Choosing the right instructional design (ID) program can be overwhelming, there are more options than ever, and not all of them will help you get where you want to go. In this post I will go through criteria that should help you evaluate a program before applying:

1. Start With Your Career Goals

Before diving into school websites, ask yourself: What do I want to do with this degree?

Instructional design programs are not one-size-fits-all. Some are geared toward:

• Corporate/Workplace Learning
• K-12 or Higher Education Instruction
• Academic or Learning Sciences Research

You want a program that aligns with your desired career path. If you’re looking to work in corporate training, a program that’s heavily focused on K-12 pedagogy may not be the best fit (and vice versa).

2. Understand the Degree Type

Not all master’s degrees in instructional design are created equal. Here’s a general guide:

• MA (Master of Arts): Typically K-12 or research-heavy
• MEd (Master of Education): Often geared toward educator practitioner roles
• MS (Master of Science): Often geared toward corporate/practitioner roles

This isn’t a hard rule, but it’s a good starting point when evaluating programs. Always check course descriptions and talk to faculty and students

3. Research the Faculty

Look up the faculty. Seriously.

Do they have experience in the areas you care about? For example, if you’re interested in becoming a corporate instructional designer, is there a faculty member who’s worked in that world?

You should be able to see faculty bios, resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and research or industry experience on the program’s website. If you can’t find this info, that’s a red flag.

And don’t stop there, talk to them. Ask about their approach, their industry connections, and how they mentor students.

4. Ask About Mentorship and Career Support

Great programs don’t just teach, they guide.

• Will a faculty member help with your resume or portfolio?
• Do they help students land internships or full-time roles?
• Are you getting 1:1 mentorship, or are you just a number?

Strong mentorship can be the difference between landing a job in 6 weeks vs. 6 months post-graduation.

5. Does the Program Website Actually Tell You Anything?

If the program’s website is vague or doesn’t list course details, required skills, or faculty info, walk away.

You’re not just choosing a school, you’re investing time and money into your career. Transparency matters.

6. Look for an Active Alumni Network

This is one of the most underrated aspects of choosing a program.

Ask:

• Is there a LinkedIn group or alumni Slack/Discord?
• Do alumni help each other with jobs, internships, and referrals?

For example, in the program I teach at in North Carolina, we have alumni working all across the state, and they regularly help current students break into the field. That kind of local network is priceless especially when that’s where you want to live/work.

7. Where (company and location) Are Students Working After Graduation?

If you’re looking to get into corporate L&D, but graduates are mostly going into school systems or academia, that’s a mismatch.

Ask for examples of recent graduates and where they’ve been hired. Make sure that list reflects your goals and your geographic preferences. If the school is in California and the students are all working in California but you want to live/work in NY, then that might not be the best fit for you.

8. Work Experience & Portfolio

This is big: Will you build a portfolio in the program and get real work experience?

• Are there internship opportunities?
• Will you work with real clients on a capstone or project?
• Will you get experience designing e-learning, video content, or simulations?

Employers want to see what you can do and get someone with actual work experience in the field before they take a chance on you. You must have some type of internship to get your resume past the initial screening. Portfolio comes into play when they have gotten down to the final few candidates and will want to review your work.

9. Cost

Instructional design programs should be affordable. In-state public universities in your state are often your best bet.

For example, the program I teach in costs roughly:

• $10–12K total for a full Master’s degree
• $5–6K for a graduate certificate

If a school is charging $25–50K for an ID degree, ask why. You should not be taking on massive debt for this field.

10. Time to Completion

A standard instructional design master’s should take 1–2 years max. If the average is pushing 3 years or more, that’s edging into Ph.D. territory, and could signal poor advising or overloaded schedules.

11. Curriculum: Theory, Design, & Development/Tech

A balanced ID program should cover:

• Learning theory
• Instructional design models
• Front-end analysis
• Project management
• Evaluation
• Learning technologies/Development Software
• Data & AI tools in education

You want both big-picture thinking and hands-on skills. Programs that overemphasize theory without development practice (or vice versa) can leave you unprepared.

12. Software and Tools Access

By 2025, you should be getting exposure to the tools employers expect. At a minimum, the program should include:

• Articulate Storyline & Rise
• Adobe Captivate
• Figma
• Photoshop
• Adobe Premiere or Camtasia
• LMS platforms (Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, etc.)
• Some entry-level coding (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)

And you shouldn’t have to buy all this software yourself. Programs should provide free access while you’re enrolled. For example, students in our program get full access to Adobe Creative Cloud and Articulate tools at no extra cost.

Final Thoughts

These criteria haven’t changed much in the last few years, but with more programs moving online and new tech like AI and data analytics becoming part of the field, it’s even more important to be selective. Don’t just pick a school, pick the right school for you. The program that’s best for one student might not be the best for you for the reasons outlined in this post

There was a recent discussion on reddit about the evolving role of instructional designers and whether coding will be necessary in the future. I responded to this question, and I want to expand on my thoughts here, because it’s a topic that’s only going to become more relevant in the coming years.

Let me be clear: I don’t necessarily think coding should be a required skill for every instructional designer. But I do believe that an understanding of how software is built—and how code works under the hood—is going to become far more desirable than it is today.

Why? The AI Shift Is Changing Everything

If I were starting out as an ID today, looking five years ahead, I’d strongly consider gaining at least a foundational understanding of programming and backend development. We’re at a point where artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming what’s possible in design and development.

