Careers In eLearning: What Sets Instructional Designers Apart From eLearning Developers?
With technology inundating our lives and online education being more popular than ever, the field of Learning and Development (L&D) is emerging as a highly desirable choice for future professionals as well as a sought-after talent pool for many businesses. While there are numerous titles and roles involved in the design, development, and implementation of eLearning, the ones we hear the most are Instructional Designers (IDs) and eLearning developers. But were you aware that these two roles are different from each other despite operating in the same field and often side by side? In this article, we will dive into the subject of Instructional Designers vs eLearning developers, highlighting their unique skills and their specific involvement in the various stages of L&D.
What Is An Instructional Designer?
There are many facets to an Instructional Designer’s role, but one thing we can say to sum up what they do is that they are the architects of the learning experience. They use an Instructional Systems Design (ISD) methodology to analyze learning models and theories in order to create effective and relevant instructional experiences. Although they don’t finalize the eLearning course, they do all the prep work, identifying learning objectives, gathering information on the subject matter, writing content for course materials, and even providing a script that describes how each module should progress and what the instructor must say at each point.
To summarize, the main skills and responsibilities of an ID include:
- Applying learning theories and models to create effective learning experiences.
- Organizing content in a logical way so that it meets the learning objectives.
- Creating storyboards, outlines, quizzes, assessments, etc.
- Ensuring the content is relevant to the subject matter and compliant with industry standards.
- Developing learning paths for learners with diverse learning preferences.
- Collaborating with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to design, refine, and adjust the learning content.
- Identifying and analyzing skill gaps to suggest changes in the learning curriculum for better learning outcomes.
- Updating and improving the learning content regularly based on data-based insights.
What Is An eLearning Developer?
The work of an eLearning developer starts when the work of the Instructional Designer has finished. Specifically, the developer takes the scripts, materials, and directions of the ID and brings them to life. The first step in their process is reviewing the material the ID provided them to identify issues or missing elements. If that is the case, they will have to work alongside the Instructional Designer to make the necessary changes. Once everything is finalized, the eLearning Developer will use an authoring tool to start building the course, incorporating the materials provided by the ID while making the correct animation and programming choices to ensure a smooth learning experience for the learner.
Based on their role, the skills and responsibilities of an eLearning developer include:
- Inspecting storyboards and identifying issues that might hinder eLearning development.
- Developing a course prototype using rapid authoring tools to test the materials provided by the Instructional Designer.
- Collaborating with the ID and other professionals (videographers, voice-over artists, graphic designers, etc.) to find the best solutions for the subject matter, the intended audience, the budget, etc.
- Expertise in editing photos, videos, and other resources to optimize the learning experience.
- Ability to use authoring tools and leverage their web development skills to create engaging, visually appealing, user-friendly, and high-quality learning courses.
- Making learning interactive using gamification, complex programming, multimedia, and immersive technologies.
- Ensuring the learning materials are compatible with learning platforms, devices, and browsers to increase accessibility and overall performance.
- Using analytics and reporting tools to assess the effectiveness of the learning course.
- Taking customer feedback into consideration and providing actionable solutions to their concerns.
Instructional Designers Vs eLearning Developers: Which One Do You Need?
Now that we have explored in detail what each of these professionals does, it’s much easier to see how different their contributions are to the design and development of eLearning courses. Therefore, depending on which stage your L&D team is currently on, you will need to seek the expertise of either one or the other professional.
Specifically, you need an Instructional Designer for the following.
Kick Off The eLearning Project
You are just initiating your eLearning project, and you need someone to analyze your target audience and their needs, identify learning objectives, and provide a comprehensive plan that outlines the goal, timeline, and budget.
Develop eLearning Content
If you don’t know what your eLearning course will include, an Instructional Designer can design activities, assessments, quizzes, and other materials that align with your learning objectives and your audience’s learning preferences.
Update Or Reformat Existing Content
What if you already have an eLearning course, but its content is outdated or the needs of your learners have changed? IDs can perform the necessary research and collaborate with SMEs to ensure your course is up to par with industry standards.
Ensure eLearning Quality And Effectiveness
Instructional Designers are the professionals to turn to when you are uncertain about the effectiveness of your course. They can closely examine the content to identify whether it aligns with learner needs and objectives and propose suitable improvements.
On the other hand, eLearning developers are best suited when you want to do one of the following.
Ensure LMS And Multimedia Integration
When you want to add multimedia to your eLearning course and/or integrate it into an LMS or another learning platform, you need to work with an eLearning developer. Their extensive experience in these matters ensures seamless delivery and a smooth user experience.
Implement The eLearning Content
Once the Instructional Designer has completed the planning, it’s time to contact an eLearning developer so that they can start implementing it using the right authoring tools.
Maintain The eLearning Course
eLearning courses must be updated regularly to add or correct content and fix technical issues. eLearning developers are responsible for maintaining the course content and ensuring its smooth operation.
Increase Usability
eLearning developers ensure that the user interface and overall course design are intuitive and user-friendly. It is also their responsibility to regularly monitor these elements to maintain usability levels and create a consistent user experience.
Wrapping Up…
If there is one thing you need to keep in mind, it is that you can’t hire one person and expect them to fulfill the role of an ID and an eLearning developer at the same time. Both these roles are essential, and they tackle L&D from different perspectives. Specifically, the Instructional Designer takes on the ideation and design of eLearning and the eLearning developer its development and implementation. Therefore, when they collaborate effectively, they can ensure that your eLearning course contains the right materials, meets the necessary learning objectives, and provides learners with a user-friendly and engaging learning experience that aligns with their personalized development plans. Take the time to understand the main differences of Instructional Designers vs eLearning developers so that you can determine which one you need, depending on the stage of eLearning development you are currently working on.
