What Does an Instructional Designer Do?

While developing learning and development (L&D) strategies for their organization, many company leaders are introduced to the concept of instructional design. In turn, they’re frequently made aware of professionals in instructional designer roles. However, not all organizational leaders fully know what an instructional designer is or what they do. With that in mind, here’s an introduction to the world of instructional designers.

What Is an Instructional Designer?

Instructional designers are professionals who focus on creating and delivering learning products, such as company training and coursework for educational institutions. They mainly concentrate on methodologies, strategies, and delivery mechanisms, working to create educational and training resources that boost knowledge retention and enhance learner engagement. The world of instructional design includes a few specific disciplines. Education and communication are both critical components. Additionally, there are aspects of psychology thrown into the mix, ensuring that the needs, priorities, and preferences of different types of learners are appropriately addressed.

What Does an Instructional Designer Do?

As mentioned above, instructional designers focus more on the mechanical aspects of designing courses or modules. There’s a significant emphasis on delivery, aiming to create educational materials that are inherently engaging and produce better learning outcomes. Often, instructional designers begin the creation process by speaking with company leaders to identify learning objectives. They also partner with subject matter experts to further define any training requirements and what material needs to be included. After that, instructional designers work on creating a compelling information delivery strategy, focusing on engagement and knowledge retention. The goal is to keep learners focused on the topic, ensuring the way content is displayed and the mechanisms used to share information are sufficient to address various learning needs. Instructional designers plan for a variety of visual elements relating to the training. This can include everything from the user interface to having images or videos. Instructional designers may also create interactive features like simulations, games, or quizzes and add audio files. Finally, instructional designers may outline criteria to assess learner performance and determine if the training achieves the organization’s objectives. Often, this involves the selection of KPIs or similar metrics, as well as creating the means to track those points. Ultimately, instructional designers are highly skilled professionals operating in a critical niche that allows organizations to upskill their workforce. What’s discussed above is only a brief overview of what an instructional designer does to ensure companies can get their training needs met. Every project is different, so it could require more steps than previously mentioned. At Clarity, we have 30 years of experience in L&D, giving us the knowledge and expertise to support and guide organizations looking to harness instructional design to enhance their offered training. Plus, if you’re trying to expand your internal L&D team, Clarity can be your candidate search ally, connecting you with top talent when needed. Contact us today.