Reading Guide

Unit A: The field and this program

Lesson 1: What an Instructional Designer Does (about 45 minutes)

1. 01 How to be a great instructional designer who gets hired every time in 2026(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 12 min read. What the job became once AI could draft the content: the workflow, the trained eye and the evaluation work that gets a newcomer hired now.

   Ask yourself: Name one thing you assumed you would be hired to produce. What would you have to be able to judge about it instead?

2. 02 Instructional Design vs. Human Performance Technology: Cousins in the Workplace(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 8 min read. The role's nearest neighbor: where instructional design ends, where human performance technology begins, and the cases where training is the wrong fix.

   Ask yourself: Think of a problem at work that someone tried to solve with training. Was it a knowledge gap, or something HPT would have looked at first?

3. 03 The 3 Crucial Skills Every Successful Instructional Designer Needs(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 14 min read. Selling, inspiring and enrolling stakeholders: the part of the job that decides whether good design ever ships.

   Ask yourself: Who would you need to enroll to get your first project approved, and what do they care about that you do not yet?

4. 04 Human Performance Technology (HPT): A Comprehensive Guide for Instructional Designers - Part 1(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 11 min read. The longer companion to the cousins article: the theories behind HPT, where it is used, and its limits.

   Ask yourself: Which of HPT's limitations would bite hardest in your own workplace, and why?

Lesson 2: How We Work Here (about 37 minutes)

1. 05 The Solutionist Mindset: How Instructional Designers Thrive in Uncertainty(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 4 min read. The disposition the program expects: define the problem before reaching for a tool, and treat uncertainty as the normal condition of the work.

   Ask yourself: Recall the last time you reached for a tool before you had named the problem. What question would a solutionist have asked first?

2. 06 The minimum in minimum viable analysis is not a fixed number(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 17 min read. How much analysis is enough: the reversibility check that sets the threshold, and how 24/7 Teach runs it.

   Ask yourself: Take a decision you are about to make on a project. Is it reversible? What is the least analysis that would tell you?

3. 07 Effective vs. Perfection: The Mindset of a Successful Instructional Designer - Part 1(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 9 min read. Three case studies of shipping an effective solution under a deadline instead of a perfect one, and the models each drew on.

   Ask yourself: Which of the three constraints (a deadline, thin resources, a remote rollout) is closest to your situation, and what would you cut first?

4. 08 Effective vs. Perfection: Balancing Effectiveness and Perfection in Instructional Design - Part 2(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 7 min read. The three questions that keep effectiveness honest: the project's purpose, its success criteria and its time requirements.

   Ask yourself: Write the purpose and the success criteria for something you are building now, two sentences each. Which was harder to state?

Unit B: How people learn

Lesson 3: Learning Theories, Andragogy and Pedagogy (about 18 minutes)

1. 09 Understanding Andragogy and Pedagogy: Structure to Chaos and Chaos to Structure(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 10 min read. Structure to chaos for younger learners, chaos to structure for adults, and why Bloom's ladder is climbed differently in each. Read against section 3.4.

   Ask yourself: Pick one activity you have taught or been taught. Did it run from structure to chaos or the reverse, and did that fit the learners?

2. 10 Experiential Learning Design Frameworks and Learning Theories for Instructional Designers(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 8 min read. Kolb, Dewey, 70:20:10, the 5E model and Gagné's nine events, set side by side as ways to design from experience.

   Ask yourself: Which of these frameworks does the 24/7 Teach project cycle most resemble, and where does it differ?

From the handbook: Chapter 4: Connecting Frameworks to Objectives and Assessments in the Learn, Do, Be Model (read for contrast); Chapter 5: Crafting “Be” Objectives with Mager’s Performance Framework in the Learn-Do-Be Model (read for contrast).

Lesson 4: Learning Science With Evidence

No readings are assigned for this lesson.

Lesson 5: Taxonomies and Objectives (about 16 minutes)

1. 11 Developing Goals and Success Criteria in Instructional Design: A Roadmap to Effective Learning Outcomes(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 9 min read. Goals, objectives and success criteria as three different things, and how success criteria make an objective checkable.

   Ask yourself: Take an objective from a course you know and write its success criteria. Could two people disagree about whether it was met?

