The Ultimate Guide to Instructional Design Course in 2024

A Brief Introduction:
To tell you a little about instructional design or ID, what it is actually is a systematic and structured way of creating educational/instructional materials for in-person and online delivery. ID has transformed the landscapes of education and industry in many ways. Sounds quite 21st century, right? However, this cannot be further from the truth. The roots of ID can be traced all the way back to World War II, as it was required to train the military. Slowly, ID began to incorporate principles from the fields of educational and behavioral psychology and then crafted sound instructional design models. Toward the 1980s and 1990s, ID began to use computer-based training. From 2000s onwards, it became more significant as e-learning and mobile learning became more main stream. So, this is how ID has managed to become the hottest thing in the realm of learning and development today. Given this, it isn’t really a surprise that many job seekers are intending to pursue a career path in ID as the opportunities are endless. If you are one among them, and are a bit lost regarding how to start with ID, then you are in the right place.

What is an Instructional Design Course?
The first step toward starting a career in instructional design is to take up a professional instructional design course. There are many such ID courses available in India, moreover, gone are the days when you had to be physically present to enroll in ID courses. You can easily access many such courses at your fingertips today, as there are many amazing ones online.

However, with many options come poor ones as well. So, what you need to know about a sound ID course is that it needs to be intensive, immersive, and equip the learner with knowledge, skills, and practical experience required to excel in the field of ID.

ID courses are typically targeted toward instructional designers, educators, trainers, and learning and development professionals. However, basically anyone curious or interested in the field of ID can enroll in them.

What Does a Good Instructional Design Course Look Like?

A good instructional design course typically covers a wide range of topics and skills necessary for designing effective educational and training programs. An outline of the same for your reference is as follows:

FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES – Any sound course begins with educating the learners regarding the foundations of the topic. In the case of instructional design, some of the things you will get to learn about are an overview of instructional design, its history, as well as its importance.

CORE THEORIES AND MODELS – – The next thing you will get to learn about in an instructional design course is its core theories and models. To name a few, the ADDIE model, the Successive Approximation Model (SAM) model, the Dick and Carey Model, and Agile Learning Design are amongst the most well-known ones.

Now, you must be thinking it sounds pretty theoretical and boring. But hang on, this is where it gets interesting.

LEARNER AND STAKEHOLDER NEEDS ANALYSIS – – Once you’re done with the introductory part, what you will get to learn about are conducting needs and stakeholder analysis. To put it simply, this will involve identifying learners’ needs and goals based on clear, measurable, and achievable learning objectives using Bloom’s Taxonomy along with managing the expectations of stakeholders who will collaborate with you on this instructional design journey.

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES – This part will involve learning about effective instructional material design, like multimedia learning, content chunking, and scaffolding. Moreover, you will also get to learn about integrating engaging and interactive strategies into instructional design material, like videos, quizzes, gamification, and simulations to make learning experiences more engaging and entertaining. So, you will also get to learn using learning management systems, authoring tools, and other digital resources.

USABILITY AND EVALUATION –The best thing about instructional design is its usability. In that, you’ll be learning about techniques for testing and refining instructional materials to ensure that they are user-friendly and easily accessible. Moreover, unlike with traditional methods of teaching/training, ID is not very static. You see, ID believes in evaluation and feedback in order to keep instructional materials effective. So, you will be learning about how design assessments that track and measure learners’ progress and also the application of evaluation models like the Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Evaluation Model.

CAPSTONE PROJECT – Now that you have gotten an idea about know-how side of things of instructional design, what is the use of all the knowledge you have gained if you do not know how to put it to use or actually put it to use? It’s basically knowledge wasted. So, this is where the Capstone Project comes in. As part of the Capstone Project, you will learn how to implement all the things you have learned about ID. Moreover, you’ll also get to engage in peer collaboration and get feedback from industry experts on your ID projects.

MISCELLANEOUS – Some other things you will learn in instructional design courses are the principles of project management, where you will get to know about the things that go into the management side of things of instructional design, like timeline development, resource allocation, and risk assessment. Moreover, as ID is not a solo project, you will also get to learn about effectively collaborating with subject matter experts, graphic designers, and other stakeholders.

Additionally, you will learn about the new technologies on the horizon impacting the field of ID, like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality along with strategies that will help you stay up-to-date with the trends and technologies in the field of ID via professional development and networking.

Where can you Find the Perfect Instructional Design Course?

At this point, you might be wondering where on Earth do you find an instructional design course that covers all the aforementioned topics and requirements. Don’t worry, at LXDGuild, we got your back!

Let’s take this opportunity to introduce you to our Certified Learning Experience Designer (CLXD) Bootcamp (link the same) followed by Certified Learning Experience Designer (CLXD) Capstone (link the same).

Basically, CLXD Bootcamp is all that you might look for in an ID course. It is intensive, immersive, and also fun. It has mainly been designed keeping you, the instructional designer, educator, trainer, or learning and development professional, in mind. You also get the flexibility of online and blended learning format, with live sessions and self-paced learning modules.

The CLXD Bootcamp will cover a wide range of topics from the foundational principles of learning experience design, applying design principles to create learner-centric projects, and utilizing modern educational technologies and tools effectively, to crafting and developing engaging learning experiences.

CLXD Capstone follows the CLXD Bootcamp where you will move from the know-how side of things of ID to the how-to side of things of ID. To put it simply, you will learn to implement all the exciting things you learned during the CLXD Bootcamp in CLXD Capstone.

Moreover, as part of CLXD Bootcamp and Capstone, you will get to engage with industry experts like THE Purnima Valiathan of ID Mentors. Purnima is the leading industry expert on all things ID, therefore, you really, really do not want to miss out on this opportunity.

By the end, you will have your own job-ready instructional design portfolio, a shiny instructional design certificate that increases the strength of your candidacy for prospective employers. Moreover, you can show it off just a little bit on your LinkedIn profile, too! However, we have SAVED THE BEST FOR THE LAST!

So, get this! Enrolling into CLXD Bootcamp and Capstone will also get you a free LXDGuild membership, meaning you can access our unique Job Market Place (link the same), where you can apply for the best instructional design jobs online.

Do not want to miss out on this opportunity, then? Well, you can visit – https://lxdguildacademy.com

FAQs

1. Why do we need Instructional Design?
The focus of instructional design is the creation of systematic instruction programming to enhance learning efficiency and effectiveness in order to meet learners' goals.

2. Where does Instructional Design apply?
Instructional design has revolutionized the fields of education and industry, specifically the field of learning development.

3.Is Instructional Design for corporate training as well?
Yes, indeed. The popularity of instructional design has created a ripple effect across different fields, including corporate training, where it enhances the skills and performance of employees.

4. What skills do I need to be an Instructional Designer?
Key skills for an instructional designer are curriculum development, conducting assessments and evaluations, project management, and navigating technology.

5.Where can I develop the key skills needed to become an Instructional Designer?
A professional instructional designer course, like the Certified Learning Experience Designer (CLXD) Bootcamp followed by Certified Learning Experience Designer (CLXD) Capstone Project, is the first step you need to take in order to develop the key skills required to become an instructional designer.