Are you new to content development?

Do you have an idea and want to create a course? Maybe you have a course already that you've been teaching in person, just off the top of your head and now you want to create something more sustainable like an online offering or you are thinking of retooling or reformatting it? Check out these tips to help you get started.

Welcome to the world of Instructional Design (ID)! As a first-time content creator, this job aid is designed to help you navigate the foundational steps of creating engaging and meaningful learning experiences.

What is Instructional Design?

Instructional Design is the systematic process of designing, developing, and delivering learning experiences. Think of it as a roadmap for telling a purposeful story.

Core Principle

At its heart, ID asks: Where are we going, and how will we know when we have arrived?

New to Content Development?

Being a new content owner can be intimidating.  Where do I begin?  How do I organize my information? What is the best delivery method?  These are questions any content owner struggles with, even seasoned ones.  

1. Always start by identifying your main learning objectives. What do you want your learners to take away? In many cases, it is helpful to conduct an upfront analysis of the topic and the learners to determine exactly what information is needed to consider the class a success.

2. Instructional design of content is a path to learning.  Ask yourself, where are we going and how will we know when we have arrived?  

When structuring your lesson, think of it as a story:

• Beginning - include the purpose of the training and any essential background information.

• Middle - this should be the heart of your content that is tied to the overall learning objectives/outcomes

• End - This should be the wrap up of the content/reinforcement concepts and review that emphasizes information related to objectives. 

Try to keep the background information germane to the main purpose of the training.  

Try not to overwhelm the learner with too much information.  

Tips for Getting Started

1. Start with a complete brain dump of all the information you want to present.

2. From the brain dump start to organize your information, start to sequence it.  Identify what comes first, then second, etc.

3. Next, decide what information is absolutely essential and what things are nice to know but not really essential.  You can always add these elements as an additional resource.

4. From the previous steps, it should be fairly easy to create learning objectives for the course.  What do you want the learner to come away with?  What essential topics/concepts should they remember and utilize later?

5. Once you have your learning objectives, you can start filling in the blanks. This is where the story concept comes in.  Start with the first objective and write up all the supporting information to bring it to life.  Do not forget the essential background or purpose information, then move into the first topic.

6. Continue writing supporting information for each objective.  Make it an iterative exercise by constantly reviewing and pairing down information as needed.

7. Decide how you want to officially present your content to your developer/designer.  Depending on the type of content you can utilize a simple document in Word or Google Docs.  You may want to utilize presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides.  Using presentation software is a great way to organize your content because you can incorporate talking points, speaker notes and add images.

   
   

Note:  Learning objectives are measurable.  When identifying learning objectives, consider how they will be measured to solidify success.  For example, “learners will be able to identify the steps needed to build dog house”.

Note:  It is a good idea to keep little notes about delivery methods, illustrations

How will we know when we have arrived?

The last piece of the puzzle to think about is whether or not you think your learners should demonstrate what they have learned from your course. 

Take a look at the learning objectives, then decide what supporting concepts the learner should take with them at the conclusion of the course?

How should they demonstrate this knowledge?

• A quiz or exam?

• A simulation exercise?

• A project?

Assessments are typically derived from the learning objectives.

Finally, a note about images.  Always make sure any images you are using to visually support your content is obtained appropriately.  Searching the internet for images is not recommended unless:

• It’s a paid subscription to a stock photography site

• The images are for public domain usage

• The images are licensed under Creative Commons without restrictions

• You have received permission from the image owner,

• You have created the image using AI,

• You own the images yourself