2. 12 Mastering Performance-Based Objectives and Assessments: A Guide for New Instructional Designers(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 7 min read. Objectives that describe doing rather than knowing, and the assessments that follow from them.

   Ask yourself: Rewrite one 'understand' objective from your own work as a performance. What would the learner produce, and how would you score it?

From the handbook: Chapter 1: Developing Goals and Success Criteria in Instructional Design (core reading); Chapter 2: Crafting Effective Learning and Performance Objectives (core reading); Chapter 3: When to use the ABCD Model, Mager’s Performance Framework, and Bloom’s Taxonomy (core reading); Chapter 6: The Foundation of Effective Objectives in Instructional Design (core reading); Chapter 10: Additional Resources (templates and glossary).

Unit C: How the work is organized

Lesson 6: Frameworks and Principles (about 30 minutes)

1. 13 Instructional Design Models and How to Use Them: A Field Guide(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 15 min read. Nothing is assigned here; the lesson is its own reading. The field guide's short section on the four frameworks is here if you want them in one place before Lesson 7 reads all of it.

   Ask yourself: Take one framework from the lesson and say which of the four kinds it is. What would you have to add to make it a process?

2. 14 Crafting Intentional Interactivity for "Aha" Moments in Instructional Design(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 7 min read. Interactivity as a means to an objective rather than a break from content, and its cost in cognitive load.

   Ask yourself: Find one click-to-continue interaction in a course you know. What would make it intentional?

3. 15 Elevating eLearning Through Immersive Scenarios: A Comprehensive Guide(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 8 min read. Scenarios as the working form of experiential learning in eLearning, and five steps to build one.

   Ask yourself: Sketch a two-branch scenario for a task your learners get wrong. What does the wrong branch teach?

Lesson 7: Process Models, Including Ours (about 22 minutes)

1. 16 Instructional Design Models and How to Use Them: A Field Guide(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 15 min read. Now all of it: ADDIE, SAM, Dick and Carey, Kemp and the rest as ways to run the work, and the four questions that choose between them.

   Ask yourself: Answer the field guide's four questions for a project you know. Which model do they point to, and does the 24/7 Teach cycle fit?

2. 17 Unlocking the Secrets of Instructional Design: Your Complete Blueprint(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 7 min read. The 2023 letter to new 24/7 Teach designers: the whole process in seven steps. Read it as history; Lesson 2 describes the cycle we run now.

   Ask yourself: Which of the seven steps changed most between this letter and the project cycle in Lesson 2, and why?

Lesson 8: Analysis (about 1 hr 4 min)

1. 18 Navigating the Needs Analysis in Instructional Design: A Comprehensive Guide(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 6 min read. The needs analysis step by step: the gap between current and desired performance, and the questions that expose it.

   Ask yourself: Write the current state and the desired state for a training request you have seen. Was the gap a training gap?

2. 19 How to complete a Learner Analysis and Persona: A Deep Dive into Understanding Your Audience(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 7 min read. Learner analysis and personas: what to gather, how to gather it, and the trap of a persona built from assumptions.

   Ask yourself: Draft a persona for a learner you know well, then mark every line you could not defend with evidence. How much is left?

3. 20 The Power of Action Mapping and Needs Analysis in eLearning Design(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 7 min read. Cathy Moore's action mapping: start from the business goal and the actions, and make content earn its place.

   Ask yourself: Take one module you know and list the on-the-job actions it should change. Which content in it supports none of them?

4. 21 Why Analysis is Essential to your Instructional Design Process and How to Excel at It(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 6 min read. The why, what and who questions, with a leadership curriculum as the worked case, and the pitfalls that follow from skipping them.

   Ask yourself: Which of the pitfalls named here have you seen a team fall into, and what did it cost?

5. 22 How to Overcome Analysis–Paralysis as an Instructional Designer(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 8 min read. Knowing when analysis has converged: the 5W and 1H questions, and the signal that it is time to move.

   Ask yourself: For the analysis you are doing now, which of the five W's is still open? Would answering it change what you build?

6. 23 The minimum in minimum viable analysis is not a fixed number(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 17 min read. Reread from Lesson 2 now that you have the tools: the reversibility check as the stopping rule for analysis.

