What to Expect in Your ID Career
Let's pretend it's your first day on the job as a new Instructional Designer. What should you expect?
That depends on a few things:
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The size of the organization
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The size of the L&D Department (if there is one)
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The culture of the organization (cutting-edge corporation or old school mom and pop shop)
Sink or Swim?
Some organizations offer training for their trainers: they have a thorough orientation for their new hires in L&D to get them up-to-speed on products and services that the company offers.
Others take a more hands-off approach and throw you into the deep end, maybe with a style guide*, brand guidelines**, and a practice project or two.
*Style guides are about grammar, capitalization, trademarks, and other writing specific to the company's preferences.
**Brand guidelines are about company logos and colors.
You can succeed in either one!
Here's what to do:
If there is no training, see if there is a style guide or brand guidelines for the company that you can use to make training content. If not, try to be as consistent as possible. (If you're ambitious, you can try writing one yourself!)
See if there are any templates you can use. If not, find one online and customize it with your company logo (or try the one on this page!).
Ask for feedback early and often to make sure you're not doing extra work, and that the work you're doing is correct and won't need to be redone. (See Adaptability on this page for more information about change requests).
If your organization offers training, you're not off the hook yet. You'll probably be given a style guide or brand guidelines. Study it and run your work by it before you send it on for review, because you are expected to follow it. Also, save the files to your Favorites folder on your computer, because you will reference them almost every day.
Ask for feedback early and often, but don't be surprised when you get a lot of change requests anyway. (See Adaptability on this page for more information about change requests).
Communicate with your trainers to make sure you understand their expectations of your work. (Also, review the material they give you. They share it to help you!)
Training Methods
You're going to hear about (and create!) training using a lot of different methods, called modalities. Here are the most common ones and their acronyms:
Instructor Led Training
(ILT)
These are classroom-based courses that are taught in-person, usually to an audience that is also in-person.
Virtual Instructor Led Training
(VILT)
These are web-based courses that are taught live via a webcam and meeting software like Zoom or Teams, usually to an audience that is watching on their computer.
Student Directed Training
(SDIT)
These are courses that the student takes at their own pace. There is a lot of overlap with eLearning, but it does not necessarily need to be entirely online.
eLearning
(or e-learning, or E-learning, or e-Learning)
These are virtual courses, delivered online. They are usually, but not always, pretty interactive. They are sometimes self-paced, but other times, they could have a time limit.
Hybrid
Any of these methods can be used together. for example, an instructor could teach part of the course in-person, and assign eLearning for self-study.
Training Products
There are a lot of different training products that are used for different purposes, from microlearning to multiweek courses. Here are some that you might make:
(Note: If you're first starting out in an organization with an established L&D team, you're probably not going to be making any of these things. You will probably be doing something called content conversion - taking old training and migrating it to a new platform, like an old PDF to a new LMS, or updating it with new information or name changes. That's a good thing! It gives you the opportunity to get your feet wet and build your skills and confidence without getting thrown into the deep end of creating content from scratch. If you do find yourself in the situation of creating content from scratch and your organization doesn't have templates or a style guide, here are some free templates you can use.)
Job Aid
Document for on-the-spot task help, kept at the job site for quick reference.
Facilitator Guide (FG)
A lesson plan or curriculum outline or script meant to help teachers deliver the lessons in their classes.
Simulation
Virtual recreation of a task so learners can practice in a low-stakes environment.
eLearning Module
A short, informative, virtual course that can include text, video, audio, images, interactivity, etc.
Assessment/Knowledge Check/Quiz
Questions (graded or ungraded) meant to test the learners' knowledge of the material.
Trainee Guide/Workbook
A text-based document (virtual or printed) meant to help learners learn the material. They can usually take notes on this document.
Meet the Team
If your organization is large enough, you might work on a team.
Ways of Working
Depending on your organization, you may work using Agile methodologies like the Successive Approximation Model (SAM), or waterfall methodologies like Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE).
Or, you may use a combination of several methodologies, for example, the Lot Like Agile Method Approach (LLAMA), which uses a form of ADDIE that includes iterative changes in the design and development parts of the process.
Agile is used for lots of changes done fast, like making a bunch of different prototypes of a Rise course with lots of rounds of editing to get closer and closer to the ideal before it's rolled out. If your L&D team runs on agile methodology, your project work is done in sprints with regular deadlines. They can be every 2 weeks, every 4 weeks, or some other recurring amount of time. You’ll work in iterative cycles instead of one linear plan.
Waterfall is usually used for heavy planning and fewer changes, like a professor turning their existing in-person course into a video-based course. They already know what content they want, and in what order they want it, so there is little room for editing the curriculum. There will be a plan that is made and agreed upon ahead of time, and the course development will (mostly) follow it.
Logging your Time
You will most likely have to log your regular 8-hour day in a timesheet, and, depending on your company's billing requirements, you may also have to write down the hours you worked on each project in a different timesheet.
Your work hours are probably not all going to one place. Most contracts involve multiple projects, and most projects have different billing codes, which are specific identifiers that tell your client or employer exactly where to charge your hours. Those hours per project will not always add up to a clean eight-hour day. When you start a new project, ask your manager which billing code to use.
Also log any time off on your timesheet, whether it's personal time off (PTO) or a company holiday or furlough.