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Writer's pictureJennifer Beech

The Difference Between an Instructional Designer and an E-Learning Developer

While learning about the L&D field and networking, people explained what instructional design is and what eLearning development is. I knew on an intellectual level. It wasn’t until I was working on my first project that I really learned the difference between these two positions.


My first project involved building a course on the effects of white supremacy for a nonprofit on the east coast. The organization worked with a lot of young, black adults who were shell shocked after experiencing their first run-in with racism. Maybe not their first, but the first that they can remember. Anyone who has experienced any kind of discrimination knows how alienating and frustrating it can be. It’s not easy to learn that those you may have admired, or at least held in high esteem, can be cruel people. The course was designed to give the participants the language to work through their experiences and some tools to build resilience.


If you’re saying this is a tall order, you’re right. I brought this up with the client and we discussed using the course as an entryway to an online community and other services that they offer. No one changes their mind or works through a traumatic experience in one course. It truly takes a village and a lot of repetition, time, and effort.


I designed and developed this course in PowerPoint. Nonprofit budgets are tight so an expensive software like Articulate Storyline or Adobe Captivate was out. As well, the course cited a lot of research and statistics that would need to be updated periodically. Most people are familiar with PowerPoint so doing routine maintenance would be easy especially since this nonprofit relied heavily on volunteers.


One day, I’m working on slides in PowerPoint and I cannot get my puzzle activity to work. The pieces aren’t coming together, literally. The animations are wonky. I spend hours searching Google. To keep from punching my computer, I take a walk. When I got back, I hit up one of my mentors on LinkedIn.


Her advice: “Stop thinking like an eLearning developer.”


Instead of thinking like a developer, I needed to think like a designer. Who are my learners? What are the learning objectives of the course? What is the goal of the activity? How can I reach the goal in a different way?


That was it!


As you can imagine, this course would require a lot of reflection points throughout. Instead of putting a puzzle together, what learners needed was a place to reflect on the puzzle. So I guess you could say the puzzle did come together.


After the completed course was reviewed, the puzzle actually got removed and replaced with a journaling activity. (I’m sure you saw that coming.) The puzzle was beautiful and it was hard to scrap it, but as a writer, I’ve learned “killing your darlings,” as Stephen King says, is necessary. This course isn’t about my flex or a pretty screen, it’s about the learners.


To summarize, designers design training. They plan it. They outline it. Developers develop training. They build training. You can certainly do both, but they are different jobs requiring different skill sets. If your development hits a snag, go back to your design.


But on the real, I do make nice PowerPoint puzzles.




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