Curious about transitioning into instructional design?
Explore IDOL Academy here → www.idolcourses.com/academy

I did not start IDOL Academy because I loved training.

I started it because I saw how broken most instructional design career advice was.

People were being told to build random portfolios, chase certifications, and hope someone would eventually hire them.

That is not how hiring actually works.

After years working inside organizations and building multi-million-dollar learning businesses, I realized something simple:

Companies do not hire instructional designers because they know tools.

They hire people who can solve performance problems.

That insight became the foundation of IDOL Academy.

IDOL Academy is a state-authorized career school that teaches professionals how to break into instructional design by learning how the work actually functions inside companies.

Inside the program, students learn how to:

• diagnose performance gaps
• design learning solutions tied to business outcomes
• build real portfolio projects employers recognize
• master the tools used by professional instructional designers

Over the past several years, thousands of professionals have used the IDOL method to transition into careers in learning and development.

My mission is simple.

Help serious professionals build instructional design careers the right way.

If you are exploring the field, follow along. I share what most programs never explain about how instructional design actually works.

Robin Sargent, Ph.D. Instructional Designer-Online Learning

Instructional design is one of the most misunderstood careers online.

Most people think the job is creating courses.

It isn’t.

Courses are just one tool.

The real job of an instructional designer is diagnosing performance problems inside organizations.

Before designing anything, good instructional designers ask different questions:

Where does work actually break down?

What are employees struggling to do?

Why isn’t the current process producing the right results?

Only after those answers become clear do you decide whether training is even the right solution.

Sometimes the answer is training.

Often it isn’t.

Sometimes the real issue is:

• unclear expectations
• poor systems
• broken workflows
• lack of feedback
• leadership gaps

Courses can’t fix most of those problems.

That’s why strong instructional designers think like analysts first and creators second.

They investigate before they design.

They diagnose before they build.

Because instructional design isn’t about making content.

It’s about improving performance.

And that’s a very different job.

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Talks about #elearning, #onlinelearning, #instructionaldesign, #instructionaldesigner, and #learninganddevelopment

Founder of IDOL Academy | The Career School for Instructional Designers

People think instructional designers spend their day building courses.

That’s only a small part of the job.

A typical day for an instructional designer usually looks more like this:

Analyze requests
 Is this actually a training problem?
Meet with subject matter experts
 What do employees really need to do on the job?
Design learning experiences
 How can people practice those skills?
Review courses
 Does the learning activity actually support performance?
Measure results
 Did the training improve performance?

Course building is part of the job.
But most of the work happens before and after the course exists.

Instructional design is less about producing content and more about solving performance problems.

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People think instructional designers mostly build courses.
That’s only one part of the job.
Inside organizations, the work usually falls into five areas:
Analysis
What performance problem actually exists?
Design
What should people practice doing?
Development
Build the learning materials.
Implementation
Launch the training.
Evaluation
 Did performance improve?
Most people only see the development step.
But experienced instructional designers spend just as much time:
Diagnosing problems.
Designing practice.
Measuring results.
Because the goal isn’t to produce courses.
It’s to improve performance.

Most people treat Robert Gagné’s Nine Events of Instruction like a checklist.
Step 1. Do this.
Step 2. Do that.
Add a quiz at the end and call it “instructional design.”

But that’s not what Gagné was actually trying to teach us.

The real insight behind the Nine Events is that learning doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when we intentionally support how people process information.

Gain attention.
Activate prior knowledge.
Provide guidance.
Allow practice.
Give feedback.

Each step exists because the brain needs a specific condition in order to learn effectively.

Inside organizations, this matters even more.

Employees aren’t sitting in a classroom waiting to be taught. They’re busy. Distracted. Under pressure to perform. If the learning experience doesn’t guide them through these moments deliberately, the training simply becomes another thing they click through.

That’s why strong instructional designers don’t just “build courses.”

They design the conditions that make learning possible.

This is one of the frameworks we spend time unpacking inside IDOL Academy—not as theory to memorize, but as a practical lens for designing learning that actually works in real organizations.

Because understanding why a model works is far more powerful than just knowing the steps.

If you work in instructional design, I’m curious:
Do you use Gagné’s Nine Events as a checklist… or as a thinking framework when designing learning?

Instructional design isn’t one job.

It’s a spectrum of thinking.

The biggest difference between junior and senior designers isn’t tools.

It’s how they approach problems.

Here are the four levels.

Level 1: Content Creator

Focus: building learning materials.

Typical work:

• slide decks
• eLearning modules
• videos and job aids

The goal is producing content.