   Ask yourself: Apply the reversibility check to the analysis you just did. What could you have skipped, and what could you not?

7. 24 Mastering the Art of Collaborating with Subject Matter Experts in Instructional Design(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 7 min read. Working with subject matter experts: why they matter, where the two worlds collide, and six habits that keep the collaboration productive.

   Ask yourself: Which of the six habits would you have to practise most deliberately, and what makes it hard for you?

8. 25 Mastering SME Interviews: Top 30 Questions for Effective eLearning Content Development(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 6 min read. Thirty questions for SME and stakeholder interviews, starting with the seven to ask every time.

   Ask yourself: Pick five of the thirty for a real project. Which answers would change the design, and which would only fill a document?

From the handbook: Chapter 8: Aligning Assessments with Organizational Goals and Academic Standards (optional).

Unit D: Judging the work

Lesson 9: Assessment Fundamentals (about 37 minutes)

1. 26 Mastering Performance-Based Objectives and Assessments: A Guide for New Instructional Designers(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 7 min read. Reread from Lesson 5 with the assessment in mind: what counts as evidence that a performance objective was met.

   Ask yourself: For one objective, describe the evidence you would accept and the evidence you would refuse. Where exactly is the line?

2. 27 Evaluating Course Effectiveness: A Guide for New Instructional Designers(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 6 min read. Kirkpatrick's four levels and their alternatives, and the evaluation problems new designers meet first.

   Ask yourself: At which Kirkpatrick level does your organization stop measuring, and what would it take to go one level further?

3. 28 You cannot detect your way out of AI: the assessment redesign playbook(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 11 min read. For 9.7: why AI detection fails as an assessment strategy, and the two-lane redesign that protects validity instead.

   Ask yourself: Take one assessment you use or once sat. Which lane does it belong in, and what would the redesign change?

4. 29 Understanding the Quality Matters Rubric: A Comprehensive Guide for Higher Education and Corporate Learning(opens in a new tab)

   Reference · 13 min read. The Quality Matters rubric: its structure, how reviews use it, and its limits. Look things up here rather than reading it end to end.

   Ask yourself: Choose one QM standard and check a course you know against it. Was the standard measuring quality, or compliance?

From the handbook: Chapter 7: Creating Effective Assessments for the Learn-Do-Be Model (core reading).

Lesson 10: Accessibility, Delivery and Visual Basics (about 41 minutes)

1. 30 The Simple Guide to Visual Design in Education you Must Read(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 5 min read. Mayer's multimedia principles in five minutes, and what they mean for a slide or a video.

   Ask yourself: Take one slide you have made. Which of Mayer's principles does it break, and what is the smallest fix?

2. 31 Creating Effective Job Aids: A Comprehensive Guide(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 7 min read. Job aids as learning in the moment of need: when a checklist beats a course, and how to design one.

   Ask yourself: Name a task your learners do rarely and must do right. Would a job aid replace the training, or support it?

3. 32 Why Every Instructional Designer Should Know Visual Design Principles(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 7 min read. Why visual design is part of the designer's job, with the core principles: contrast, alignment and readability.

   Ask yourself: Look at one screen of a course you know. Which principle is doing the most work, and which is missing?

4. 33 The Essence of Visual Design in eLearning: A Practical Guide(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 16 min read. The long version: common missteps, then color, typography, imagery and interactivity in eLearning, one section each.

   Ask yourself: Choose one section (color, type or imagery) and audit a page you built against it. What would you change first?

5. 34 Transforming Onboarding: How Training, Data, and Alignment Lead to Success with Articulate Storyline(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 6 min read. A team's first branching scenario in Storyline: what alignment, data and a learning curve looked like in practice.

   Ask yourself: What did the team settle before opening the tool, and which of those decisions would you make first on your own project?

From the handbook: Chapter 9: Equitable and Inclusive Assessment Design: Ensuring Fair and Accessible Learning Evaluations (core reading).

Lesson 11: AI in the Instructional Design Workflow (about 34 minutes)

1. 35 The instructional designer’s guide to becoming an AI translator and evaluator(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 9 min read. The four-step framework for becoming the translation layer between AI output and learning that works.

