Instructional Designers Buried by Vague Expectations
Instructional designers, often new to the field or transitioning into it, are struggling with heavy workloads, lack of clear strategy, and a disconnect between expectations and reality. Many feel overwhelmed by the scope of their responsibilities, the pressure to deliver quickly, and a sense of disillusionment with the profession itself. The perception of advanced degrees within the field is also a source of concern.
SOURCES (60)
“I have 2 years of ID experience (LMS migration, course development), my real interest is in the behavioral side of performance — diagnosing why someone who already has the knowledge, skill, and the means to act, still doesn't do it, and designing interventions for that…”
“One angle on top of the data point: design the first pilot so it doesn't need student data at all. Teacher-side stuff only, lesson planning, grading rubrics, admin automation, with the school's own accounts and nothing about individual kids. That gets you a paying or at least active reference school in weeks instead of the months a data agreement takes, and by the time you ask for the sensitive part you're a known vendor with a person inside who vouches for you. Trust in B2B is mostl”
“I’m going to say this with love and urgency: Instructional Designers, stop accepting salaries that don’t match your expertise. We are not PowerPoint jockeys. We are architects of learning. We are researchers, writers, UX thinkers, LMS navigators, project managers, and performance consultants — often all in one. Yet somehow, too many companies want to pay us like we’re “just converting slides.” No. If you left teaching, higher ed, or freelancing because you wanted to thrive, not survive, then act”
“I am drafting an e-learning policy. I would be interested in getting your opinions. Here are the points I plan to cover: Graphic charter, pedagogical engineering and effectiveness, design, SCORM, LMS configuration. What are the biggest absurdities you have seen in terms of design and LMS architecture creation? (Sorry for my english, i am French) submitted by /u/Petaloudaaa [link] [comments]”
“This sounds like something I would have killed for when I started my analyst job. I was drowning in documentation and had zero structure, just bouncing between random articles and forgetting everything by Tuesday. The companion thing getting more professorial is a nice touch, kind of makes me think of those old RPGs where your guide gets wiser as you level up. I am curious how it handles topics where sources contradict each other though, does it flag that or just pick a side? Will give it a spin”
“I have been thinking about how often designers begin outlining content or selecting an authoring tool before thoroughly investigating the platform that will deliver the experience. That can create obvious problems. The LMS may have file-size restrictions, accessibility issues, limited tracking, poor mobile support, or technical constraints that make the proposed design impractical. There is also another side to it. The platform may already include discussion, assessment, reinforcement, coaching,”
“I will definitely be doing some of these courses! If I can bother you with another question, should I add these courses to my portfolio/resume?”
“I’m considering looking for a reasonably in demand skill and taking an online course on it. I’ve taken lots of courses like that but they’ve always been free and they never seem to make a difference. Would a paid certificate look better on job applications? submitted by /u/TPrice1616 [link] [comments]”
“TL;DR: Self-learning needs governance, observability, and auditability. Sounds great, it's not great unless you have serious and appropriate protections. Let me lead this off with what we are most proud of, from an independent third party review of Aimee: "The audit store is the strongest implementation of this shape [we've ever reviewed]." Now with the release of 0.4.0, we can be more vocal about the snafu that happened in our development in late 0.2.x. We were experimenting w”
“Drop the word official entirely and use Verified Creator to signal source without implying vendor endorsement. This term separates your content from community uploads while avoiding any legal risk or user confusion about exam question origins.”
“I have the necessary skills and experience as an instructional designer. However, I’m struggling at my first corporate job. I am having trouble letting go of my “painter” and perfectionist approach to designer and embrace the design process of widget maker. I was hired to gamify the elearning. One of my first assignments was to convert a live webinar course into a self-paced course. My approach was to make it interactive make it pretty much like a video game. But I’m starting to learn that they”
“Hi everyone. I’m trying to design a security awareness activity for regular office employees, and I could use a sanity check from people who know learning design better than I do. The idea is simple: people work in teams, read a short workplace scenario, talk through what they would do, choose an answer, and then the facilitator reads a scripted explanation. The facilitator doesn’t need to be a security expert. The larger theme is “security awareness through the decades” – technology changes, bu”
“Study design concepts. takes a long time. Took me 10 years to get it right. Where does one start? Like, what should I start looking for, what book should I search out, what author should be reading? I'm not working on reporting dashboards, so Tufte's mostly not relevant.”
