Closing the Knowledge Gap: My Path to Becoming a Confident Instructional Designer

Six years ago, I moved to Ireland to pursue my passion for learning development. Recently, I transitioned into instructional design and now work for an American engineering company, creating training for their engineering department. My role involves collaborating with stakeholders and subject matter experts (SMEs) to build tailored, effective learning content.

One of my biggest challenges was how to effectively communicate with SMEs and gather the right information quickly. The course at the Digital Learning Institute helped me master these skills, showing me how to approach SMEs and streamline content creation while keeping stakeholders satisfied.

The course also taught me how to tailor learning content based on outcomes, formats, and learning levels—a game-changer in my approach.

As a matter of fact, I did. One of the difficult challenges I came across when I started with this company was how to approach the SMEs and to consider that there are different ways for us to approach them and especially to get the information in the fastest way.

This is the biggest challenge, how can we get SMEs to really align with what we would like to get from them? On the other hand, how we are going to please the stakeholders with all this information within the deadline. This was one of the biggest challenges for me and one of the drivers for me to complete the course.

The second challenge was also how I could best tailor the learning content for my audience. This was actually covered in a specific module on the course. This module covered the knowledge, the learning format and the learning outcomes and how we consider the levels of learning to apply to the specific training that we are building.

n the next 12 months, I expect to be even more efficient and produce higher-quality work. The course has equipped me with a deeper understanding of the tools I use and improved my ability to communicate and design digital learning.

I chose the Digital Learning Institute because it was highly recommended and offered the practical, focused knowledge I needed. The diploma is well-respected in the learning and development world, and the facilitator, John, was fantastic.

I highly recommend this course for anyone looking to take their instructional design career to the next level. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced professional, the diploma gives you the precise skills and insights you need to succeed in digital learning design.