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…

In this article, I’d like to highlight some common pitfalls people often fall into when building a learning environment. Pitfall 1: Losing Sight of the Goal (What vs. How) Just like a house needs a strong foundation, a learning program also needs a solid base: robust analysis. If the research is weak, whatever you build…

Instructional Design (ID) is the art and science of creating learning experiences that enable learners to effectively achieve specific outcomes. For example, imagine a 300-page onboarding training manual for new employees. If someone says, “Read this beforehand. We’ll test you later,” what happens? Learners become anxious, simply cram the content for the test, and the…

Hello, I’m Renee Sakai from AP Learning. Originally from Japan, I currently work as an instructional designer based in Canada. What does an instructional designer do? While “a person who designs and develops curricula aligned with learning objectives” might sound a bit formal, I prefer to use the term “an expert in creating effective learning…