Who are instructional designers?

In a highly reductive nutshell, instructional designers

  • develop educational materials, activities, programs, etc. 
  • work with, or perform research to function as, an SME
  • identify learning objectives
  • create instructional materials (i.e. lesson plans, courses, interactive media) to achieve a learning goal, objective, or desired outcome
  • use a variety of research-based strategies to develop their content
  • develop assessment tools to measure learners’ progress toward a goal and evaluate the effectiveness of their own instructional materials
  • provide professional development and/or training

Instructional designers may do some, one, or all of the aforementioned tasks, depending on the company, career, and even their specific job. Much like other things, instructional design jobs fall along a very large spectrum where almost no two jobs are identical. 

 

A dive into job descriptions

EdTech

Using this job search, I pulled 7 instructional designer positions from the EdTech space, and pulled (from the job descriptions) requirements that would appear to be things that would be demonstratable in a portfolio. 

Some examples include:

  • “design activities for live Zoom sessions that capture the attention of 9th – 12th graders”
  • “utilize adult learning theory to design, develop, and implement training programs in a classroom and eLearning programs”
  • “use multimedia editing tools to translate concepts into visuals, create visual design treatments and custom designed eLearning activities and animations”
  • “work with SMEs to develop course content for online delivery”
  • “develop the criteria used to assess learner performance and develop assessment tools and instruments”

Mixed Careers

At the risk of being accused of being biased toward EdTech (which tbh, I kind of am since that’s the only field I’ve worked in besides Education and it’s my passion) and after Thursday’s intended-to-be-uplifting-but-really-brought-out-the-salties-post, I’m including a version of this for non-EdTech to just prove that the requirements aren’t particularly different (though I would be willing to say that what you present in your portfolio would be). 

So, all of that being said… I used this job search, I pulled 6 instructional designer positions from from fields outside of EdTech. They range from an HVAC company to a global Software Development company. Like with the other list, I pulled (from the job descriptions) requirements that would appear to be things that would be demonstratable in a portfolio. 

Some examples include:

  • “develop highly engaging and interactive learning solutions”
  • “design and develop learning content utilizing modern learner-centered methods to ensure learning initiatives are effectively constructed to produce the desired changes in behavior, attitude, knowledge, and skills needed to make real business impact”
  • “design and develop several different types of trainings for various roles throughout the organization by creating course designs, job aids, participant guides, and PowerPoints and computer-based trainings”
  • “collaborate with SMEs and external clients to co-create a curriculum that delivers on certification objectives / goals”
  • “define KPIs, set benchmarks and analyze program data to evaluate training courses and program effectiveness and measure correlation of training solutions to performance improvement”

Sound kind of familiar? 

I even put these responsibilities in the same order that they appear in the EdTech list to highlight the similarities. Ultimately the responsibilities from the Mixed Careers list are very similar. 

Visual Learner?

Compare the two images. The word clouds are the responsibilities list that I fed into a word cloud generator. Despite a little bit of jargon that might be unknown to a layperson on the Mixed Careers side of things, the image is nearly identical (minus the color palette.) 

EdTech Word Cloud

Mixed Careers Word Cloud

Do they need a portfolio?

Let's ask ourselves some important qualifying questions.

Does this job have content creation as a focus? 

By now, this is probably pretty obvious. 

Yes. 

Instructional designers are content creators at their core with a little bit of additional duties thrown in. 

Should someone applying to this job highlight a process they’ve created? 

Maybe. 

If you have an assessment creation strategy or a content creation strategy, sure, but ultimately your portfolio will likely focus on content that demonstrates to a hiring manager (or a reviewing content expert) that you understand how to create content, assessments, and learning goals, etc. that are specific to a given audience (or even career field). 

Is this a job for which you should highlight any work (i.e. publications, blogs, podcasts, creative materials, etc.) that they’ve already created? 

Yes and/or maybe.

If you’re fortunate enough to have already created content that demonstrates your aptitude as an instructional designer and doesn’t require tweaking (due to contract legalities, intended audience, delivery method, etc.), then yes, display away!

But don’t be afraid to create new content AND don’t be afraid to adapt old/previously created content for new audiences, new delivery methods, or new learning outcomes! (This is a great lower lift way to recycle content.) 

Now that we've established that they probably do need a portfolio, what's next?

While this isn’t every single step that you’ll need to take, here are the major things to put on to your checklist:

1. Review your content

What do you already have created that can be used as is or can be recycled to meet some of the job description highlights that are common for instructional designers? 

2. Identify any gaps

What content is missing from your portfolio that you will need to create so that a hiring manager or reviewing content expert can see the full scope of your skill and flexibility?

3. Select your display platform

How will you display your portfolio so it’s clean, concise, and inviting? 

4. Create your brand

What brand identity will you establish and maintain so that potential employers and hiring managers have a clear picture of who you are and what value you can bring to them as an employee and asset to their team?

5. Publish, network, and share

How will your networking and sharing strategy change or evolve to include your portfolio? Who will you share this new resource with? Where should this resource appear in your resume and social media profiles? When should you make this available to prospective employers?

Think you might need some support creating or working on your portfolio?

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Just have questions? I got you.

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