AI is redefining what it means to be an instructional designer. As a researcher and professor, I study that shift and prepare the ID leaders who will navigate it.

My research examines the evolving professional identity and expertise of instructional designers, particularly as generative AI reshapes instructional design practice, professional relationships, and workforce expectations. That includes a recent study analyzing AI-related competency expectations across 235 instructional design job postings, largely in the corporate sector, as well as my ongoing work in higher education, where I study how instructional designers build the social capital needed to collaborate with faculty and lead institutional change. Together, this work asks what AI means for human expertise, professional credibility, and the future of the field, in higher ed and beyond.

That research is grounded in my own path through the field: as an instructional designer and educational technologist at Hartnell College and CSU Monterey Bay (where I served as Online Education Coordinator and adjunct faculty), then at the Naval Postgraduate School's NPS Extended Campus, and now as an Assistant Professor of Instructional Design and Technology in San José State University's School of Information, where I currently coordinate the Master of Science in Instructional Design and Technology (MSIDT) (opens in new tab). I hold a Ph.D. in Leadership with a specialization in Instructional Technology from the University of the Cumberlands, a Master's in Education from CSU East Bay, and a Bachelor's in Communication from CSU Monterey Bay. See this work in practice in my portfolio, or view my full CV (opens in new tab).

I'm based in Monterey, California, with my husband, daughter, and our menagerie of creatures and plants. I'm also a creative writer. You can find that work at elleotero.com (opens in new tab).