What an instructional designer really does
You turn what experts know into training people can actually use, then prove with data whether it worked.
FieldEducation
Preparation (O*NET Job Zone)Extensive preparation needed
What the work involves
What fills a typical week for instructional designers, built from O*NET occupation data.
- Interview subject matter experts and dig through documents to figure out what people really need to learn
- Write clear learning objectives and plan how a course will be structured
- Build storyboards, slides, eLearning modules, job aids and quizzes
- Update existing training when a process, product or tool changes
- Review learner data and survey results to see what is and is not working
- Recommend the right format (live class, self paced, video, job aid) for the audience and budget
- Run review cycles with stakeholders who all want something different
What the days are like
What people in the job know
- Most weeks are a normal 40 hours in corporate training roles, but a large minority run longer, usually near launches. Duration of Typical Work Week: 61% 40 hours, 39% more than 40 hours (O*NET Work Context, 13-1151.00 Training and Development Specialists); the school based 25-9031.00 code reports 94% more than 40 hours, which likely overstates corporate hours
- Nearly all the work is done with other people: experts, managers, reviewers, trainers. Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team: 50% extremely important, 36% very important; Face-to-Face Discussions: 52% every day (O*NET Work Context, 13-1151.00)
- Disagreements about content and scope come up regularly. Conflict Situations: 39% once a week or more, 35% once a month or more (O*NET Work Context, 13-1151.00)
- You present and explain your work often, not just build it. Public Speaking: 22% every day, 48% once a week or more (O*NET Work Context, 13-1151.00); 41% once a week or more in 25-9031.00
- It is a desk job with constant email. E-Mail: 100% every day; Spend Time Sitting: 29% continually, 38% more than half the time (O*NET Work Context, 13-1151.00)
How people get into it
O*NET places this occupation in Job Zone 5, which usually means graduate level preparation. In practice many corporate instructional designers come from teaching, training or design and build a portfolio of sample modules; a master's in instructional design or learning technology is common but not always required.
The Firstday trial, easy to hard
Three simulated tasks at Brightway Logistics, a fictional company, with AI coworkers who message you, react to your work and coach with questions. Nobody scores you.
What the trial can't show: This trial cannot show the full build in authoring tools like Articulate or Adobe products, weeks long review cycles, recording narration or video, or facilitating a live training. It also compresses an analysis, design, development and evaluation cycle that normally takes weeks or months into one week.
Reading about it is one thing.
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Job details on this page are built from O*NET OnLine, 25-9031.00. This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.