Think about a time when a knowledgeable person tried to teach you something and it didn’t work. Did any of these things happen?
- You didn’t understand it.
- There was too much detail.
- You didn’t know why you were learning it.
- You didn’t know what to do with it afterwards.
Even if you’ve never heard the term “instructional design,” you can tell when it’s missing.
So What Is Instructional Design Anyway?
Instructional design is the systematic, purposeful process of creating learning materials that align with how people actually learn. In organizational training and development, that means one thing above all else: helping people do their jobs better.
For people to do their jobs better, they have to:
- Understand the content
- Remember the key information
- Care enough to act
- Do something as a result
An instructional designer takes raw information and transforms it into learning programs that meet all four goals. Without that process, you’re just throwing facts on slides and hoping something sticks.
In L&D, what the learner needs to DO with the information is what matters most. Everything in the course should support that goal.
An Instructional Design Case Study
An All-Too-Common Approach in L&D
A consumer products company wanted custom e-learning to teach product knowledge to new field sales representatives. Their initial outline included the history of the brand. Without instructional design, the instructional approach might have been something like this.
| Objective | Describe the history of the brand |
| Teaching Points | Key dates and milestones, info on the founders |
| Images | Product and logo variations over time |
| Interactions | Clickable timeline |
| Knowledge Check | Gameshow-style quiz with dates and facts |
The result is a salesperson buried in facts and no more effective at their job.
This approach made the content the star. An instructional designer makes the learner the star. In L&D, what the learner needs to DO with the information is what matters most. Everything in the course should support that goal.
The Question That Changes Everything
Being a good instructional designer means asking good questions. At Artisan Learning, one of our favorite questions to ask during a project kickoff is: “What’s happening on some random Tuesday in September?”
It sounds simple, but it’s not. That question forces everyone to stop thinking about content and start thinking about context. Where is the learner? What are they trying to accomplish? What’s getting in their way?
The answers shape everything.
Our instructional designer worked with the subject-matter experts (SMEs) to craft a learner persona—a profile of a sample learner named Sarah. Then came the Tuesday question.
“What’s happening on some random Tuesday in September where Sarah is really glad she knows this history?
Sarah might be sitting across from a grocery store buyer, negotiating for premium shelf placement near checkout. Her competitors want those same spots. To win, Sarah needs to convince the buyer that her brand’s legacy will move product.
That’s a very different need than just reciting historical facts and company trivia.
Before and After
Let’s compare the original approach with a new approach using instructional design techniques.
| Without Instructional Design | With Instructional Design | |
| Result |  |  |
| Objective | Describe the history of the brand | Convince buyers that brand legacy will help move product |
| Teaching Points | Key dates and milestones, info on the founders | Buyer’s motivations, differentiation from competitors, customer sentiment about brand legacy, relevant facts about brand legacy |
| Images | Product and logo variations over time | Conversations with buyers, preferred store positioning |
| Interactions | Clickable timeline | Practice scenario where the learner makes their pitch and addresses the buyer’s concerns |
| Knowledge Check | Gameshow-style quiz with dates and facts | Gameshow-style quiz with the few details Sarah needs to know by heart during a sales call |
Same source material—completely different outcome. Sarah leaves the course ready for her next sales call instead of wondering what she’s supposed to do with a bunch of trivia.
Do You Need to Hire an Instructional Designer?
If your learning and development initiatives are missing the instructional design piece, here are four ways to fix that:
- Find an expert who “gets it.” Some people are inherently better at explaining things to other people in a relevant way. If you have people like that, put them on your projects.
- Train for it. Instructional design can be learned. If your SMEs and training staff aren’t well-versed in instructional design, set them up with training or coaching.
- Hire for it. If your L&D team has a full-time need, you can hire for instructional design expertise. Review candidates’ portfolios with one question in mind: are they designing for the learner’s real-world needs or just organizing content?
- Outsource it. You can hire freelancers and full-service design firms (like Artisan Learning) to work with your SMEs to plan, design, and build your content for you.
Instructional design isn’t about making training look polished. It’s about making it work.
The Bottom Line for Learning and Development Initiatives
Instructional design isn’t about making training look polished. It’s about making it work—for the learner, for the job, and for your organization.
The next time someone hands you a topic and says “make a course,” resist the urge to start with the content. Start with Sarah. Start with that random Tuesday in September. Everything else will follow.
Author
Diane Elkins is the Co-Founder (and Director of Firepower) at Artisan Learning. She has built a reputation as a national e-learning expert by being a frequent speaker at major industry events for organizations such as ATD, The Learning Guild, Training Magazine, and ASAE. She is also the co-author of the popular E-Learning Uncovered book series as well as E-Learning Fundamentals: A Practical Guide from ATD Press.
