Instructional Designer

Instructional Designers understand that teaching a class is like doing a puzzle. Achieving the final product takes more than just dumping the pieces out on the floor; it requires actually putting them together, too.

As an Instructional Designer, you put together the pieces of learning puzzles so students can more clearly see the final picture (the “pieces” being different lessons, learning aids, and media, and the “final picture” being knowledge). To do that, as the Instructional Designer, you design educational materials — including software programs, online learning modules, workbooks, textbooks, etc. — for schools, colleges, software companies, and educational publishers.

Although you’re not a Teacher, being an Instructional Designer plays a critical role in a classroom. You would decide what to teach and how to teach it, usually relying on an instructional design theory known as the ADDIE — Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate — process. While Instructional Developers are usually in charge of the second “D,” and Teachers the “IE,” you’re in charge of the “AD.” First, you therefore “analyze” the needs of students and the content that’s being taught, collaborating with Educators and subject matter experts in order to establish realistic learning objectives for students. Then, you “design” instructional materials, outlining what content will be presented, as well as in what order, in what format (for example, lectures, tests, activities), and with what media (for example, text, video, audio), the goal being to present educational content in such a way that the intended audience will achieve the learning objectives.

Whether you’re designing materials for kindergartners or adult learners, you’re basically an educational Psychologist, using your knowledge of cognitive functions to create learning that’s absorbed quickly and completely like fuel by a wick!