Designing Your Portfolio Website Like an eLearning Experience

Perfection stops more aspiring instructional designers than lack of skill. People wait until their work feels ready. Until their portfolio feels polished. Until they feel confident. That moment rarely comes. One of our students, Holly Backus, said something simple that captures what actually works: “Do it messy and participate in the community. The connections and support you get will make a difference.” That advice is more powerful than it sounds. Because learning instructional design isn’t just about reading books or watching courses. It’s about practice and feedback. You design something. It’s imperfect. You share it. You get feedback. You improve. Then you repeat the cycle. Again and again. This is how instructional designers actually develop their skills. And the community piece matters more than most people realize. When you participate in a learning community, you gain: • feedback on your design work • exposure to different design approaches • encouragement when things feel difficult • professional connections that last beyond the program Many instructional design careers start with something simple: Someone sharing their work. Getting feedback. Improving. Then doing it again. So if you're trying to break into instructional design, here’s the practical advice: Don’t wait for perfect. Start messy. Because messy work you share and improve will take you much further than perfect work you never show.

The Art of Asking the Right Questions in Instructional Design One of the most powerful skills an Instructional Designer can develop is not design. It’s asking the right questions. Because the quality of your solution depends on the quality of your understanding. And understanding comes from questions. But not just any questions—the right ones. Why is this so important? Because most training requests come with: • Incomplete information • Assumptions • Surface-level problems If you don’t question them, you risk designing a solution for the wrong problem. Strong Instructional Designers ask questions like: • What is the actual business problem? • What are employees doing wrong today? • What should they do differently? • Why is the current approach not working? • What does success look like? These questions help you: • Identify real performance gaps • Avoid unnecessary content • Align learning with business goals • Build more effective solutions But there’s another benefit. Asking the right questions builds: • Credibility • Trust with stakeholders • Clarity in communication You are no longer seen as someone who “creates courses.” You are seen as someone who understands problems. And in Instructional Design, that’s where the real value lies. Because better questions don’t just lead to better answers. They lead to better outcomes. #InstructionalDesign #LearningAndDevelopment #PerformanceConsulting #WorkplaceLearning #LearningStrategy

Why Asking the Right Questions Is One of the Most Important Skills in Instructional Design. Before any course is created, before any storyboard is written, before any tool is opened — There’s one thing that defines the quality of the final outcome: The questions you ask. Many training requests start like this: • “We need a course on this topic.” • “Employees are making mistakes.” • “Create a quick module.” If an Instructional Designer jumps straight into development, there’s a high chance of solving the wrong problem. Strong Instructional Designers slow down and ask: • What business problem are we trying to solve? • Who is the learner, and what do they struggle with? • What behavior needs to change? • When and where will this learning be applied? • What happens if we don’t solve this? These questions bring clarity. They help: • Identify real performance gaps • Avoid unnecessary content • Choose the right learning strategy • Align learning with business outcomes In many cases, the difference between: an average course and an impactful learning solution is not the tool, design, or visuals. It’s the quality of questions asked at the beginning. Because in Instructional Design, better questions don’t just give better answers— they lead to better solutions. So IDs, let me know what question did you ask from your stakeholders today? #InstructionalDesign #LearningAndDevelopment #PerformanceConsulting #WorkplaceLearning #LearningStrategy

Are you a new instructional designer? This is for you. 🫵🏾 🤔 There will ALWAYS be something you’d change about a past eLearning project. Always. A cleaner interaction. A tighter script. A better assessment. And if you’re not careful you’ll convince yourself: 👉🏾 “If I just tweak it one more time, it’ll finally be perfect.” It won’t. Perfection in our work is a mirage. And chasing it quietly drains you in ways most new instructional designers don’t see: 1️⃣ It rewrites your memory of your own work. “If I had only done…” Now the entire project feels like a miss, even if it delivered real business value. 2️⃣ It keeps you stuck instead of shipping. You delay progress chasing polish. Meanwhile, the business needed “good and live,” not “perfect and late.” 3️⃣ It trains stakeholders to expect endless revisions. If you don’t draw the line, no one else will. Now every project becomes a moving target. 4️⃣ It erodes YOUR confidence over time. You stop seeing yourself as someone who delivers and start seeing yourself as someone who ALMOST gets it right. 5️⃣ It steals energy from your next opportunity. You’re mentally stuck in the past, instead of improving forward on the next project. At some point, you have to decide: 👉🏾 “This is strong. This solves the problem. This ships.” That’s not settling, it’s professionalism. Stop downplaying and undermining your expertise. You’re more than enough! >>> What is the 1 thing that keeps you guessing the completeness of your projects, time and time again? Feel free to share your wisdom in the comments. 👇🏾📝 >>> If this resonated, 👣 FOLLOW ME for more. I write at the intersection of instructional design, company culture, encouragement, and leadership. >>> 🌟 STAY ENCOURAGED 🌟 #IDProThomas #NewIDCareerTips #InstructionalDesign

