WHAT DOES AN INSTRUCTIONAL SYSTEMS DESIGNER DO?

Published: Sep 18, 2025 - The Instructional Systems Designer develops course materials, programs of instruction, and multimedia products to address performance shortfalls and enhance learning effectiveness. This role oversees course content creation, integrates eLearning into learning management systems, and ensures quality assurance of all instructional products and assessments. The designer also conducts task and skills analysis, collaborates with subject matter experts, and evaluates training outcomes through comprehensive reporting and feedback.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Instructional Systems Designer

1. Instructional Systems Designer Duties

  • Adult Learning: Applies principles of Adult Learning Theory to the design of all training materials
  • Training Solutions: Designs, develops, implements and evaluates training solutions
  • Curriculum Design: Designs and develops curriculum and courses of instruction using the Instructional Systems Design model
  • Lesson Content: Develops lesson content and identifies appropriate training delivery mechanisms
  • Training Gaps: Identifies training gaps and recommends changes to training programs and curricula that will minimize or eliminate training gaps
  • Course Material: Develops course material to include planning documents, student and Instructor materials and course presentations
  • Needs Assessment: Conducts needs assessments and performs course evaluations
  • Learning Objectives: Develops learning goals and objectives, using the Instructional Systems Design model in accordance with Training and Performance Standard Operating Procedures
  • Course Monitoring: Monitors courses and instructors against performance criteria
  • Project Planning: Develops course proposals and project management plans

2. Instructional Systems Designer Details

  • Course Scheduling: Develops, maintains and ensures adherence to a course development schedule during the development cycle
  • Curriculum Updates: Stays current on policy, law and technology changes, as well as skill requirements, office directives, roles and responsibilities to ensure up-to-date curriculum
  • SME Coordination: Coordinates with instructors, subject matter experts (SME), multimedia team and other program offices
  • Course Management: Provide course management services, including course revisions, instructor performance evaluations, cost assessments, and recommendations for course retirement
  • Curriculum Management: Assists curriculum management by maintaining all curriculum records, scheduling and conducting curriculum reviews, making recommendations for updates and changes, and tracking revision history
  • Quality Control: Reviews content and provides final quality control check on lessons and all supporting material
  • Course Evaluation: Evaluates pilot courses to ensure that they conform to Training and Performance Standard Operating Procedures, FLETA accreditation and adult education standards
  • Instructional Expertise: Attends internal and external meetings as an Instructional Design expert
  • Activity Reporting: Provides weekly updates of course activities to the curriculum manager
  • Accreditation Support: Provides the necessary support and guidance to achieve and retain all FLETA accreditation requirements for the Program Office
  • Design Participation: Participate in every facet of the Instruction Design process with some supervision and guidance

3. Instructional Systems Designer Responsibilities

  • Instructional Knowledge: Use professional-level knowledge of principles, techniques, and practices of instructional systems design, adult learning theory, training research methodology, statistics, and technology
  • Process Improvement: Use interactive process improvement and best practice methodologies in instructional design
  • ADDIE Model: Use the ADDIE model throughout the instructional design process
  • Instructional Analysis: Perform a variety of analysis activities to make design or change recommendations to improve instructional effectiveness
  • Material Development: Author and edit interactive and engaging instructional materials with assessments in approved formats using a variety of tools and applications
  • Assessment Design: Design and develop test plans and assessment devices to determine student achievement of instructional objectives
  • 508 Compliance: Implement Section 508 and the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) requirements
  • Project Leadership: Lead project team from start to finish under the guidance of an ISD III
  • Task Management: Assign tasks to the project team, track project status against the project/milestone schedule
  • Team Feedback: Provide constructive feedback to fellow contract team members related to project tasks and deliverables under the guidance of an ISD III
  • ISD Mentoring: Mentor lower-level ISDs to transfer knowledge and promote best practices
  • Work Oversight: Oversee work product development, ensuring completeness and accuracy
  • Team Collaboration: Assign tasks and collaborate with functional leads to assign project teams
  • Product Review: Perform lead review on draft and final work products, offering professional expertise and constructive feedback per government regulations, approved formats, and best practices to improve overall quality
  • Program Delivery: Produce the final Program of Instruction (POI) and/or final computer-based training product and deliver to the proper government representatives
  • Customer Support: Execute or coordinate corrections and responses to customer reviews and approval processes

