Looking for a good instructional designer for your next eLearning course? Great decision, but can you judge which instructional designer is right for you? An instructional designer has a significant amount of influence on how your course will look and feel. They create the framework which will help you design the course. Without a solid framework, your course will lack quality and efficiency. Hence, hiring the right person is essential. Before experience teaches you "things," know everything there is to know about instructional designers and how to hire the ideal designer for your next eLearning course.
Who is an instructional designer?
An instructional designer is a professional who understands the learning behaviors of your learners and helps you structure and designs your course in a way that makes it very efficient. They impact your course content and the flow of content as well. Your developers must simply walk on the path the instructional designer has created. They do a significant amount of research and meticulously prepare a plan that will lead to the final objective. You can also expect them to work with Subject Matter Experts to plan your course material and the flow of course content.
Where can I find one?
Many instructional designers are freelancers. Alternatively, you can approach one of the top instructional design companies to find a good professional. Ask for a portfolio of work and arrange an in-person interview before you hire someone. Below are some things that will help you with the hiring process.
Skills to look for while hiring
Out-of-the-box thinking
Although there are some fixed instructional design models that many designers still find relevant, thinking outside the box is also an important skill to look for. Repeating the same frameworks will not only limit you to creating something way better, but it might also seem repetitive to the learners. Take a look at their portfolio and see if they were able to come up with any innovative solutions.
Research and analysis
The instructional designers' framework depends completely on the research they conduct and how they analyze the data to come up with helpful inferences. Hence, research and analytical skills are first and foremost for an instructional designer.
Familiarity with learning technologies
Most courses are now developed with the help of technologies like Learning Management Systems. One needs to know these technologies to develop a course that is delivered through this system. Ask them in the interview if they are familiar with the technologies that your company uses.
Communication Skills
Communication skills are essential for any professional today. More for instructional designers because they are expected to meet subject matter experts and collect the latest and relevant information to add value to the course material.
Management skills
Since the instructional designer is like the captain of a ship, they need to have good people management skills. They would be working with a team, and managing that team is their responsibility. They should be able to get the work done on time without compromising on the quality of the work. Planning, scheduling, and assigning tasks to the team members to achieve the objective is also essential.
Time management skills
An instructional designer can work on multiple projects at the same time. You cannot afford to let your instructional designer's other projects reduce the time devoted to your project. Time management skills are extremely crucial, along with management skills.
Open-minded
Although the instructional designer might be the leader of the team and all their decisions depend on their research, you should not work with a stubborn and closed-minded professional. More often than not, this will lead to poor teamwork. Test if the designer is willing to consider the suggestions and opinions of your team.
Things to keep in mind when hiring an instructional designer
Knowing only the technology is not enough.
When judging the candidate, whether they know the learning technologies or not, will be a very influential factor in determining if they can be hired. Remember one thing, the one who knows all technologies may not be able to use them to the fullest extent. Similarly, even if someone doesn't know the latest technology, they might have the skills to use the available features to design an efficient course structure. So what's important is how well they can use the technology and not their knowledge of the technology itself.
Let them talk about their portfolio.
Most of the courses are developed by a team. You need to figure out how much of this portfolio is their creativity and hard work. Ask them to speak about their past projects and how they contributed to them. More than the project, their contribution to it is more valuable.
Test if they can think quickly.
Bookish knowledge is important to building a solid foundation. However, how they perform in a real-life situation is something you need to test. Give them some what-ifs and listen to their answers. Based on how they wish to manage the given scenario, you can make the call.
Make your expectations clear.
Let them know what you are looking for in the ideal candidate. Explain to them the kind of work that is expected and the deadlines they will have to meet. Allow them to decide if they want to go ahead with working with you after explaining all the expectations or not.
Do not have any unrealistic expectations.
You need the instructional designer to have a certain skill set, but you cannot expect them to be a one-man army. They may lack a few technical skills like graphic design, for example, and that is okay as long as they tick the checklist of all essential skills.
Bottom line
Your one decision can either make it or break it. Hiring a good instructional designer is a task that needs a lot of attention. Whether you are hiring a candidate from a reputed instructional design company or a freelancer, making sure they fit your company's needs is essential. Over time, as you work with many people and deliver many successful and unsuccessful projects, you will become a better judge of people. Until then, keep referring to this post before an interview so that you don't miss out on the most basic things to look for.