“Hey, Does anyone have an recommendations on articles or papers (the more the better) on research design? Like for example if the gave you a first page of a research (abstract) and say implement a research design. Ex: 2x2 research design , how to test for x cost? Test formulas how to test x to y! would much be appreciated! Focus: Capital markets archival submitted by /u/No-Ear9238 [link] [comments]”
“Asking at the top how they want to take it, pitch or straight to questions. From the other side of the table that lands well. Half the time they already read enough and just want the questions.”
Really insightful, I am going to be doing such presentation in near future and this has save me a lot of time. Thanks
“Hi all, First time making an online course in the health space (health professional here). I’m totally lost which platform to use… I have seen StanStore but the hit at the moment… but what turns me off is the monthly fee… I might only get one person buy my program (selling for $79)… (hopefully more), but that’s my concern. I’m really after a good, easy to use program that takes a percentage of sales instead. If I one day be successful enough to have ALOT of sales, then I’ll consider StanStore fo”
“Hi all, First time making an online course in the health space (health professional here). I’m totally lost which platform to use… I have seen StanStore but the hit at the moment… but what turns me off is the monthly fee… I might only get one person buy my program (selling for $79)… (hopefully more), but that’s my concern. I’m really after a good, easy to use program that takes a percentage of sales instead. If I one day be successful enough to have ALOT of sales, then I’ll consider StanStore fo”
“I'm part of an interdisciplinary program and a new director took over last year. We had multiple meetings to figure out how to change the curriculum. I thought it was fine as it was, but whatever. None of these have gone anywhere. We don't even have a draft of changes. And now they want another meeting to "continue" our conversation. I asked if we had anything concrete to work on or continue. The answer was no. I'm considering just refusing to go until there's a sense f”
“I'm in the same boat you are. My local community college offers a project management course, so I'm taking that right now. Seems like a good course.”
“For example, do you like that they shove a lot of code and explain it? Maybe you don't like too deep or surface material? I would also like to know the opinion of those who create these materials or take courses - what is used in terms of techniques so that you understand and learn everything correctly? I'm just writing my own articles about teaching people Vulkan, but I think that in general almost identical things. I just want to know how people want to see good material: maybe it'”
“i often first learn the rules, and then am able to understand the big picture after practicing applying them. I have really struggled in the corporate world this past year due to this. i am often given vague instructions. but that seems to be the standard. to me the vague instructions just sound like a bunch of words with no meaning. I’m in supply chain planning. new field for me, but not brand new. have been in it for 5 months. i learn really well through examples and watching someone else do t”
“Our university has been struggling with instructional design, and it’s becoming pretty noticeable in our courses. For those of you at universities that have a strong instructional design team, what does that support actually look like? Do you have dedicated staff working with faculty, or is it mostly something professors are expected to figure out themselves? I’m curious what has worked well at other institutions. submitted by /u/Fair-Pineapple8074 [link] [comments]”
“How much would you consider fair hourly pay for a freelance instructional designer to develop an undergraduate Social Work course from the ground-up with minimal guidance from the SME beyond a general overview and course outcomes? If not in one of the bands below, comment your opinion of fair pay for this opportunity. View Poll submitted by /u/EdTechy25 [link] [comments]”
“I asked an advisor what are the different professions you can get into with a masters in curriculum development and instructional technology. His response what he’s not sure, all he knows is those who have graduate are certified teachers. Any suggestions? submitted by /u/No_Dust3206 [link] [comments]”
That's a good point. Will definitely use more business language
“When people ask me how to make a good presentation, they usually expect a design answer. Better fonts, cleaner charts, a nice template. Early on that's what I chased too. What actually moved the needle was subtraction. A good presentation now, for me, starts as a much longer pile of everything I could say, and the work is deciding what dies. Most slides I make never get presented. They exist so I can see the argument, then delete the parts that don't carry it. A few things I keep asking:”
I am building an open-source learning project where two people can start from the same source and learning objective, but receive different explanations, interfaces, practice and feedback. My concern is that it…
“My designers don't often know how to use our platform, at all. Is this typical?”
