Benjamin Erwin

Can I say the quiet part out loud? Here’s it goes: When you only teach or learn the textbook definition of instructional design and the “proper” instructional design process, you’re setting yourself (and others) up for failure. Allow me explain. A few months ago, a new ID scheduled a coaching call with me. After the usual introductions, this person suddenly broke down into a literal ugly cry and confessed how disappointed they were with themselves for having “become an order taker.” After helping them catch their breath, I started asking questions. Pretty quickly, it became clear they were working on…a pretty average L&D team, with pretty average projects. But that’s not how they saw it. They felt like a failure because not every project started with a needs analysis. They felt like a failure because not every project had perfectly crafted learning objectives. They felt like a failure because their eLearning was full of bullet points and legal jargon. They felt like a failure because the only evaluation was a Level 1 survey at the end. I chuckled…not at them, but at the impossible standards we sometimes create for ourselves in this industry. I explained: You haven’t failed. You’re just experiencing the reality of most L&D teams…messy, imperfect, and political. This was news to them. Here’s the thing: Being a good instructional designer (and keeping your sanity) isn’t about strict, dogmatic allegiance to adult learning theories or the five steps of ADDIE. It’s about knowing when to flex between strategic order taker mode and badass instructional designer mode. We don’t talk enough about how corporate politics affects our ability to do the job the “textbook” way. Whether you can push back on a request often depends on who’s asking and how much political leverage they have. And frankly, it’s not the job of individual contributor instructional designers to fix order taking within their L&D team…the buck stops with the leadership team and the culture they’re creating and allowing to exist. In my experience, the most unhappy and frustrated (and often unsuccessful) instructional designers are the ones who cling to process purity at their own expense—ignoring the fact that some strategic order taking can be a necessary evil to build trust, earn influence, and eventually shape better solutions. So yeah…being a good instructional designer means knowing when to be a good order taker, and how to play the game of corporate politics. What do you think? Share your thoughts below (keep it productive and don’t use my post to spam your sh!t 😉). Have a great weekend! 👋 —Tim #eLearning #InstructionalDesign #LearningAndDevelopment

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Curated Instructional Design Resources from Holly Owens This document is designed to share the best resources for those looking to enter Instructional Design, EdTech, and L&D. This includes podcasts, people to follow on LinkedIn, articles, and more. https://lnkd.in/eMhP_mBG

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If at first you don't succeed, try, try again—until you use up the allowed attempts. Yes, you can set graded questions in Articulate #Storyline to allow >1 attempt. And there's some built-in functionality when you let users try again. One thing that's not automatic: resetting the slide so the user's previous answer doesn't show any more. But there are simple triggers to reset responses if that's what you want. You can get details about graded questions with multiple attempts here:  https://lnkd.in/gtgNeN22  

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How I avoid costly rebuilds in elearning projects. After a $7K misstep nearly blew the deadline. I once spent 60+ hours building a course… …only to tear it apart 2 days before launch. Not because of bad design. But because I *assumed* I knew what the client wanted. I didn’t. And I’ve learned this the hard way (more than once): Assumptions are the #1 silent killer of great eLearning. You know the drill: -> Stakeholders say “interactive” but don’t define it. -> SMEs send you a wall of text and say “just make it engaging.” ->You “think” you know what they meant in the kickoff… but never confirm. So you move forward, hoping it’s clear. Until it’s not. And you’re left redoing half the course with tight timelines and frayed nerves. Here’s what finally clicked for me: -> Creativity *needs* clarity. -> Clarity comes from questions. -> And assumptions destroy both. These days, I ask 10x more questions than I used to. Even if they seem obvious. Because “just making it work” isn’t enough anymore. I’d rather risk over-communicating than overhauling. If you’re tired of project U-turns, last-minute feedback, and that sinking “why didn’t I check?” moment… Don’t assume. Ask.

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Most instructional designers solve the same problems the same way. Tara Mount doesn't. When she showed me some of her content, I stopped giving advice and started asking questions. I took notes. On my own customer success call! Tara's operating from a completely different creative framework. She turns critical thinking into habit — even with the skeptics and "just tell me what box to check" crowd. I was thrilled when she agreed to share her best practices at #MicrolearningCONF. Prepare to take notes! September 19, — "How to design for the disengaged" Link in the comments!

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Hey Peeps 🔥 This is based on an article I read for Adam Grant, that’ll be leaving in the comments. So, let’s talk about a painful truth that instructional designers love to ignore: Most of the learning experiences we design? They’re glorified participation trophies wrapped in pretty colors and SCORM files. “Look! They completed the module! 🎉 They deserve a certificate!” No, they don’t. They deserve a certificate if they learned something, retained it, and could apply it in real life without needing a divine intervention to remember it. Showing up ≠ skill mastery.😒Clicking through slides ≠ competence. But somehow, we designers fall into the same trap as students who expect an “A” just because they “tried really hard.” And guess what? We created this monster. Remember when we all got obsessed with growth mindset and praised the hell out of effort? “Just try your best, and you’ll get there!” Except, we forgot to tell learners that effort only matters if it leads to actual improvement. Effort is the means, not the outcome. Carol Dweck herself had to send a memo saying, “Stop weaponizing my work, you’re doing it wrong.” Here’s what this means for us in L&D: 1️⃣ Stop designing for effort. Start designing for effort leading to skill mastery. Just because someone finishes your content doesn’t mean they learned anything useful. Design experiences that measure whether they can actually do something new — not just survive your LMS gauntlet. 2️⃣ Effort tracking is vanity. Performance change is reality (God! I’m a poet 😂). Stop reporting on “completion rates” like it’s the holy grail. Your CEO doesn’t care if Sarah watched 90% of the leadership module. They care if Sarah stopped being a micro-managing nightmare after the module. 3️⃣ Effort ≠ Learning Transfer. If learners binge-watch your compliance training in one sitting, that’s not grit — it’s poor design and procrastination on steroids. Build for spaced practice, real-world application, and feedback loops that actually mean something. 4️⃣ Reward the right behaviors. Want to motivate learners? Don’t just throw badges at them for showing up. Reward application, reflection, and problem-solving. Validate the outcomes, not just the attendance. 5️⃣ Teach smarter, not harder. If learners need to pull all-nighters to pass your training, that’s not “commitment.” That’s a design failure with your name on it. Time to redesign for clarity, cognitive load balance, and real practice. Remember you guys Menna Mohamed Uh well, proper learning experiences don’t give As for effort. They build competence, confidence, and capability — and if we, as designers, confuse effort with actual learning, we’re just handing out digital participation trophies (& I hate those Trophies). So next time someone says, “They worked really hard on this module,” you say: “Cool. Did they actually perform anything to learn?” #instructionaldesign #learningexperiencedesign #learningdesign #EffortVsMastery

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