This is where many new instructional designers start.

Level 2: Learning Designer

Focus: designing effective learning experiences.

Typical work:

• learning objectives
• scenarios and activities
• practice and feedback

Now the designer is thinking about how people learn, not just what to present.

Level 3: Performance Designer

Focus: improving workplace performance.

Typical work:

• performance analysis
• task analysis
• workflow-based learning

The question shifts from:

“Did people learn?”

to

“Did behavior change on the job?”

Level 4: Performance Consultant

Focus: solving business problems.

Typical work:

• diagnosing performance gaps
• advising leaders
• recommending solutions beyond training

At this level, instructional designers become strategic partners, not just course builders.

Most organizations think instructional designers live at Level 1 or 2.

But the real value of the profession happens at Level 3 and 4.

That shift is what turns instructional design into a business discipline.

If you're an instructional designer:

Which level are you currently working at?

4 Levels of IDOL Thinking

Most instructional designers would benefit from reading George Orwell.

Not for politics.

For writing.

Orwell created six simple rules for writing clearly. One of them is especially relevant to instructional design:

“Never use a long word where a short one will do.”

This is where a lot of training goes wrong.

Courses are filled with phrases like:

“Leverage cross-functional collaboration to optimize operational outcomes.”

But employees don’t talk like that.
And they definitely don’t learn well from it.

Clear writing is clear thinking.

If a learner has to decode your sentence, they’re no longer focused on the skill you’re trying to teach. They’re trying to interpret the language.

Inside organizations, clarity matters because time matters.

Employees don’t need elegant prose.

They need to quickly understand what to do, why it matters, and how to do it correctly.

That’s why strong instructional designers are also strong editors.

They cut words.
They simplify explanations.
They remove anything that slows understanding.

We spend a surprising amount of time on this inside IDOL Academy—because instructional design isn’t just about models and theory.

It’s about communicating clearly enough that people can actually perform.

I’m curious:

What’s the most confusing piece of corporate training language you’ve seen lately?

Most instructional design portfolios show tools.

Storyline projects.
Slide decks.
Course screenshots.

But hiring managers are looking for something very different.

They want to see how you think.

The most impressive portfolios show evidence of performance-focused design.

For example:

• Scenario-based training that lets learners practice real decisions
• Task analysis and course blueprints that show design thinking
• Performance support tools like job aids and checklists
• Data-driven training with clear success metrics

Because instructional design isn’t about building courses.

It’s about solving performance problems.

A strong portfolio doesn’t just show what you built.

It shows how you approached the problem.

Curious for hiring managers here:

What portfolio projects actually stand out to you?

One of the most important skills in instructional design is knowing when not to build training.

Too many projects start like this:

“Can you create a training for this?”

A strong instructional designer pauses and asks questions first.

Here are seven questions that should come before any training project.

The best instructional designers don’t start with content.

They start with diagnosis.

That’s the shift from course builder → performance consultant.

If you're an instructional designer:

Which of these questions do you ask most often?

7 Questions

When people ask how to break into instructional design, they usually expect a list of tools.

Storyline.
Captivate.
Camtasia.
Rise.

But tools are the easiest part of the profession.

The real challenge is learning how organizations think about performance.

Instructional designers sit at an unusual intersection.

Education.
Business strategy.
Human behavior.

Education helps you understand how people learn.

Business strategy tells you why the training exists in the first place.

Human behavior explains why employees often don’t do what the training tells them to do.

Most beginners only focus on the first one.

But the most valuable instructional designers understand all three.

Because the real job isn’t building courses.

It’s helping organizations change behavior in ways that improve results.

That’s why instructional design is often misunderstood as a “tools job.”

But it’s actually a thinking job.

The more you understand the intersection of learning, business, and behavior, the more valuable you become.

Everyone thinks instructional designers build courses.

That’s the misconception.

Courses are tools.

Instructional design is about performance.

If a sales team is missing targets, the goal isn’t to deliver a training module.

The goal is to improve sales performance.

That means asking different questions:

• What are employees struggling to do?
• What decisions are they getting wrong?
• What barriers exist in the workflow?

Sometimes the answer is training.

Often it’s not.

It might be:

• better job aids
• improved workflows
• clearer decision support
• more realistic practice

As the IDOL philosophy emphasizes, instructional designers exist to close the gap between current performance and desired performance.

Courses can help.

But they’re rarely the whole solution.

The real work of instructional design is diagnosing problems and designing environments where people learn by doing.

That’s the perspective we teach inside IDOL Academy.

Because great instructional designers aren’t content creators.

