eLearning, Freelance ID, Instructional Design, Project Management / October 15, 2021

For everyone beginning an instructional design journey, the endgame is the same: instructional design jobs. You all want to get to work!

However, if you jump straight into a job board search, you might be overwhelmed. That’s because preferred skills for instructional designers vary based on the type of role and the organization.

Your focus as you learn about instructional design may shift depending on the instructional design jobs you’re interested in. So let’s review what different instructional design jobs are out there and what role you might play as an instructional designer. 

Get to Work in Instructional Design: understanding the different instructional design jobs

Unfortunately, no one-size-fits-all job description can be copied and pasted for all instructional design jobs. 

Every company has different expectations for its instructional designers. Your skills will vary based on what type of instructional designer you are.

The Straight-Up Instructional Designer

In its purest form, an instructional designer creates a learning experience. They curate the learning content and create outlines. In addition, this instructional designer usually conducts a training needs analysis.

Then, they use the analysis data to write learning objectives and begin the storyboard process. Instructional design jobs like this require a deep understanding of models like ADDIE or SAM. Additionally, an instructional designer knows how to engage adult learners and create a learning experience that meets their needs. 

In this role, you would live in the analysis and design phases. You might go as far as creating a visual storyboard in PowerPoint. The slides could be used as a template for the eLearning development.

But, here’s where the role ends, when development begins. In this role, it’s nice to know the capabilities of eLearning authoring tools. However, you wouldn’t have to know the ins and outs of developing.

The Elearning Developer

Here, the eLearning developer steps in. An eLearning developer grabs the baton after the outlining and storyboarding are complete. 

In an eLearning developer role, you would bring the learning experience to life and make it usable. Skills like course building in Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, or iSpring are essential for this role.

Other ways you might bring content to life as an eLearning developer include video development or screencasting. Skills you would need here include audio and video editing or using tools like Techsmith SnagIt. 

A great eLearning developer works alongside an instructional designer to ensure the final product is aligned with the learning objectives. 

The Hybrid Instructional Designer

Unless, of course, your instructional design role is a hybrid. The third type of instructional design role is a combination of the first two. While many organizations have two separate people or teams- one for the design and one for the development, it’s not uncommon for the same person to wear both hats.

In this case, the instructional designer owns the entire ADDIE process. Therefore, this type of instructional designer plays an important role in every phase. 

When the pandemic hit, the need to convert instructor-led training to eLearning was massive. Existing instructional designers had to scramble to develop eLearning and video-based training. In addition, developers were being asked to jump into the analysis and design of courses they developed. That’s why the hybrid instructional designer is a popular role and why so many instructional design job posts include development skills. 

The 360 Instructional Designer

If you didn’t think an instructional designer could add even more responsibilities to their plate, think again! The last role an instructional designer might play is a jack-of-all-trades. 

On top of owning the instructional design process and developing the course content, an instructional designer might also have a hand in implementing the course on a learning management system (LMS).

In this role, the instructional designer also has LMS administrator responsibilities like:

• setting up the course for distribution
• troubleshooting bugs
• grabbing the data collected

You can read more about learning management systems and how instructional designers use them in this article. 

Different Instructional Design Jobs

Now that you understand your role as an instructional designer let’s talk about the different instructional design jobs.

When I explain the instructional designer in each of these job types, I will be focused on that hybrid instructional designer role.

There are three main instructional design jobs, and I’ve worked in all three, so let’s dive in!

The Corporate Instructional Designer

A corporate instructional designer is on staff in one organization and works with that organization’s team. This instructional designer gets to know the learning audiences in each department they create training for, which is a nice benefit of corporate work. The learning personas might shift over time, but you’re generally creating for an audience you already understand.

Your tasks as a corporate instructional designer might include the following:

• Content research
• Working with subject matter experts
• Holding stakeholder meetings
• Project management
• Creating course outlines
• Leading scoping meetings
• Designing storyboards
• Building eLearning content
• Creating guides for instructor-led training
• Ensuring SCORM compliance

The tools you need to be familiar with may include eLearning authoring software and audio, video, and image editing software. Each organization will have the tools it prefers and usually allows for some on-the-job training. 

