What does an instructional design specialist do?
An instructional design specialist is responsible for developing instructional materials mainly used for training and education. Among their responsibilities include identifying and understanding the program or project's needs, performing extensive research and analysis, consulting with experts, devising training and assessment plans, and ensuring that all instructional materials adhere to a program or project's objectives. Moreover, as an instructional design specialist, it is essential to maintain an active communication line with staff while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
Instructional design specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real instructional design specialist resumes:
- Design instructor lead, virtual, and SCORM compliant web base training for a 300 seat inbound customer care department.
- Create PowerPoint training with handouts for small classroom workshops.
- Lead ISS for revision and development of database lesson plans.
- Create media for online courses using Camtasia and in-house storyboarding tool.
- Create, fix, and maintain SharePoint wikis for the WSLN training department.
- Conduct train-the-trainer classes for courseware developers on the use of Camtasia and the video development process.
- Develop and design eLearning life sciences, leadership and compliance/regulatory courses that are 508 and SCORM compliant.
- Ensure CDRL due dates are met by performing action item tracking and expediting reviews to SME as needed.
- Create and provide training templates, e-learning, guides, and tools to support training development using the ADDIE process.
- Provide SME input and review for all training team analyses, working group presentations, training documentation, and development.
- Design and maintain templates and standards used by the training team for development of documentation, instructor guides, and eLearning.
- Work with instructors, SMEs, instructional technologists and multimedia developers to analyze, design, and develop distribute learning solutions.
- Start remediation of ISS capacity and capability issue.25.
- Create animated and interactive PowerPoint presentations and self-pace hands-on tutorials.
- Lead development of Sharepoint portal taxonomy and functionality for other business areas.
Instructional design specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 11% of Instructional Design Specialists are proficient in Instructional Design, Subject Matter Experts, and PowerPoint. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Decision-making skills.
We break down the percentage of Instructional Design Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Instructional Design, 11%
Organized storyboards and instructional design documents from faculty and instructional designers to create reusable learning modules based on Quality Matters standards.
- Subject Matter Experts, 7%
Worked with identified subject matter experts and course instructors to develop quality content that improved existing curriculum.
- PowerPoint, 5%
Created animated and interactive PowerPoint presentations and self-paced hands-on tutorials.
- Training Programs, 4%
Developed and reviewed all educational, instructional, and training programs to include content and curriculum development in educational outreach.
- Learning Management System, 4%
Developed HTML and Learning Management System performance assessments based on instructional objectives and job competencies.
- Training Materials, 4%
Identified learner characteristics that supported specific objectives and training strategies for the validation and evaluating of training practices and training materials.
"instructional design," "subject matter experts," and "powerpoint" are among the most common skills that instructional design specialists use at work. You can find even more instructional design specialist responsibilities below, including:
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for an instructional design specialist to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what instructional design specialists do because "instructional coordinators evaluate student test data and teaching strategies." Additionally, an instructional design specialist resume shows how instructional design specialists use analytical skills: "assist in the selection of instructional technology based on needs analysis, curriculum competencies and past experiences with technology. "
Communication skills. Many instructional design specialist duties rely on communication skills. "instructional coordinators need to clearly explain changes in the curriculum and teaching standards to school staff.," so an instructional design specialist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways instructional design specialist responsibilities rely on communication skills: "developed web-based/face-to-face training courses, videos, and materials for faculty to enhance communication and student engagement in e-learning courses. "
Decision-making skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of instructional design specialists is decision-making skills. This skill is critical to many everyday instructional design specialist duties, as "instructional coordinators must be decisive when recommending changes to curriculums, teaching methods, and textbooks." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "determined reliability and validity of evaluation instruments for instructional and educational products and techniques appropriately focus to training materials. "
Interpersonal skills. A big part of what instructional design specialists do relies on "interpersonal skills." You can see how essential it is to instructional design specialist responsibilities because "instructional coordinators need to be able to establish and maintain positive working relationships with teachers, principals, and other administrators." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical instructional design specialist tasks: "designed and facilitated interpersonal skills classes focused on employee development of emotional intelligence. "
Leadership skills. A commonly-found skill in instructional design specialist job descriptions, "leadership skills" is essential to what instructional design specialists do. Instructional design specialist responsibilities rely on this skill because "instructional coordinators serve as mentors to teachers." You can also see how instructional design specialist duties rely on leadership skills in this resume example: "assisted with developing the process for linking all ups training programs/courses to job specific or leadership competencies. "