They’re performance architects.

Curious to hear from other IDs:

What misconception about instructional design drives you crazy? 👇

Most people think instructional design is about courses.

Slides. Modules. Learning objectives.

But the real value of an instructional designer happens at the intersection of three disciplines.

Education

We understand how people learn.

Cognitive load. Scaffolding. Practice. Feedback.

Without this, training becomes information dumps.

Business Strategy

We connect learning to organizational goals.

Revenue growth. Compliance. Productivity. Customer experience.

If training doesn’t move business metrics, it’s just activity.

Human Behavior

We design for what people actually do at work.

Habits. Motivation. resistance to change. workplace constraints.

If behavior doesn’t change, performance doesn’t improve.

The best instructional designers don’t sit inside the training department.

They operate at the intersection of learning, performance, and business outcomes.

That’s where instructional design becomes a strategic role.

And it’s the difference between content creators and performance consultants.

This is one of the core shifts we teach inside IDOL Academy.

Because instructional design isn’t about building courses.

It’s about changing performance inside real organizations.

Teaching experience does not automatically translate into instructional design.

Many teachers assume it will.

They build a portfolio.

Apply to jobs.

And still hear nothing back.

Why?

Because most teachers make the same transition mistakes when entering instructional design.

The issue isn’t teaching experience.

Teachers bring incredible strengths:

• explaining complex ideas
• structuring learning
• supporting learners

But instructional design in organizations works very differently than teaching in classrooms.

Here are some of the biggest mistakes we see.

Teachers bring enormous value to instructional design.

But the transition requires reframing how learning works in organizations.

That’s one of the biggest shifts we focus on inside IDOL Academy.

If you’re a teacher transitioning into instructional design:

Which of these surprised you most?

The Biggest Mistakes Teachers Make When Transitioning ID

Most people think instructional designers spend their time building courses.

That’s the visible part of the work.

But it’s usually not the most important part.

Experienced instructional designers spend far more time doing something else:

Diagnosing problems.

Before designing any learning solution, strong instructional designers ask questions like:

• What performance problem are we trying to solve?
• Is this actually a knowledge or skill gap?
• What’s preventing people from performing successfully?

Sometimes the answer isn’t training at all.

The problem might be:

• unclear processes
• broken tools
• unrealistic expectations
• missing incentives

If you build a course without diagnosing the real issue, you risk solving the wrong problem.

That’s why experienced instructional designers approach their work more like consultants than content creators.

The process usually looks like this:

Diagnose the performance problem

Identify the root cause

Determine whether learning is needed

Design the appropriate solution

Sometimes that solution is a course.

Often it’s something else entirely.

Because in instructional design, the goal isn’t to produce content.

It’s to improve performance.

 #contentcreators #performing #work #askquestions #architecture #makers #content #skillgap #mostpeople #gap #learningsolution #course #rootcause #solution #unrealisticexpectations #designer #instructionaldesigner #questions #spendtime #learning #knowledge #dosomething #architecture_hunter #neverstoplearning #answer #realissue #contentcreator #process #consultant #timebuilding

Most corporate training fails for one simple reason.

It teaches information instead of performance.

Instructional designers are often asked to build:

modules
slides
knowledge checks
compliance courses

But executives don’t care about learning objectives.

They care about outcomes.

Faster onboarding.
Fewer mistakes.
Higher sales conversions.

This is the gap most new instructional designers miss.

Learning is not the goal.

Performance is.

A training course is only valuable if it changes what people do on the job.

That means the real work of instructional design isn’t content creation.

It’s performance analysis.

You have to ask different questions.

What mistakes are happening?

Where are employees getting stuck?

What behavior actually drives the business result?

When you design for performance instead of information, everything changes:

The activities change.
The practice changes.
The measurement changes.

And suddenly leadership starts paying attention.

Because now L&D is solving business problems.

At IDOL Academy we teach instructional designers to translate learning language into business language.

That’s the shift that separates course builders from strategic learning professionals.

So here’s the question most training teams never ask:

What business metric does your training actually influence?

AI is about to change instructional design faster than most people realize.

Not because it replaces instructional designers.

Because it automates the easiest part of the job.

Content production.

AI can already generate:

📝 course outlines
🎤 narration scripts
🧩 learning activities
🖥️ prototype course structures

In minutes.

Soon it will be seconds.

Which means the value of instructional designers is about to shift.

Away from production.

Toward thinking.

The most valuable instructional designers will be the ones who understand:

🔎 performance analysis
📊 business goals
🧠 behavior change
🧭 learning strategy

Because the hard part of instructional design was never building slides.

