“Done!” The final session of the training wraps up, and participants leave the room with satisfied smiles. You quickly tally the survey results, and there they are: a glorious row of “all 5s.” You pat yourself on the back: “Phew, finally finished! Good job, meeeee.” …Wait a second. Is that really the end? If your…

Last time, I discussed the pitfalls of taking on too much work. When heavy workloads lead you to cut corners in the design process, the consequences often come back to haunt you in unexpected ways. A prime example is a satisfaction survey where every response is a “5 (Highly Satisfied)”—a result of poorly designed evaluations.…

Last time I discussed AI utilization and collaboration with SMEs, but today I’d like to return to our long-awaited pitfalls series. One common pitfall for Instructional Designers (IDs) is taking on too many projects. Especially after holidays, are you overwhelmed by accumulated requests and unreasonable demands like “Can you just handle this for now?” because…

Both the development and integration of AI have been skyrocketing lately. Even within the instructional design (ID) field, the use of AI is rapidly expanding. In any creative work, the process of going from zero to one takes the most time. The struggle of creating something from nothing is such a challenge every ID faces.…

Is That “Hard Work” Really Delivering Results? 📌 Scenario: The Moment Your Proposal Was Labeled “Cutting corners” You are an Instructional Designer (ID). Your company conducts a three-day new employee training program upon hiring. You believe this training could be done in one day. To improve this inefficient program, you propose a plan to upper…

What comes to mind when you hear “accessibility (A11Y)”? Most people probably think of considerations for learners with physical limitations—things like “colour contrast,” “captions,” and “alternative text”—in other words, inclusive design. Of course, these are essential foundations for any learning environment. However, an Instructional Designer’s work doesn’t end there. Among the accessibility challenges IDs must…

When you first learn instructional design (ID), it’s easy to imagine your “ideal learning experience”: a compelling storyline, perfectly layered scaffolding, polished interactions, and beautifully structured assessments. But once you step into real projects, “reality” quickly appears — time constraints, limited resources, organizational culture, stakeholder priorities, and more. So the key question becomes: How do…

Differences in “Culture” and “Learning Styles” Seen in Corporate Training  Learning and training styles vary significantly by country and culture. Understanding these differences is essential for creating effective training materials. I’m currently in Canada, but I feel face-to-face training remains the mainstream approach in Japan. The relationship between new hires and their mentors is highly…

Last time, I talked about the “Ego Design” during the design phase. This time, let’s look at a common pitfall in the development phase: going too far with your own rules. Why Having Your Own Touch Matters As an instructional designer, having your own touch isn’t a bad thing at all. For example: If these…