What Does an Instructional Technologist Do?
Faculty, students and online learners depend on instructional technologists for course sites, videos and classroom tools that work every time. They make sure that the learning management system is set up for each term, and recorded lectures are captioned and posted on time. Many also teach faculty to build their own.
Also known as: Instructional Resources Specialist, Instructional Services Coordinator, Education Technology Services Coordinator, Instructional Resources Coordinator, Instructional Technology Development Professional, Instructional Technology Systems Professional
Instructional Technologist Duties and Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of an instructional technologist include:
- Administer the learning management system, such as Canvas, Blackboard or Moodle, including term setup and integrations.
- Train faculty to build course pages, online quizzes and gradebooks.
- Record, edit and caption lecture videos with tools such as Panopto or Kaltura.
- Troubleshoot classroom technology, including projectors, document cameras and lecture capture.
- Test new teaching tools for privacy, accessibility and fit before the campus buys them.
- Build online course modules with instructors, adding interactive quizzes and discussion activities.
- Write how-to guides and short video tutorials for common faculty requests.
- Answer help desk tickets from faculty and students during the first weeks of each term.
- Check course sites for accessibility problems such as missing captions or unreadable PDFs.
- Plan equipment replacement and classroom upgrades with IT and facilities staff.
Required Skills and Qualifications
To succeed as an instructional technologist, you will need the following skills and qualifications:
- Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle or Brightspace administration
- Video tools such as Panopto, Kaltura or Camtasia
- Basic HTML for course pages
- Accessibility standards, including WCAG
- Patient one-on-one faculty training
- Instructional design basics
- Classroom audio-visual troubleshooting
- Project tracking across many courses at once
Education and Training
Experience on a campus help desk or in video production could lead to a technologist post. A master's degree in instructional technology may also help, and BLS lists a master's as typical for the wider group of instructional coordinators. You could also move into instructional design, online program management or IT leadership.
Salary and Job Outlook
Typical pay: $60,780 - $98,820 per year, with a median of $77,440.
The range covers the middle half of earners nationwide. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Instructional Coordinators.
Instructional technologists are a fast-changing specialty. BLS counts them with instructional coordinators and projects that group to grow about 2 percent from 2025 to 2035. Demand on campuses often is tied to online enrollment, but colleges always will need people who can keep courses running as more classes add online parts and as tools change.
Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, Instructional coordinators.