Instructional Designer

If there is confusion about the field of instructional design, you can imagine what perception the moniker Instructional Designer (ID) conjures up. As a trained instructional designer, I encounter this bewilderment often. Most people confuse the duties and responsibilities of an ID with those of an Information Technology (IT) employee. An ID does not fall under traditional IT programming, systems analysis, or security role, and, while an ID’s job duties and responsibilities revolve around computer systems and programs, and ID’s work is very different from traditional IT tasks.

So what does an instructional designer do? Using any definition of instructional design as a starting point, an ID does instructional design. Therefore, as the Association for Talent Development’s Talent Development Body of Knowledge aptly puts it,

“an instructional designer applies learning theory and a systemic approach to design and develop content, learning activities, training, and other solutions to support the acquisition of new knowledge or real world skills. Instructional designers develop all instructional materials of a training program, including presentation materials, participant guides, handouts, and job aids or other resources. They are also responsible for evaluating training, including assessing what was learned and whether the learning solution led to measurable behavior change.”