What is Expected for E-Learning Instructional Designers in China?
Abstract: As a profession with a complex nature, the role of e-learning instructional designers and the competencies for them are being studied constantly yet still remain ambiguous. Existing research neglected the employers’ perspectives about the role or responsibilities of instructional designers. Little research has been conducted under China’s specific context. To investigate what is expected by the employers in China, this study conducted a content analysis on the job ads recently posted in two popular Chinese job search websites. The findings show that employers’ expectations reflect China’s current economic development level and the influence of traditional culture. The study contributed to the description of e-learning instructional designers’ role and their competencies and also shed some light to the emerging e-learning field in East Asia where traditional values collide with the intense trend of westernization and industrialization.