AI already excels at front-end development. I’ve personally used AI to build websites, mobile apps (iOS), and game-based applications in Unreal Engine. While AI can generate the code, I’ve found that these projects still require significant knowledge of software engineering. Why?

Because AI isn’t magic. It can write code, sure—but it often writes it incorrectly. It can’t read your mind. You need to be able to:

• Read the code like reading a book
• Troubleshoot errors
• Understand the logic behind the code
• Choose between different architectural solutions
• Modify algorithms when they’re off
• Know when to step in and change the code manually

That’s where your value as a human designer and thinker comes in.

Simple Tools Will Be Automated

Think about the tools many IDs use today—Storyline, Rise, and similar rapid development platforms. These are going to be fully automated by AI in the near future. We’re already seeing tools like Lovable, backed by significant venture capital, making major strides in this area.

But here’s the thing: these tools like Lovable, while promising, are currently limited to simple, front-end tasks. They’re not yet capable of building complex, interactive, or immersive learning environments. That’s where the opportunity lies for instructional designers who understand software development.

The Future Is Full Stack (or at Least “Software Aware”)

We’re heading toward a future where instructional designers won’t just be creating slides and click-through modules. We’ll be creating full-fledged immersive experiences—complete with custom interactivity, media, gamification, and backend integration. To do that, we’ll need to understand how to things like:

• Work with databases
• Run cron jobs
• Use Unix/SSH
• Integrate with LMS platforms beyond just the SCORM package

You don’t need to become a professional software engineer. But you do need to understand the language and structure of software development enough to work with AI, developers, and advanced tools effectively.

What Should You Learn?

If you’re thinking about upskilling, here’s what I’d recommend:

• A web development course (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
• An object-oriented programming course (Python or Java)
• An introduction to software engineering

These foundational skills will help you stay ahead of the curve as AI tools continue to take over traditional elearning development tasks.

Final Thoughts

The future of instructional design is not about knowing how to code everything by hand—AI will take care of that. It’s about knowing how software is built so you can design, manage, and troubleshoot complex, AI-assisted learning solutions.

This shift won’t eliminate the need for human instructional designers. On the contrary—it will elevate the field, opening doors to more creative, impactful, and technically sophisticated work. But to seize that opportunity, we’ll need to evolve along with the tools.

I did update my blog to a new one after using the old since like 2008 or so. The reason I created a new one is that I was maintaining two different wordpress sites and databases and integrated to just one.

Here is my old blog for those looking for those posts, I did not delete it but plan to use this one now.

https://raypastore.com/wordpress/

Now, if you know me, you probably already know my position:

Learning styles aren’t real.

They’re what I like to call one of the “great unicorns of education.”

Why unicorns? Because they look cool—like a horse with a horn—but they don’t actually exist… unless, of course, you tape a horn on a horse.

So What Do You Do When Someone Asks About Learning Styles?

Here’s the thing: you don’t want to tell an interviewer they don’t know what they’re talking about. That’s not going to help you land the job or build rapport. Instead, assume one of two things:

• A) They’re testing you.
• B) They genuinely don’t know that the concept of learning styles is outdated—and that’s okay.

It’s a bit like being a physicist and having someone ask if you believe in some fringe theory. They’re not trying to be wrong—they just aren’t in your field.

So here’s how I handle this question:

I don’t correct them, and I don’t say learning styles are real, either.

Instead, I pivot—and treat the question as if they had asked: “How do you design instruction to support different types of learners?”

Here’s the structure I use when I respond. It’s helped me handle this question successfully every single time:

1. How People Learn – Learning Taxonomies

I start by talking about learning taxonomies—like Bloom’s Taxonomy. We begin with low-level knowledge (facts, basics) and move to higher-order thinking (analysis, application, transfer).

I explain how my instructional design supports this progression: From remembering → understanding → applying → creating.

2. Dual Coding & Multimedia Principles

Next, I talk about how people learn better when we use multiple types of media together—like combining visuals with text.

This isn’t about catering to “visual learners” or “auditory learners”—it’s about evidence-based strategies like dual coding and the multimedia principle (from cognitive psychology).
People retain information better with both text and visuals than with either alone.

3. Delivery Strategies – Engaging Diverse Learners

Then I get into how I actually deliver content. I use:

• Problem-Based Learning
• Game-Based Learning / Gamification
• Chunking strategies
• Multiple media formats

It’s all about using varied, effective methods to support learners with different backgrounds, motivations, and prior knowledge—not learning styles.

4. Engagement & Cognitive Load

Finally, I talk about learner engagement.
It’s not enough to present the content—you have to keep learners motivated and manage cognitive load.

I explain what cognitive load is (if needed) and how I reduce unnecessary distractions while keeping the content rich and engaging.

The Result?

Every time I’ve answered like this, the conversation moves on. They don’t push back. They don’t re-ask about learning styles. Why? Because I gave a solid, thoughtful answer that addressed what they meant, not just what they said.

And if they do circle back because they are testing me, I might gently mention that “learning styles” have been defined in dozens of ways (over 70+, actually), and we don’t have strong evidence that teaching to them makes a difference. But usually, I don’t even need to go there.

My goal is always this:

• Make them feel heard.
• Give them a thoughtful, evidence-based response.
• Walk away having taught them something—without making them feel wrong.

So if you’re ever asked about learning styles in an interview, now you know how to handle it like a pro.

Here is my video where I go into more detail: