What does an instructional designer do?
An instructional designer focuses on devising learning materials and content to aid every students' learning difficulties. These can include videos, books, and presentations. They are primarily responsible for conducting thorough research and analysis to identify the needs of students, crafting learning strategies in collaboration with experts. They are also responsible for developing tools and materials to help assess every students' progress, such as quizzes and examinations. Furthermore, an instructional designer needs to coordinate with all personnel involved with the project to ensure accuracy and timeliness.
Instructional designer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real instructional designer resumes:
- Design instructor lead, virtual, and SCORM compliant web base training for a 300 seat inbound customer care department.
- Manage project development including facilitating all stages of the ADDIE process from analysis to evaluation.
- Develop PowerPoint presentations to support instructor lead courses and other training documentation including job aids, and business process procedures.
- Design and development of eLearning and instructor lead courses in a wide area of subjects including leadership development and innovation curriculum.
- Conduct college-level courses in anatomy, physiology and pharmacology.
- Develop automotive instructional materials for curriculum interactive distance learning and instructor-le courses using ADDIE model.
- Analyze training needs and develop activity base training materials for technicians including student guides, instructor guides and PowerPoint presentations.
- Transform instructor-led courses to high-quality blend learning courses utilizing innovative and effective eLearning tools and instructional strategies to ensure student success.
- Deliver and support the graphics, animation for the project.
- Develop individual and group lesson plans in reading, writing and mathematics.
- Consult with web developer in selection of graphics and audio and employ Photoshop.
- Incorporate innovative animation and embed audio narratives that``pop up"to show sub- processes.
- Develop and instruct on entry level college courses with emphasis in mathematics, English, science, and writing.
- Play instrumental role in presenting to and advising top-ranking DoD officials, consulting on current and future tactical communications concepts.
- Create software simulation tutorials with Camtasia software.
Instructional designer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 9% of Instructional Designers are proficient in Instructional Design, Subject Matter Experts, and Project Management. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Decision-making skills.
We break down the percentage of Instructional Designers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Instructional Design, 9%
Leverage technology to execute instructional design projects, presentations, or administrative management services for small business owners and community organizations.
- Subject Matter Experts, 7%
Worked with contractor/partners to determine learning activities and collaborated with subject matter experts to perform task analyses required for optimum training.
- Project Management, 4%
Obtained CAPM (Certified Associate of Project Management) in order to understand certification exam and design exam-preparatory training.
- PowerPoint, 4%
Analyze training needs and develop activity based training materials for technicians including student guides, instructor guides and PowerPoint presentations.
- ELearning, 4%
Transformed instructor-led courses to high-quality blended learning courses utilizing innovative and effective eLearning tools and instructional strategies to ensure student success.
- Training Programs, 3%
Design, deliver and implement department training programs on instructional development systems and specific programs for new staff and campus representatives.
Most instructional designers use their skills in "instructional design," "subject matter experts," and "project management" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential instructional designer responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for an instructional designer to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what instructional designers do because "instructional coordinators evaluate student test data and teaching strategies." Additionally, an instructional designer resume shows how instructional designers use analytical skills: "analyze business requirements and technical documents to identify learning objectives. "
Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform instructional designer duties is communication skills. Instructional designers responsibilities require that "instructional coordinators need to clearly explain changes in the curriculum and teaching standards to school staff." Instructional designers also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "utilized findings to define learning objectives for dispatch and telecommunications software. "
Decision-making skills. This is an important skill for instructional designers to perform their duties. For an example of how instructional designer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "instructional coordinators must be decisive when recommending changes to curriculums, teaching methods, and textbooks." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an instructional designer: "derived and documented learning objectives; determined and documented learning delivery method using high level and detailed course design templates. ".
Interpersonal skills. A big part of what instructional designers do relies on "interpersonal skills." You can see how essential it is to instructional designer 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 designer tasks: "experience and excellent interpersonal and instructional designer. "
Leadership skills. Another crucial skill for an instructional designer to carry out their responsibilities is "leadership skills." A big part of what instructional designers relies on this skill, since "instructional coordinators serve as mentors to teachers." How this skill relates to instructional designer duties can be seen in an example from an instructional designer resume snippet: "designed and developed crucial training programs for leadership and managerial staff. "
The three companies that hire the most instructional designers are:
- Uline143 instructional designers jobs
- American Express51 instructional designers jobs
- ICF46 instructional designers jobs
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Compare different instructional designers
Instructional designer vs. Certified performance technologist
Learning specialists are highly skilled teachers providing educational support to students who struggle academically at schools. They are responsible for working closely with students and their parents to develop a learning strategy suitable for a student's learning style to improve their grades and academic progress. Other responsibilities of a learning specialist include educating teachers and parents on learning differences, communicating with teachers and parents regularly about a student's progress, and keeping abreast of current teaching methods.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between instructional designers and certified performance technologist. For instance, instructional designer responsibilities require skills such as "instructional design," "project management," "powerpoint," and "elearning." Whereas a certified performance technologist is skilled in "linux," "safety glasses," "hvac," and "clean environment." This is part of what separates the two careers.
On average, certified performance technologists reach lower levels of education than instructional designers. Certified performance technologists are 20.5% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 2.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Instructional designer vs. Learning specialist
As the name entails, training specialists are the ones who design and perform training programs that will foster employees' workplace performance and align with the core values of an organization. They have varied responsibilities, including identifying employee training needs, preparing teaching plans and developing an annual training program, and turning requirements into training to aid employees in their career development. They are also responsible for implementing training courses, staying up-to-date on the new tools and trends in employee development, and evaluating existing programs periodically.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that instructional designer responsibilities requires skills like "articulate storyline," "smes," "graphic design," and "training content." But a learning specialist might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "product knowledge," "student learning," "social work," and "academic support."
On average, learning specialists earn a lower salary than instructional designers. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, learning specialists earn the most pay in the insurance industry with an average salary of $77,410. Whereas instructional designers have higher pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $65,698.In general, learning specialists achieve similar levels of education than instructional designers. They're 1.6% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 2.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Instructional designer vs. Training specialist
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, instructional designers are more likely to have skills like "project management," "articulate storyline," "learning solutions," and "learning objectives." But a training specialist is more likely to have skills like "training sessions," "technical training," "cpr," and "assess training."
Training specialists earn the best pay in the technology industry, where they command an average salary of $76,281. Instructional designers earn the highest pay from the technology industry, with an average salary of $65,698.training specialists typically earn lower educational levels compared to instructional designers. Specifically, they're 12.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Instructional designer vs. Technology infusion specialist
Even though a few skill sets overlap between instructional designers and technology infusion specialists, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, an instructional designer might have more use for skills like "instructional design," "subject matter experts," "project management," and "powerpoint." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of technology infusion specialists require skills like "chemotherapy," "usp," "syringes," and "catheter. "
In general, technology infusion specialists hold lower degree levels compared to instructional designers. Technology infusion specialists are 22.0% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 2.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of instructional designer
Updated January 8, 2025
