Jennifer Rivers took an unconventional path to earning her Master’s in Instructional Design and Technology from Georgia State University.
She enrolled in her undergraduate program in managerial science with Georgia State’s Robinson College of Business at age 33, after a back injury prevented her from continuing her retail career as a manager and trainer with Foot Locker. While earning her bachelor’s degree, Rivers landed an internship with LexisNexis, a role that ultimately led her to a full-time position managing corporate training and development programs for the company.
A few years later, Rivers was laid off from this position and decided to continue her education through Georgia State’s Instructional Design and Technology program after learning more about the curriculum from Program Coordinator Dr. Mike Law. Since the program was a new offering at the time, Rivers wanted to make sure that it was the right fit for her career goals.
“I told him about my background, and Dr. Law was like a breath of fresh air for me,” Rivers said. “He told me he knew for sure that the program was for me, and he broke down all the things that the program had to offer. I applied for the program, I got in and the rest is history.’
Rivers said the program provided her with a solid foundation in the principles of instructional design and technology and cited the comprehensive portfolio she prepared as a particularly impactful experience. The portfolio, which required students to outline their perspectives about structural design, was a challenge for Rivers since she did not have any prior experience in the field.
However, the portfolio that Rivers created was an essential part of her success down the road. Now a Learning and Development Manager for UPS, Rivers has been able to pull from that portfolio in the nearly seven years that she’s worked for the company.
In her current role, Rivers develops training sites and programs for UPS drivers that are grounded in how drivers learn, with a primary focus on training programs for new drivers. To redesign the curriculum, Rivers flew to Portland, Oregon to complete driver training. She learned alongside other trainees and even tested out of the program.
“I gained a lot of insights and institutional knowledge and was also able to better empathize with the drivers,” Rivers said. “I really wanted to hone in the right methodology and pedagogy.”
Though her path to a career in instructional design wasn’t linear, the management and training experiences that Rivers gained along the way shaped her into the professional she is today.
“All of my outside skills and elements came to the table to prepare me for the role I have now,” Rivers said.
Rivers’ advice for current Georgia State students who are looking to take the next step in their career is to establish a relationship with professionals in their desired field well before they begin the job search process. The efforts to build a relationship, invest in career growth and communicate professionally will pay off in the long term.
“If you wait until you graduate to network, you’re too late,” Rivers said.