4. Instructional Systems Designer Job Summary

  • Business Prioritization: Coordinate with management to prioritize business and program ISD needs
  • Data Evaluation: Identify the training data source inputs needed to evaluate the training system's effectiveness
  • System Analysis: Analyze and design training system requirements, as well as evaluate training system effectiveness for new and existing training programs
  • Task Analysis: Analyze mission, job tasks, training tasks, learning objectives and objective hierarchy, training method and media, and course syllabi requirements as well as gaps or inefficiencies within existing training systems
  • Task Documentation: Develop/update Master Tasks Lists (MTLs), Master Training Tasks Lists (MTTL), learning objective hierarchies, training method and media reports, and course syllabi
  • Training Reports: Develop and deliver formal Training System Requirements Analysis (TSRA), Training Needs Analysis (TNA), and training gap analysis reports to customers
  • Material Development: Develop and review proposal and program course materials, including the selection of appropriate instructional methods
  • Course Objectives: Develop instructionally sound course objectives, design and development of realistic scenarios and case studies, and design and development of valid assessment tools
  • Customer Meetings: Attend ISD-related customer interface meetings and generate any necessary materials or slides for required presentations
  • Proposal Compliance: Ensure all ISD requirements in proposal submissions are compliant with customer specifications
  • Documentation Traceability: Ensure traceability is maintained on all baseline and changed ISD documentation on active training programs, starting with contract startup and continuing to the end of the contract

5. Instructional Systems Designer Accountabilities

  • Data Visualization: Develop and maintain data visualization using applications like DOMO, Power BI, and Microsoft Azure
  • Data Analysis: Identify, analyze, and interpret trends or patterns in complex data sets
  • Technical Reporting: Generate technical reports describing prevailing trends within and between training programs with targeted recommendations to continually improve training
  • Policy Compliance: Accomplish ISD work in accordance with company policies, processes, procedures, and work instructions
  • Procedure Development: Develop and review special program-oriented procedures and work instructions related to ISD support
  • Needs Assessment: Support training needs assessments for assigned proposals and projects
  • Milestone Management: Develop, prioritize, and meet ISD deliverable budget, schedule, and scope milestones
  • Peer Review: Conducts peer reviews to verify production in accordance with established quality standards
  • Customer Consultation: Consult with customers on performance management and instructional strategies
  • Method Compliance: Interface with the project manager to confirm instructional methods are being followed
  • Document Formatting: Employ industry-standard software and format technical documents to a specific standard

6. Instructional Systems Designer Functions

  • GFI Review: Conduct a Government Furnished Information (GFI) review of existing schoolhouse content, learning products and documentation
  • Training Analysis: Conduct various analyses such as front-end analyses (FEA), job-duty task analyses (JDTA) and Needs Analysis, among others, to identify and validate training requirements
  • Gap Identification: Identify gaps in GFI through interviewing/observing instructors and subject matter experts (SMEs)
  • Instructional Strategies: Translate analysis findings into appropriate instructional strategies
  • ADDIE Model: Using ADDIE or a similar methodology, develop various instructional design documents
  • Assessment Design: Evaluate or develop requirements for formative and summative assessments of trainee knowledge and performance
  • Courseware Evaluation: Develop and conduct evaluations of existing courseware to measure its effectiveness
  • Storyboarding: Develop digital storyboards that illustrate the flow of courseware
  • Media Coordination: Work with multimedia developers to identify graphics and other media that will support and enhance the learning experience
  • Quality Assurance: Support and respond to Quality Assurance specialists during product reviews
  • Report Development: Develop reports and briefings in support of the instructional development process

7. Instructional Systems Designer Job Description

  • Needs Assessment: Conduct basic needs assessments with TSEC SMEs in reference to existing and future course development
  • ADDIE Coaching: Coach TSEC SMEs through the course development process by using the ADDIE model
  • Curriculum Development: Work with TSEC SMEs to formulate, format and document curriculum development and changes
  • Material Production: Produce training materials (for example, instructor guides, student guides, handouts and job aids)
  • Test Validation: Work with TSEC SMEs to ensure the written and hands-on skills test maps to the appropriate course objectives for test validation
  • Course Review: Conduct a review of existing course material to ensure currency and accuracy annually
  • Training Technology: Implement training technologies (for example, e-learning, virtual learning, learning management systems)
  • Student Feedback: Collect and analyze student feedback (Level 1 data) for TSEC courses to recommend possible areas requiring changes/improvement (content, instructors, and delivery methodologies)
  • Instructor Feedback: Collect and analyze feedback from the instructors about the students and content to identify possible areas requiring changes or improvements
  • Customer Feedback: Collect and analyze feedback from customers to identify recommended courses for development
  • Education Coordination: Coordinate and schedule continuing education for ITC staff on trending topics