The hard part was knowing what problem to solve.

AI can generate content.

But it still can’t walk into an organization and ask:

“Why isn’t performance improving?”

That shift from content creator to performance strategist is exactly what we focus on inside IDOL Academy.

Because in the AI era, instructional designers who can think like consultants will become far more valuable than those who only build courses.

Many people transitioning into instructional design build portfolios that look like collections of courses.

But hiring managers aren’t evaluating the course.

They’re evaluating how the designer thinks.

A strong instructional design portfolio shows the design process, not just the final product.

Here’s a simple framework.

Step 1: Start with a real performance problem

Each portfolio project should begin with a workplace challenge.

Example:

Customer support agents struggle to handle escalation calls.

This immediately shows you’re thinking about performance, not content.

Step 2: Describe the audience and context

Explain:

• who the learners are
• what their job looks like
• where the performance breakdown happens

This shows you understand workplace realities.

Step 3: Explain your design decisions

Hiring managers want to know:

Why did you design it this way?

Include things like:

• scenario-based learning
• decision points
• practice opportunities

Now they see your thinking.

Step 4: Show the learning asset

This might be:

• an eLearning module
• a storyboard
• a scenario interaction
• a job aid

The artifact supports the design story.

Step 5: Explain the expected performance impact

Close the project with:

• the intended behavior change
• the workplace outcome

This shows the connection between learning and results.

The best portfolios follow one structure:

Problem → Design → Performance

That’s what hiring managers look for when they review portfolios in just a few minutes.

How to Build Portfolio

The biggest mistake people make when transitioning into instructional design is building unrealistic portfolio projects.

They build perfect courses for imaginary companies.

Polished slides.
Beautiful interactions.
A clean learning objective.

But no real problem.

No real constraints.

No real business context.

And that’s exactly the problem.

Because hiring managers aren’t trying to evaluate whether you can make a course.

They’re trying to see whether you can solve a workplace problem.

Real instructional design work looks very different from portfolio projects most people build.

In the real world:

Stakeholders disagree.
Information is incomplete.
Time is limited.
The problem might not even be training.

Strong portfolios show how you think through messy problems, not just how you design polished content.

That’s why the best portfolios include things like:

• performance analysis
• stakeholder questions
• decision reasoning
• alternative solutions considered

Not just a finished course.

Because instructional designers aren’t hired to create slides.

They’re hired to improve performance.

This is one of the biggest mindset shifts we teach inside IDOL Academy.

The portfolio isn’t proof that you can build training.

It’s proof that you can diagnose problems and design solutions.

Most instructional designers are taught to “deliver information.”

But Jean Piaget’s work suggests something very different.

People don’t simply receive knowledge.

They construct it.

According to Piaget, learning happens when people actively organize new information into mental structures called schemas. When new information doesn’t fit those structures, the brain has to adjust—either by modifying the schema or creating a new one.

That process is where learning actually happens.

Which raises an uncomfortable question for a lot of corporate training.

If learning requires active construction, why do so many courses rely on long explanations and slide-based content?

Information alone rarely changes understanding.

What changes understanding is interaction with ideas.

Scenarios.
Problems to solve.
Opportunities to apply concepts.
Moments where learners have to think.

Good instructional design creates those moments intentionally.

It doesn’t just tell learners what they should know.
It gives them experiences that force them to reorganize what they know.

This is a shift many people make when they begin studying instructional design more deeply inside IDOL Academy.

You stop thinking about content delivery.

And you start thinking about how people build knowledge in the first place.

I’m curious how other designers approach this:

How do you create opportunities for learners to actively construct understanding in your training?

Many aspiring instructional designers believe the hardest part of the job is learning authoring tools.

Storyline.
Captivate.
Rise.

Those tools matter.

But they’re not the hardest part of instructional design.

The hardest part is something much less visible.

Identifying the real performance problem inside an organization.

When a stakeholder says:

“We need training.”

An experienced instructional designer starts asking questions:

• What problem are employees actually facing?
• Is this really a knowledge gap?
• What’s preventing people from performing correctly?

Because sometimes the issue isn’t training at all.

It might be:

• unclear processes
• broken systems
• poor management expectations
• lack of incentives

If you jump straight to building a course, you might solve the wrong problem.

That’s why experienced instructional designers spend a large portion of their time analyzing performance issues before designing anything.

The process usually looks like this:

Diagnose the performance problem

Identify the root cause

Determine whether learning is needed

Design the appropriate solution

Sometimes that solution is a course.

Often it’s something else entirely.