The three companies that hire the most instructional design specialists are:
- Zurich48 instructional design specialists jobs
- CVS Health10 instructional design specialists jobs
- Bristol-Myers Squibb4 instructional design specialists jobs
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Compare different instructional design specialists
Instructional design specialist vs. Curriculum writer
Curriculum writers are professionals who are responsible for developing new academic instructional materials, lessons, and activities to be used by teachers or instructional staff from school districts, media companies, and other businesses. These writers are required to conduct professional development sessions for all staff about the design and changes in the new curriculum. They must produce instructional videos to help educators and coaches in preparing educational and instructional materials. Curriculum writers must also head a pilot project to evaluate potential opportunities for extended learning through virtual classroom and distance learning strategies.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an instructional design specialist are more likely to require skills like "instructional design," "training programs," "learning management system," and "project management." On the other hand, a job as a curriculum writer requires skills like "assessment items," "student achievement," "language arts," and "science curriculum." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
The education levels that curriculum writers earn slightly differ from instructional design specialists. In particular, curriculum writers are 8.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an instructional design specialist. Additionally, they're 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Instructional design specialist vs. Technology teacher/technology coordinator
A curriculum coordinator facilitates the development and implementation of curriculums at schools, colleges, and other organizations that offer learning services. They primarily assist teachers in improving school curriculums by conducting research and assessments, monitoring students' academic progress, developing learning resources and materials, coordinating with internal and external parties, promoting educational programs, and securing the supplies that the curriculum requires. Additionally, a curriculum coordinator participates in implementing school policies and recommends new policies based on research findings.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, instructional design specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "instructional design," "subject matter experts," "training programs," and "learning management system." Meanwhile, a technology teacher/technology coordinator has duties that require skills in areas such as "mathematics," "technology curriculum," "computer lab," and "k-12." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, technology teacher/technology coordinators achieve similar levels of education than instructional design specialists. They're 1.4% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for instructional design specialists in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Lynn Baynum Ph.D.
Associate Professor in Early Childhood and Literacy Education, Shippensburg University
Our world is ever-changing, so to be sure that educators are optimizing instruction in K-12 classrooms, teachers need to be able to adapt the curriculum to reflect STEM topics within a multi-cultural landscape. For example, math teachers can profile black mathematicians when discussing a math concept. Students can emerge in inquiry or problem-based learning, specific situations that use data to investigate and solve real-world problems. School-age learners, even young children, can learn to computer code, and teacher candidates must be able to not only adapt instruction using digital tools to construct knowledge within a STEM mindset.
Instructional design specialist vs. Curriculum coordinator
College scouting coordinators recruit members for their team that they see potential in. The easiest way for these coordinators to look for recruits is to organize tryouts to evaluate an athlete's attitude, physical skills, and other factors that can spell success for their team in the future or at the professional level. When they see an athlete with potential, they keep tabs on them and report their progress with their recommendation to either the coach, manager, or owner of that team.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, instructional design specialists are more likely to have skills like "instructional design," "training programs," "learning management system," and "project management." But a curriculum coordinator is more likely to have skills like "k-12," "educational programs," "mathematics," and "staff development."
Curriculum coordinators earn the highest salary when working in the health care industry, where they receive an average salary of $48,968. Comparatively, instructional design specialists have the highest earning potential in the health care industry, with an average salary of $58,781.When it comes to education, curriculum coordinators tend to earn similar degree levels compared to instructional design specialists. In fact, they're 2.1% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Instructional design specialist vs. College scouting coordinator
Even though a few skill sets overlap between instructional design specialists and college scouting coordinators, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, an instructional design specialist might have more use for skills like "instructional design," "subject matter experts," "training programs," and "learning management system." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of college scouting coordinators require skills like "scholarship," "event planning," "alumni," and "pre-college. "
In general, college scouting coordinators earn the most working in the education industry, with an average salary of $53,740. The highest-paying industry for an instructional design specialist is the health care industry.In general, college scouting coordinators hold lower degree levels compared to instructional design specialists. College scouting coordinators are 9.2% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 1.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of instructional design specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
