Avoid These Top 4 Pitfalls of Instructional Design

By: Rachel Kolman February 16, 2023
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If you create online courses, you’ve likely heard of instructional design. Instructional design is the theory and rationale behind how we create courses. It provides a framework for how to design a course to match the way people tend to learn. 

Instructional design is a large field, and there’s a lot to learn. Along the way, you may feel as though you’ll never be ready to launch because your course will never meet all of the standards.

But it’s not about meeting every single standard. In fact, you mainly need to avoid these four instructional design pitfalls: 

  1. Lack of clear objectives
  2. Not considering the audience 
  3. Overloading content
  4. Neglecting evaluation and feedback 

If you focus on these four pillars and avoid falling into their trap, you should feel fully confident in your course design.  Let’s dive into each of these four areas below. 

Mistake #1: Lack of Clear Learning Objectives

A learning objective is the outcome that you want your learners to achieve by the end of your course. Think of a learning objective as one new niche skill or secret to success in your industry that the learner can take with them. 

Sometimes, the smaller the promise, the better. It will lead to higher learner satisfaction, as it’s more likely that most learners will hit that goal. However, you don’t want to be too specific up front, as it can intimidate learners who may feel they’ll never be able to achieve the goal you’re promising. Instead, aim to create a balanced, true assessment.

Remember: course objectives are achieved by the end of your course, so don’t feel pressured to start covering every topic in unit one. However, each unit should be designed to lead to overall course outcome. 

Mistake #2: Not Considering the Audience

If you don’t know exactly who your course is for, it’ll feel unfocused and unhelpful. First, ask yourself who your ideal student is. The more clearly you can identify this persona, the easier it is to target their specific needs. 

Find your ideal student by analyzing your audience. Create surveys or ask for feedback on social media. Collect and analyze your responses to determine your average learner. Keep this person in mind as you design your course. It will feel as if it’s written for them, and they’ll be delighted. 

Not knowing your audience will lead to ineffective design. Your lessons will feel too general or try to cover too much at once. Avoid the temptation of having mass appeal. Instead, design for a niche to build authority, gain trust, and increase the perceived value of your course. 

Mistake #3: Overloading on Content

information overload often happens when instructors get carried away with their material. A lesson with too much content will look overwhelming and deter your learners from ever getting started. You’ll need to thoughtfully “chunk,” or break up, your lesson content in a digestible way. 

Make sure to structure each lesson around one key point. Start small and then slowly increase more difficult and complicated topics or scenarios. Consider micro content that can be completed in a matter of minutes, like small activities or quizzes released daily. This helps learners build a pattern of checking in and refreshing their knowledge.

In addition, find ways to introduce different lesson formats. Maybe you have three or four lessons in your usual format, and then have the fifth lesson be a more involved scenario-based design. Alternate the conclusion between a video quiz and a class-based assignment. Either way,  mix up your content so that the lessons don’t blend together and start to feel overwhelming. 

Mistake #4: Neglecting Evaluation and Feedback

Neglecting to gather feedback and course evaluations will do nothing to help your course. It’s important to know how learners perceive your information. After all, what seems simple and easy for you may not to them, so try to understand from their point of view as much as possible. 

To gather feedback, consider using exit surveys or satisfaction polls. Use can use guided questions and ranking scales. Also consider offering a final reflection essay question at the end of your course. This’ll help both you and your learners assess and understand their progress. 

Remember that feedback is an opportunity for improvement. If you’re hearing that the lessons are too long, break them up. When learners are struggling to pass quizzes, offer shorter, more frequent review quizzes. Or, if learners are dropping out at the same point in your course, check in with them personally and see what support they need to finish.

And if you are getting great feedback, listen to what your learners love and double down. 

Work Smarter with Instructional Design 

It’s unlikely your course will ever feel fully finished, but that doesn’t mean it’s not ready. In fact, the more you hold back launching your course, the longer it will take to gather the feedback you need to make it better. 

If you recognize some of these errors in a course you’ve already launched, there’s nothing stopping you from making updates. And if you’re confident your course isn’t committing any of these four major instructional design mistakes, then it’s time to put it in front of learners. 

If you’re ready to learn more about instructional design and build your first course, we’ve got you covered. Download our ebook, How to Build Your First Course Using the Principles of Instructional Design.

Rachel Kolman

Rachel Kolman has over 10 years of experience writing and editing for a variety of clients and brands. She is passionate about education, social change, pop culture, and video games. She lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and two cats.