and body language. I've always been particularly interested in high-functioning Asperger's syndrome (even before I went to a technology school!).
Also, pretty much any pop psychology you come across in book like Blink! or magaznes like Scientific American. I have also been made fun of for listening to podcasts of Psych lectures on long trips.

I should point out that I'm more of a technology evangelizer or early adopter than I am, say, software coder.
posted by jander03 at 8:52 AM on April 30, 2010


Best answer: You could consider looking at some Greenbelt/Blackbelt Six-Sigma implementations in your field. There's a lot to the disection of tasks and incorporating new techniques that leverages both how and why we do things and more to the point: determining what are the ways to improve the way we do things.
posted by Nanukthedog at 8:56 AM on April 30, 2010


Best answer: Human-Computer Interaction
Human Factors
posted by callmejay at 9:27 AM on April 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Instructional Design connects educational psychology and instructional technology -- in the business world, ASTD isn't a bad place to start. They have a jobs section.
posted by idb at 9:39 AM on April 30, 2010


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