Because instructional design isn’t about building content.

It’s about improving performance.

And that’s why tools are the easy part.

Diagnosis is the hard part.

Most instructional designers obsess over content.

Slides.
Graphics.
Interactions.
More information.

But content isn’t what drives behavior.

Attention does.

Psychologist William James said it plainly:

“What holds attention determines action.”

If your learning experience doesn’t capture and direct attention, nothing else you design matters.

Not the objectives.
Not the scenario.
Not the beautiful course you spent three weeks building.

Inside organizations, employees are surrounded by distractions—email, meetings, deadlines, Slack messages. Your course is competing with all of it.

That’s why strong instructional design starts with a different question:

What will capture and hold attention long enough for learning to happen?
This is exactly why models like Gagné’s Nine Events begin with gaining attention. It’s not a gimmick. It’s a recognition of how learning actually works.

Attention opens the door.

Everything else follows.

This is also one of the biggest mindset shifts we focus on inside IDOL Academy. Instructional designers aren’t just organizing information—they’re intentionally guiding attention so people can learn and perform.

And that changes how you design everything.

Curious to hear from other designers:

What’s the most effective way you’ve found to capture learner attention in corporate training?

THCO - We Are Hiring!

Currently building Talent Leadership University for the employees and partners of THCO

Conducting regular and thorough learning and performance needs analysis to discover hidden issues behind performance challenges

Designing THCO's LMS and coordinating it's operations 

Translating THCO's business and leadership direction into L&D initiatives that transforms performance delivery

Streamlining THCO's onboarding processes using L&D resources 

Storyboarding and producing training videos

Learning And Development Specialist

Nigenius 

Designing 144+ unique virtual learning experiences for Nigerian primary school learners in UK and Canada 

Applying blending learning and gamification strategies to produce desired learning outcomes in English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning, Non Verbal Reasoning, Basic Science & Handwriting

Private Tutor (Nigerian Kids in Diaspora)

IRSL Consulting

Attracted the first 30 learners to the academy in less than 30 days using a publicity strategy at 0 cost to the business.
Building the L&D team from the ground up
Creating learner retention and marketing strategies
Branding the academy section 
Standardizing processes from learner onboarding to graduation 
Coordinating curriculum development, documentation, approval, implementation and evaluation
Managing SMEs, instructional designers, graphic designers, and social media managers

Learning and Development Manager (Temporary)

Lothego

Leading a team of 3 instructional designers

Creating content strategy and implementation plans

Designing mobile learning experiences for teachers and civil servants.

Created Lothego Online Learning Assistant (LOLA)

Collaborating with software engineers and product managers to design user experience

Conducting needs analysis and user experience research

Managing content development process and embedded QA process

Lead Instructional Designer (Content Developer)

Developing course content
Designing storyboards including illustrations

Instructional Designer (Content Developer)

Learnxplore

Scripted video based course containing 39 topics and 13 modules

Designed illustrations and video animations for 36 lessons

Contract Instructional Designer

BlendED Learning Consultants

Designing storyboards for K-5 online lessons 
Collaborating with SME on learning content development
Assisting lead instructional designers to meet hard deadlines.

Instructional Designer

iCU Learning

Co-authoring corporate training courses for global professionals

Co-Author / Content Developer

Global Schools Program

Co-mentoring 6 Turkish educators on their Global Schools Advocacy journey

Facilitating mentoring session to guide Turkish ESL educators on integrating SDGs into ESL lessons.

Global Schools Mentor 

Pioneered a SDG club
Prepared SDG club members for global and local SDG events and competitions
Created 5+ SDG local lesson songs

Global Schools Advocate 

Akoka Junior High School 

Designed and delivered Technology Enriched ESL lessons to 300 learners.

Pioneered the creation of a Virtual Language Learning Laboratory content for 80 learners.

Created 100+  Education for Sustainable Development activities in ESL lessons. 

Integrated mastery learning, a blend of different language teaching approaches, and 'Edutainment' in ESL classrooms.

Achieved 4 prestigious awards and 1 nomination in ESL teaching and learning

English Language Teacher

Royal Commonwealth Society

Assessed 150 essays written by Junior learners across different countries

Queens Commonwealth Essay Competition Judge

Learning should be meaningful, memorable, and easy to transfer—and that philosophy has shaped my six-year journey as a learning designer. From empowering K-12 learners and teachers to improving workplace learning and performance I’ve created impactful learning experiences that produced results. I design transformative learning solutions for schools, workplaces, and guide professionals into instructional design careers. Let’s connect and build learning experiences that truly make a difference.

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