If you’re an Instructional Designer… this is your reminder: It doesn’t stop here. Instructional Design is not the final destination. It’s the foundation. The goal? To grow into a Learning Strategist. Because anyone can build content. Not everyone can: 🧠 Diagnose performance gaps 🎯 Align learning to business outcomes 📊 Measure real impact 🤝 Influence stakeholders 🔍 Identify when training isn’t even the solution That’s the shift. From building to thinking. From creating to solving. From executing to leading. The strongest Instructional Designers don’t just ask, “What should I build?” They ask, “Why does this matter—and what will change because of it?” If you want to evolve, focus here: 🧩 Stop thinking in slides. Start thinking in systems. Learning lives in behavior and performance. 📈 Measure beyond completion. If nothing changes, nothing worked. 🎯 Design for action, not awareness. Knowing is not doing. 🤝 Strengthen your voice. Your ability to guide stakeholders matters just as much as your design skills. 🛠 Use frameworks with intention. ADDIE, Kirkpatrick—these are tools to drive results, not boxes to check. This field needs more than builders. It needs thinkers, problem solvers, and strategists. So yes—master your craft. But don’t get comfortable there. Grow beyond it. #InstructionalDesign #LearningStrategist #LearningAndDevelopment #LearningExperienceDesign #AdultLearning #CareerGrowth #ProfessionalDevelopment #Upskill #PerformanceImprovement

One piece of feedback almost every Instructional Designer hears: “Make it more engaging.” No context. No direction. Just that. For a long time, I tried to guess what that meant. Now, I ask one simple question: “Do you want better visuals, more interaction, or improved flow?” That one question changes everything. Clarity saves time. Clarity improves output. Clarity reduces rework. Sometimes, the best design decision is asking the right question.

Instructional designers (IDs), this might sting a little. “Without forgiveness, there is no future.” — Desmond Tutu Sit with that for a second. Not in a spiritual sense. In a professional one. Because a lot of instructional designers are stuck, not because of skill gaps… …but because they’re carrying old versions of themselves (I do sometimes too). The stakeholder you didn’t manage well The course you rushed and still think about The moment you knew better, and didn’t act And now? You hesitate. You overthink. You play smaller than you should. That’s the real cost. Truth? You cannot grow in this field if you’re still judging past-you with present-you’s knowledge. That’s an unfair standard. That version of you had less context. Fewer reps. Less pattern recognition. Of course it wasn’t clean.🙋🏾♂️ ✅ Good IDs improve their courses. ✅ Serious IDs improve their judgment. So do the work: 👉🏾 Extract the lesson. 👉🏾 Write it down. 👉🏾 Apply it forward. Then … LET. IT. GO. Because if you don’t… You’re dragging yesterday’s mistakes into tomorrow’s work. >>> If you can relate, drop a ⭐️ in the comments. If you have the time, freely share your wisdom about how you’ve grown as an ID. ❤️ >>> Resonated? Follow me 👣 for more. >>> Thanks to the Maestro team for sharing this great quote in a recent edition of their newsletter: Abstract. Not subscribed? Do yourself a favor, go to their website and do so today. 😉

Instructional designers have always used a hybrid set of skills. • HTML to structure content. • UX to create intuitive flows. • Data analysis to refine learning. • Visual design to communicate ideas. • Project management to keep timelines. • Learning methodology to shape outcomes. • Accessibility to make learning usable for everyone. • Technical writing to translate complexity into clarity. • Storytelling to turn concepts into memorable learning experiences. AI prompting is nothing new to an experienced Instructional Designer. It only accelerates the ideation, prototyping, and iteration, but it still needs a skilled Instructional Designer to make it happen.

I’ve been thinking about the role of the instructional designer—not just as a creator, but as an influencer. We’re often asked to build training based on what stakeholders believe they need. A course. A module. A workshop. But our real value doesn’t come from how quickly we deliver content. It comes from our ability to step back, ask better questions, and guide the conversation toward solutions that truly support performance. Sometimes that leads to designing training. Sometimes it leads somewhere else entirely. Because not every problem is a learning problem. And not every request should become a course. Instructional designers sit at a unique intersection—between business goals, people, and performance. We see patterns others may not. We translate needs into outcomes. We connect the dots. That’s influence. Not loud. Not directive. But intentional. And when we lean into that role, learning stops being a response—and starts becoming a strategy. 👉 The instructional designer’s role isn’t to deliver requests—it’s to influence better outcomes. #InstructionalDesign #LearningAndDevelopment #TalentDevelopment #LearningEcosystem #PerformanceConsulting #WorkplaceLearning #LXD #LearningStrategy #Upskilling #FutureOfWork

I've been involved in program development, and working with clients needs for many years. This post is 100% correct! For both developing programs and providing training, I have found that more often than not, agencies with a request for either are not really sure what it is they want. But they know they want! The right questions and guidance leads to the right solutions! Often, different than what they were originally asking for, but better served with the end result! 😉