Knowledge is power, as the saying goes, but nobody understands that more than Jennifer Hall. Not one to wait around for others to give her direction or a leg up, Jennifer is putting everything that she’s learned from her Master of Science in Instructional Design and Technology to work right now.
Her education paid off even before graduation in June 2024, as Jennifer’s supervisors at customer experience technology company Foundever™ asked her to become part of a new exploratory committee looking into new technologies for their learners.
It was everything she had been working toward, and it was all thanks to her advanced degree program.
“This last year and a half, every single thing that I have done in class and coursework has a direct application to what I’m doing with work. And that has been phenomenal,” Jennifer says.
Starts and Stops
As is the case with many adult learners, the path to a master’s degree wasn’t easy for Jennifer. She began getting her liberal arts degree more than 20 years ago, but there was no clear path available once she began dealing with chronic health issues. Married with adopted children, Jennifer had to prioritize her health and family. College would have to wait.
Jennifer and her husband moved to Oregon to help take care of her father-in law after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. There, she began working from home as a call center representative. Being in a wheelchair, working from home was essential, though Jennifer concedes it was not what she had planned to do for her career.
“I needed a job,” she says.
To her surprise, it turned out to be more than a job. In fact, it became a massive opportunity to earn a living while steering her course for the future. Jennifer took advantage of the tuition benefit that her company provided and after years of waiting, she enrolled at the University of Arizona Global Campus to earn a college degree.
Initially, she was fearful that the combination of work, school, family, and her health would prevent her from sticking to the commitment. But she found inspiration in her own journey, and the relationship she’d formed with her father-in-law.
“Something about the caregiving process showed me that I can do hard things,” she says.
A Dream Realized
Every night, Jennifer dedicated a couple of hours to her studies. That dedication helped her complete the liberal arts degree she had started so long ago. The degree, she initially thought, would help her start the journey toward becoming a teacher*, like many members of her family had done before her.
Instead, she discovered another path and fell in love with another line of work, one that was still within the realm of education but wasn’t exactly in the classroom. It started when she was elevated from the call center to a training position.
“I really started to appreciate the training materials and how they’re created,” she recalls.
The calling, she felt, was toward a career in instructional design — the process of determining the needs of a learner, identifying the material they need, then designing a plan that caters to those needs.
Jennifer quickly realized, “That’s what I want to do.”
Putting Her Degree to Work
Upon completing her liberal arts degree at UAGC in 2022, Jennifer set her sights on the next level of learning. Her master’s degree in instructional design and technology, she knew, would give her a foundational understanding of the sector, allowing her to succeed in her day-to-day role while targeting future opportunities.
Before starting her master’s degree at UAGC, Jennifer admits to feeling like she was working in a vacuum. She wasn’t part of a team, and there weren’t any co-workers to bounce ideas off of. That’s the way things were, she believed, because that’s the way they’d always been done.
But learning elevates a person beyond their current status. When Jennifer’s supervisor found out she was working on her master’s degree, her manager was intrigued. The two started to develop a stronger relationship, and Jennifer felt confident enough to discuss what she was learning and what goals she had laid out for herself.
Her supervisor could tell that Jennifer’s experience would not only change her but also the company – both for the better. One month into her master’s program, Jennifer shared a scholarly article she read on LinkedIn about AI learning design with her supervisor. After seeing that post, her supervisor asked for a meeting and offered Jennifer an exploratory committee position.
“I really felt like I found what I was supposed to do.”
Since taking the next step, Jennifer has learned how powerful every phase of the instructional design model is: analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate. That is the exact model she now works through with her team.
“As difficult as it has been, it has just immediately been rewarding,” she says. “It has been kismet the way that this has worked out.”
Expert Help
Every step has its challenges, but Jennifer says her UAGC instructors were invaluable during her journey. There were times, she recalls, when she would ask about specific issues happening with her work team. Because of her instructors’ expertise, she was able to get even more information than she thought possible.
“They were able to give me real-world solutions. It’s like having an expert in my pocket,” she says.
Because of her classes, Jennifer has been able to recommend new software programs to her supervisor, which they began using immediately.
Designing Her Own Future
Jennifer is so thankful she was able to complete two degrees at home while working, with the support of her family.
“I feel that my education is something that nobody can take away, whether I have a job or I don’t,” she says.
Jennifer is now a two-time UAGC graduate who carried a 4.0 in both her bachelor’s and master’s degree programs. And she still feels like she has plenty of room to grow in her career. Instructional design is a rapidly expanding area of education and Jennifer believes it will only continue to grow and improve with time. With more than a year of experience under her belt, Jennifer is interested to see what opens up next and is excited about putting more of her skills into practice.
“Now that I have my degrees, I see the future is very bright,” she concludes.
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Certain degree programs may not be available in all states.
An online degree from the University of Arizona Global Campus does not lead to immediate teacher licensure in any state.
Student success stories should not be interpreted as a promise or guarantee of career advancement or future earnings. The stories shared here represent the outcomes of individual students for illustrative purposes only.