For example, if you use Storyline, you can apply for a job with a company that uses Captivate. The skills are transferable, and it would be up to that hiring manager to decide what will work in that specific role. 

SCORM 

Scorm compliance is an instructional designer’s responsibility in the corporate world. So what is it? 

It stands for Sharable Content Object Reference Model. It’s how you can track learner data within an LMS. Things like course completion, slide completion, assessment scores, all that valuable data that helps you evaluate the course. 

Corporate ID Salary and Perks

I know this is another important aspect of figuring out what kind of instructional designer you want to be! I’m going to be pulling salary data for the Instructional Design Company’s home state, Florida. Specific salary information will vary based on your location, but this should give you a good baseline.

The median salary for corporate instructional designers is around $73,000. The range is anywhere from $57,000 to $88,000 (source: salary.com). Like any job, the compensation can depend on the company and your experience and skills.

One perk of corporate ID work is that it’s typically a full-time role with benefits in a traditional work environment. 

The Higher Education Instructional Designer

Next up in our list of instructional design jobs is higher education. These are instructional designers who work for colleges or universities. Depending on the institution, the instructional designer might be a contractor or be on staff in a full-time role.

One crucial difference between corporate and higher education is the learning audience. In higher education, instructional designers have two different audiences. 

Designing for Faculty

Mandatory compliance training like ethics, sexual harassment, and security awareness needs to be completed by staff yearly. Those courses have to be created and updated! That’s where you would come in as the instructional designer.

Also, faculty participate in frequent staff development. Those courses are designed on a schedule and could include leadership training or other best practices in education. 

In this role, there’s a lot of overlap with the corporate instructional designer role. The process for designing this type of training is similar and requires many of the same skills. 

Designing for Students

The other audience the instructional designer works with is the students. In this role, you’d work with professors to create courses for students. 

Student courses might be in-person or online. However, both follow a different structure. For example, a semester-long course requires the following:

• Required readings
• Sequential modules
• Assignments
• Rubrics
• Exams
• Curriculum mapping to course competencies
• Student learning outcomes
• Program outcomes
• Learning objectives

Here, the tools used here are a little different. You’ll usually rely on an education-based LMS like Google Classroom, Canvas, or Blackboard. Typically, your development happens within that LMS, without relying on other authoring software.

Higher Education Salary and Perks

The salary range for higher education is lower than corporate, from $43,000 to $51,000 (source: indeed.com. However, for full-time, on-staff instructional designers, the same traditional benefits apply to the corporate world. 

Additionally, there’s one big perk of working in higher education. Many universities allow you to complete courses at a discount. If you’re interested in getting a graduate degree, working in higher education can make that more attainable.

The Freelance Instructional Designer

Last but not least, freelance instructional designers work on different projects for different clients. When we talked about the 360 instructional designer, that’s the kind of role most freelancers have.

A freelancer has to find and bid on projects. So, they get to choose the kind of work they do. Subsequently, that work can change from project to project. On the other hand, an established freelancer can be pickier about the projects they work on. This allows you to find your niche within instructional design and stick to it.

As a result, the tasks you’d complete as a freelance vary wildly. Some projects will be similar to corporate, and some will be similar to higher education.

When you work as a freelancer, you constantly have to market yourself to find your next project. However, when you do great work, you get repeat business!

Freelance Salary and Perks

Looking at the freelance platform Upwork, you’ll find hourly rates for instructional designers span anywhere from $35-$90.

In addition, the flexibility and creativity of freelance work are some of its biggest perks!

Wrapping it up

So, what kind of ID do you want to be? Hopefully, this has helped you narrow it down. You can join me in the Hangout if you have questions about the different instructional design jobs. We have a great community of instructional designers that can help you out!

Ready to take the next step in your instructional design journey? Consider joining our Instructional Design and Tech Accelerator System and Certificate Program. You can learn the tricks and tools of the trade while building your portfolio!