Instructional Design
Instructional design is the planning of learning experiences built on clear learning objectives and an understanding of the learner. This guide gathers the articles, the study path and the references on the subject written by Ivan Chagas, an instructional designer.
Instructional design FAQ
What is instructional design?
Instructional design is the process of planning, structuring and producing learning experiences based on clear learning objectives, the learner's profile and teaching best practices. It defines what learners should learn, in what order, and with which activities and materials.
What does an instructional designer do?
An instructional designer analyzes the learning need, defines learning objectives, organizes content into courses and lessons, writes lesson scripts and storyboards, chooses formats and media, and follows the course through production and evaluation.
What is instructional design for?
It makes sure courses and training actually teach. It cuts excess content, aligns activities with learning objectives, improves engagement and makes it easier to measure whether learners have learned.
Where do I start learning instructional design?
Start with the fundamentals (what instructional design is and what an instructional designer does), then study learning objectives, storyboards and lesson scripts. The Instructional Design Fundamentals learning path on this page puts those readings in order.
Learning path: Instructional design fundamentals
Get a grounding in educational theory so you can create more effective online courses.
- What is instructional design anyway?
- Why instructional design matters
- What does an instructional designer do?
- What are learning objects and why they matter
- How to match a learning object to the lesson objective
- How to write an online lesson script
- What makes educational content good?
- Instructional design books and related fields: our recommendations
- First steps to create your first online course
Open the learning path Next path: Going Deeper into Instructional Design
Content map
Fundamentals
Storyboard and lesson scripts
Learning objects and learning objectives
Educational content
Microlearning
All articles: blog and learning paths. About the author: Ivan Chagas.
Today, at EduBuilders
Ivan Chagas takes his instructional design foundation into technology, AI and educational products. Courses and projects now happen at EduBuilders.