What Does an Instructional Designer Do in Corporate Training?

An instructional designer is foundational to quality training, learning, and employee development. An instructional designer not only develops entire courses but also redesigns old courses to make them more engaging, as well as creates training materials, curriculum, and learner guides. So, in what ways can an instructional designer improve your corporate training program?

When Do I Need an Instructional Designer's Skill Sets?

Instructional Design is the art of creating an environment and materials that create a learning environment designed to successfully facilitate your learning outcomes.

What are the skills of an Instructional Designer?

Instructional Designers are an essential part of any training program. Whether in  schools, universities, or businesses, they play a critical role in the learning and development space.

An Instructional Designers role is to create learning experiences that are beneficial to learners and provide them with the tools they need to succeed. It is important to ensure that students understand everything they are being taught. Also, ensuring the learning process is easy, fun, and effective. They often develop new ideas and help shape how new technologies can be used in the physical or virtual classroom!

With the increase in technology use in almost every area of our day-to-day life, Instructional Designers are in high demand and an integral part of any training program. They help to ensure that the information provided to students in training stays relevant and valuable. Institutions and businesses can focus their efforts on providing the most meaningful training to their target audience. 

So, what are the skills of an Instructional Designer?

When Should I Hire a Permanent
Instructional Designers vs. Contract?

An Instructional Designer can prove to be a great asset to any business, since they are responsible for ensuring that learners understand a new education concept. But a good Instructional Designer does much more than that. In the ever-changing world of business climate and education, they redesign courses, develop complete methods for learning initiatives, and create learning materials such as student guides and teaching manuals to provide an excellent, well thought out learning experience.

Instructional Designers work in many different fields, including schooling and education, government, business, or even the military. They are versatile and often work either as an individual or within a wider group setting.

But, do you know when should you hire an Instructional Designer as a permanent team member, or only on a contract basis?

Picking the Right Instructional Designer 

In the fast-paced corporate world, businesses are under immense pressure to quickly adapt to constant changes in technology, work process, industry standards and the current business climate. The best way to meet those challenges is to use advanced training techniques to create a high-performing workforce.

The question is, how will you meet the training demands of your organization? 
 
Many enterprises turn to external training solutions. There are countless companies that offer general teaching experiences, or platforms but these present problems of their own. Because the courses are often designed for a broad application, they aren’t well-suited to meet the individual needs of your employees, or the specific requirements of your industry or business. This disconnect causes workers to be disengaged, wasting time and money spent on training. 

Download our FREE eBook - '5 Skills of a Great Instructional Designer' to get more information on Instructional Designers, and what to look for when hiring the right Instructional Designer for you.

Instructional Designer Common Mistakes Using Training Handouts

A good Instructional Designer will use best practices when creating training handouts. Here are common mistakes you should avoid.

They know that training handouts are very powerful training tools. Not only do they provide reinforcement to participants of content learned, but they also stay with the participants for a long time after the training. However, many trainers are so focused on creating their presentations that they wait until the last minute to create their handouts and often they don't align to the learning objectives. Handouts are a critical part of your training and having the proper content on your handouts is an important part of the total training experience.

Here are a few mistakes you want to avoid when trying to create a successful handout:

How to Find the Right Instructional Design Consultant

Tips to Hiring the Ideal Candidate For Your Learning Department

It’s bound to happen. You’re finally at the point where you can manage your training initiatives and everyone on the team, while stretched thin, can continue to manage day to day operations while also taking on a few new projects as needed.

Then it happens.

Creating Change Management Training That Works

7 Ways to Ensure Effective Change Management

When it comes to implementing new change in any organization, the usual reaction is less than encouraging.

The major reasons for this could be poorly implemented change in the past, unclear communication leading to fear of change, a lack of clarity in terms of the process involved and the most likely reason-it’s human nature! Regardless of the reason, the key to any successful change management process is having the right change manager on the team alongside subject matter experts and learning professionals who can bring together the right plan.

What are the benefits of an instructional designer?

The cybersecurity training program has finally been approved, and your executive has flagged it as a priority.

With your learning and development team stretched thin on other projects, you’ve decided the most efficient way to complete this training program is to hire a contract Instructional Designer (ID). If you need to make the business case to management for budget approval, here are seven good points to present.

Building Your Instructional Design Team

Putting together the right team of Instructional Designers can be a challenge for any organization. Whether it be a contract Instructional Designer or an in house hire, figuring out expectations, deliverables and what traits you’re looking for are critical to getting the organization on the right track.