How to Transfer from Teaching Into Instructional Design

Instructional Design is one of the most popular and obvious job roles for a teacher to transfer into. ID roles are mostly remote or hybrid. As a teacher who has always worked on-site, the thought of working from home and being in charge of my own schedule andis very appealing! Becoming an Instructional Designer doesn't require a certificate, but I can personally vouch for a course which I took on Coursera to help me learn the language and day-to-day role of ID's - Instructional Design Foundations and Applications.

• Top 5 Courses to Help Teachers Transition Into New Careers

What is Instructional Design?

Instructional design is basically the process of creating learning experiences that actually work. Essentially an Instructional Designer takes a topic — anything from “how to use new software” to “how to train better leaders” — and figures out the best way to teach it so people understand it, remember it, and can actually do something with it afterward.

It’s not just about making slides or writing lessons.

It’s about asking:

• What do learners really need to know?

• How do they learn best — through videos, practice, scenarios, or games?

• What’s the simplest way to make this stick?

Then they design the content — maybe an online course, a workshop, an eLearning module— using learning theories, storytelling, and tech tools to make it engaging.

As teachers, we already possess the skills to be an Instructional Designer because we understand how people learn, and the majority of us already have experience using EdTech and designing eLearning modules (especially during COVID times...).

How do I know whether I should transfer into Instructional Design?

You might love Instructional Design if you:

✅ Enjoy creating resources and visual design

✅ Prefer working independently or behind the scenes

✅ Love tech tools, design software, or writing scripts/content

✅ You're teacher who loves making slides, videos, or digital resources

✅ Get excited about structure, flow, and how people learn best

Common job titles:

• Instructional Designer

• eLearning Developer

• Learning Experience Designer (LXD)

• Curriculum Developer
  

Which software or programs do I need to learn?

Most Instructional Designers need to become familiar a mix of authoring tools, design platforms, and collaboration software to create engaging learning experiences.

The big one you’ll hear about is Articulate 360, especially Storyline and Rise. These are industry favourites for building interactive e-learning modules — think click-through courses, scenarios, and quizzes that look good and keep learners engaged.

It’s also handy to get comfortable with Canva or Adobe Express for creating visuals, and Camtasia or Vyond if you’re interested in adding video or animation to your courses.

You don’t have to learn them all at once. Personally, I started with Articulate 360, as it had a free trial, and the program is often listed in job descriptions for IDs. They have tutorials on their site, and anything I was stuck on, I used Chat GPT to talk me through. Rise is very similiar to using PowerPoint- the main difference is that any elements you want to add into your lesson are called 'blocks'- for example, interactive elements, page dividers, or images.

My workplace currently uses Articulate 360 for coaching its employees, and during my interview they were impressed that I was familiar with the software. As I mentioned above, while a course or certification isn't necessary to become an ID, I can also personally vouch for the Instructional Design Foundations and Applications course. This course helped me learn about adult-learning principles, a better understanding of the role, and I could refer to it in my interview, which helped show my employer I had transferable skills.

Top 5 Courses to Help Teachers Transition Into New Careers

Reframing Your Resume for Instructional Design Jobs

Reframing your resume to match the industry you are transferring into is so important. I cannot stress this enough. Use corporate language that lends itself to ID roles. Unsure on which language to use? Use the graphic I've created below as a guide:

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Reframing Your LinkedIn Profile for Instructional Design Jobs

Many ID jobs are posted on LinkedIn, and applying for jobs through LinkedIn means employers can quickly view your relevant skills and past job roles. When I was a full-time teacher, I didn't even have a LinkedIn profile, as I didn't deem it necessary! Networking becomes much more important when you're wanting to change careers. Many job postings are on LinkedIn, but not on job sites, so it's important to check both.

Make use of LinkedIn by also looking up ex-teachers who are Instructional Designers, and see how they made the transition into ID. Unsure how to start researching? I've got you covered in my blog posts below:

• How To Utilise LinkedIn For Your Job Search

• How Teachers can Reframe Their LinkedIn Profile For Non-Teaching Jobs

To Summarise: Steps for becoming an Instructional Designer:

Step 1: Become familiar with the fundamental instructional design theories, models and best practices e.g. ADDIE, Kirkpatricks Four Levels, Action Mapping etc.

Step 2: (optional) Take a course on Instructional Design. I can personally recommend Instructional Design Foundations and Applications which was worth it, in my opinion, as it gave me instructional design theoretical knowledge, the day-to-day language ID's use in their job role and I could add the course onto my resume.

Step 3: Learn the software- Articulate 360 has a free trial you can use to practice designing eLearning courses and micro-courses. Tools like Canva also have a free version you can use to practice designing logos and templates.

Step 4: If you're serious about applying for Instructional Design jobs, build a strong instructional design portfolio. You don't need knowledge of coding or HTML to build a website. Use tools like Google Sites, which is completely free and creates a static page for your portfolio. If you're looking for something more fancy, then Wix or Wordpress are also great options. An ID portfolio can be added as a link on your resume, which adds an extra layer to your job application.

Step 5: Perfect your resume and LinkedIn profile so that they both use ID language and corporate speak, rather than using teacher talk. This will demonstrate your technical and transferable skills.