8. Instructional Systems Designer Overview

  • Instructional Design: Designs and develops instructional approaches and interactive courseware to meet training requirements including the application of Kirkpatrick and Blooms
  • Client Advising: Advise the client as to best practices and most appropriate approaches
  • Strategy Design: Designs and develops instructional approaches and/or strategies to meet training requirements as required by the client
  • Training Analysis: Analyzes training requirements and media requirements
  • Task Coordination: Coordinates a variety of assigned tasks by the client
  • Quality Review: Reviews to ensure client quality and design standards are met
  • Objective Evaluation: Evaluates training objectives for ILT and web-based learning assets using the SMART process for learning assets developed for the client
  • Material Integrity: Ensures the integrity of task analysis, training requirements, training hierarchies, instructional materials, and evaluation plans, providing feedback
  • Client Recommendations: Recommendations to the client through formal checklist reviews, ensuring standards are met
  • SME Interaction: Interacts with customers and subject matter experts to ensure the technical accuracy of instructional content
  • Plan Collaboration: Collaborating on training plans and blended learning implementation strategies
  • Quality Assurance: Provide quality assurance and peer reviews on design plans and instructional materials
  • Presentation Creation: Create professional-level presentation materials
  • Stakeholder Meetings: Regularly participate in meetings requiring close interactions with various project stakeholders
  • Gap Analysis: Perform needs and/or gap analysis to determine training needs
  • Schedule Tracking: Track work and schedules to ensure work is completed within scheduling parameters
  • Result Delivery: Produce quality results in a fast-paced and dynamic work environment

9. Instructional Systems Designer Details and Accountabilities

  • SME Coordination: Coordinate with Subject Matter Experts and ISDs to conduct information gathering from formal instructional training documents and USG technical publications
  • Lesson Design: Design lesson outlines and draft materials including Script Storyboards and On-Screen Lessons
  • Material Review: Review training materials for instructional soundness
  • Objective Evaluation: Evaluate and analyze learning objectives and assessments
  • Media Guidance: Guide videographers and photographers to support the recording of task performance
  • Data Review: Perform thorough extant data reviews
  • User Analysis: Gather and analyze information from end users, subject matter experts, accomplished performers, and other sources
  • Requirement Validation: Analyze, validate, and document performance requirements of the target audience
  • Content Development: Design new deliverables, revise technical content, and format materials that conform to USCG templates and software and hardware criteria
  • Deliverable Management: Deliver electronic and hard copy contract deliverables
  • Task Execution: Accomplish various other tasks, using USCG software and systems

10. Instructional Systems Designer Tasks

  • Performance Oversight: Immediately bring performance issues to the attention of the contractor employee, and bring any uncorrected or uncorrectable contractor performance issues to the COR to ensure compliance with assigned tasks
  • Communication Management: Ensure contractor personnel provided under this contract are clearly aware of the communications chain for all issues, including those related to work hours, approved leave, and/or any other personnel issues
  • Course Development: Create course materials that support field-driven performance shortfalls
  • Training Oversight: Oversee and create course content and research, implement, and evaluate training
  • Quality Assurance: Provide quality assurance oversight to all products developed by ISD contractor personnel
  • Instruction Program: Create programs of instruction
  • SME Assistance: Assist Subject Matter Experts in the creation of master lesson plans
  • Multimedia Development: Develop multimedia (graphics, animation, photos, audio, and video)
  • Instructional Aids: Develop instructional aids (i.e., maps, checklists)
  • eLearning Integration: Integrate eLearning courseware into an LMS
  • Assessment Design: Develop and evaluate student assessment instruments
  • Evaluation Reporting: Develop, summarize, and report end-of-course evaluations
  • Post-Training Evaluation: Develop, summarize, and report post-training evaluations
  • Analysis: Perform practice analysis or in-depth task and critical skills analysis
Relevant Information
What Does An Instructional Designer Do?