“Yes yes yes. I once asked a designer to explain their choice of placing quite critical CTA where I didn't think it was easy to find, just to hear: "have you read << The Design of Everyday Things>>? Read it and you will understand my philosophy". But that was one guy out of 10+ so..overall I am lucky”
“Oh yes I think designers in general should talk more in business terms. I really dislike it as well, for example having design lead that's more so a visual designer and applies 'universal rules' is very painful.”
“This is my experience too. I love having designers who want to think and explore not just do as they're told, but sometimes that just isn't realistic, or just frankly isn't needed. Ive worked with great designers who have totally got when we're exploring a new problem versus just need a design yesterday, but sadly also plenty who didnt!”
“Gonna second this one Another example - "This doesnt fit in our design system" So what? If it costs money, tell me”
“First time posting here and I have really enjoyed reading the collaboration in this community! And hoping for some guidance on best place to find contract help. I own a small career training school that works solely with non profits and government funding. We serve a population of students that have a lot of barriers such as transportation, childcare, and others that make attending live classes quite difficult. We have a very structured program for our courses that holds the students accountable”
“I work at a very small school and my boss asked me to help make a flyer similar to one that another school posted. It was one of those generic chatgpt flyers that it dishes out for everyone. I want to create it without having to use chatgpt or other AI platforms. Any tips and tricks? I’m pretty decent at using canva but I’m no graphic designer. If this isn’t the right place to ask, I’m sorry! submitted by /u/TheThrowawayAnon [link] [comments]”
“Hi ID folks. Does this animal exist? I'm looking for an off-the-shelf online course on the ID process that will... Educate non-ID professionals on the ID process, with a focus on the importance of the A & D1 of ADDIE, and also exemplify features of an LMS to help me make the use case for adopting one Background I work in an educational nonprofit that is not a school. Our main products are workshops that teach soft skills like conflict resolution, finding common ground between groups on o”
“Dear reddit, I currently work as a K12 teacher and want to change my job to instructional design in the next year. Currently I am spending lots of time learning the technical aspects of the job and try to get used to the best softwares that are needed in the business. As far as I know, Articulate Storyline is a must have tool for being an ID. From my research, the program is just made for Windows. Here is my struggle: I work with Mac since more than 10 years and really struggle to use Windows. I”
“Hi everyone, I recently read a 2025 systematic review about instructional designers and the wide range of roles they can have. While reading it, I honestly thought: “Damn… this is exactly what happens at work.” Even my managers sometimes seem to think that most of my job consists of putting content into Moodle. But Moodle is only where the final product ends up. A large part of my work happens before and around it: understanding the training need; restructuring raw content; working with subject-”
“Has anyone done this certification? What was your experience? Did it add value for you? For anyone in ID right now who is trying to pivot or add to their experience, would you recommend it? If not, are there better certifications available? I've been in ID for close to a decade. submitted by /u/Any-Childhood1933 [link] [comments]”
“So many complaints about department “retreats” recently here; wondering if anyone can share examples of good approaches to department retreats or advice about how to improve them? Might be nice to have them all shared in one place for easy reference. submitted by /u/Unsuccessful_Royal38 [link] [comments]”
“Dr. John Sweller is my instructional design hero. I’ve given away a couple dozen of his books because cognitive load theory is essential to ID practice. For the first time I’m seeing him in an interview. The interviewer is an academic with a math focus, but John’s ideas are applicable to everyone who cares about knowledge transfer. It’s a thrill to share this! interview with Dr. John Sweller submitted by /u/rfoil [link] [comments]”
“Hi everyone! I'm 34 and trying to make a thoughtful career pivot into Learning & Development, specifically instructional design, and I'd really appreciate advice from people who actually work in the field. I recently completed my MPH through WGU. My background isn't traditional L&D at all, I've bounced around quite a bit professionally, mostly in behavioral health, disability/employment services, case management, healthcare support/operations, and other people-facing role”
