Online Learning Designer

5 stops · self-paced · a common path, not the only one

1. 📍

   You are here

   Today — wherever you're starting from

2. 🎓
   EducationNext stop →

   Earn a bachelor's in Education, Instructional Design, or Communications

   Education, instructional design, or communications all lead in — the craft is making learning stick, whatever your major.

   ⏱ ~4 years · 💵 varies — community college first is cheapest

3. 📚
   Learn

   Learn the core tools: Articulate Storyline, Camtasia, or Adobe Captivate

   The tools are specific: Articulate Storyline, Camtasia, Adobe Captivate. Learning one well makes you immediately useful to an employer.

   ⏱ self-paced · 💵 free–low cost

4. 🔨
   Build skills

   Build sample courses on topics you know — these become your portfolio

   Sample courses on topics you know are your portfolio — employers want to see a finished module, not a résumé line.

   ⏱ self-paced · 💵 free–low cost

5. 📚
   Learn

   Study learning theory: how adults learn differently from students

   Learning theory (how adults learn differently from students) is the real depth here — it separates a designer from someone who just knows the software.

   ⏱ self-paced · 💵 free–low cost

6. 💼
   Break in

   Corporate training, universities, and ed-tech companies all hire instructional designers

   Corporate training, universities, and ed-tech all hire instructional designers — corporate 'L&D' roles are the largest and often best-paid.

7. 🏁

   Online Learning Designer

   Your destination