“There are four hours dedicated to discussion of program assessment and learning outcomes. I sort of thought we were moving on from the assessment obsession. I guess not. What do others have to look forward to at the big annual retreat/meeting? submitted by /u/ProfessToKnow [link] [comments]”
“Just curious if anyone else is running into this issue or has any thoughts. I’ve worked as an instructional technologist for over 12 years. I was previous at school where we built and maintained everything in the online courses for instructors, who didn’t touch a thing and any changes or updates were made by us. I enjoyed the work. It was constant and I felt valued and needed but it was lower paid. About 2.5 years ago, I took another job opp (with a more senior title and nice bump in pay), howev”
“I feel like the ability to rapidly field a functional yet throwaway HTML5 SPA is what’s motivating this move from "tell me" to "show me." Gathering validated learning by having people touch and feel what the future might look like can give us feedback that’s far more tangible than mere words. Just don't boil the ocean with it. An unfocused prototype can ramble just as badly as an unfocused design document. Vibe to learn, not to earn.”
“Hi everyone! Would anyone be willing to share any resources, sample/mock programming schedules, or other materials that may be helpful? I’ve been tasked with creating a new programming schedule and would love to review examples of schedules that others have implemented. I’m also interested in finding research or evidence-based practices on how to develop a programming schedule that best benefits patients while also creating an efficient and manageable schedule for staff. I hope that makes sense!”
“Do any of you use Moodle's Q&A forums? I keep thinking there's potential in them, especially in providing interactive feedback in an online class. But my creativity is spent at this point. Do you begin yours with a short-essay-like question or have you found a more engaging way to start them? Any thoughts are appreciated! submitted by /u/Byrd522 [link] [comments]”
“Hi! A year ago, I was learning about instructional design and didn’t know the difference between Articulate and an LMS 😵💫 Thanks to you guys and this sub, I know a bit more. My current job is focused on in person training. This past week, my department miraculously found the budget to get me an Articulate license with another team. I’m excited. I’ve created 2 trainings so far. They’re not fancy but it’s working. However, it seems like my job wants me to focus on in person training, with this”
“Feel free to share I'd be interested in reading. My current job is training in house LLMs on internal usage, so I always want to see where they go wrong.”
“What are you guys looking for in a course nowadays? What I'm seeing for the past year or so, is that people seem to not have the "stamina" to go through courses anymore. Many start, but fall off immediately. Simple courses people complain that they are too simple. More advanced courses, nobody takes them. I feel like attention spans went down like crazy and people rather spend their time wrestling with AI than going through a well prepared project. So what is it? short lessons?, pr”
“Every day in every single learning design sub there are multiple posts that go something like "I was talking to a group of SMEs/several IDs/a group of LMS admins and they all kept mentioning the same issue. Curious how you all approach this and what it looks like in your workflow." I'm begging people to stop engaging with these posts. They are so clearly farming for market research for their app. How many people regularly have conversations with a diverse group of instructional des”
“In my experience, the most successful simulation training isn't just about the software—it’s about aligning your tools with real-world workflows. I’ve seen teams use platforms like Articulate Storyline, Skillwell, and Captivate, but the real impact comes from tailoring scenarios to actual on-the-job challenges. How do you approach scenario design to ensure simulations bridge theory and practice? submitted by /u/Flashy-Challenge-892 [link] [comments]”
“This comes up in my work fairly regularly and I've never found a clean answer for how it works on the academic side. Researchers reach out needing help turning complex data or concepts into figures, diagrams, or visual abstracts, and every time the collaboration structure is completely different. Some people have zero budget and are hoping for a favor. Some have grant money but no idea how to scope the work. Some have very specific journal requirements that constrain everything before the co”