   Ask yourself: Take an AI-drafted lesson and apply step two. What does the output analysis show that a quick read did not?

2. 36 Why are all 24/7 Teach Instructional Designers trained on how to use ChatGPT, and so should you!(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 6 min read. Read for the stance, not the tool: a 2023 argument that every designer should be fluent with the model of the day. The model has changed; the stance has not.

   Ask yourself: Which claim in this 2023 piece still holds, and which has been overtaken? What does that tell you about betting on one tool?

3. 37 AI can draft a curriculum in minutes. Evaluating it is the actual job.(opens in a new tab)

   Core · 12 min read. For 11.2: where AI output stops being good, shown in assessment questions, and what the job becomes when drafting is cheap.

   Ask yourself: Generate ten quiz items with an AI tool and judge them with the checks from 11.2. How many survive, and what failed?

4. 38 How to Develop Time Estimates for eLearning Development and the Impact of AI(opens in a new tab)

   Optional · 7 min read. Estimating eLearning development time, and a 2023 view of what AI changed in each phase. Compare its numbers with your own experience.

   Ask yourself: Re-estimate one phase of a recent project with and without AI. Where did the time go that the article did not predict?

Lesson 12: Readiness Check

No readings are assigned for this lesson.

Beyond Foundations

These readings are not part of any lesson or unit assessment. They come from the same 2024 guide and are kept here for the two moments they serve: leading a project team, and looking for the job.

Before you lead a team (about 25 minutes)

Read before the team lead project rung, or when you first find yourself responsible for other people's work. Your mentor assigns the rest at that rung.

1. 39 Lessons in Instructional Design Leadership: Managing Virtual Teams Through Personal Turmoil(opens in a new tab)

   6 min read. Leading a virtual team through a personal crisis: an empowered second, tools and systems, and keeping morale.

   Ask yourself: Who would be your empowered second on a project, and what would they need from you now, before anything goes wrong?

2. 40 Navigating the Future of Instructional Design: Why Leadership and Project Management Skills Are Essential(opens in a new tab)

   7 min read. Why leadership and project management are part of the designer's job rather than adjacent to it.

   Ask yourself: Which project management habit would have saved your last project the most time, and what stopped you using it?

3. 41 Creating Courses to Sell vs. Courses to Train: A Guide for New Instructional Designers(opens in a new tab)

   12 min read. Two purposes, two designs: a course that sells persuades, a course that trains changes performance, and a team lead has to know which one was ordered.

   Ask yourself: Take a course you know. Which purpose was it built for, and where does it borrow from the other?

For the job search (about 1 hr 6 min)

Read when you start applying. The bootcamp's career sessions build on these.

1. 42 How to Transition from Classroom Teacher to Instructional Designer in One Year(opens in a new tab)

   7 min read. The architect mindset, and a year's plan for moving from the classroom into design.

   Ask yourself: Which classroom skill of yours transfers directly, and which one do you need to unlearn?

2. 43 Crafting an Effective Instructional Design Portfolio: A Comprehensive Guide(opens in a new tab)

   7 min read. A portfolio built around projects: the problem, the stakeholders, the decisions and the results.

   Ask yourself: For your best piece of work, write the one-paragraph project story this guide asks for. What is missing from the evidence?

3. 44 Do You Really Need a Portfolio to Get Hired as an Instructional Designer?(opens in a new tab)

   6 min read. Skills first, portfolio second: what hiring managers look for, and what a website cannot prove.

   Ask yourself: List the three skills you would want a hiring manager to see. Which of them does your current work actually show?

4. 45 Why You Aren't Getting Hired as an Instructional Designer(opens in a new tab)

   6 min read. Eight reasons applications stall, from the portfolio to business acumen and a personalized application.

   Ask yourself: Which of the eight applies to you today, and what is the first concrete fix?

5. 46 How to Nail Instructional Design Interviews Using the 30/70 Reflection Method(opens in a new tab)

   11 min read. Interview preparation as reflection: 30 percent on who you are, 70 percent on your projects, with journaling as the method.

   Ask yourself: Journal one project in the 70 percent form. What decision would you defend, and what would you now do differently?

6. 47 Navigating the Presentation Interview as an Instructional Designer in 2023(opens in a new tab)

   7 min read. The presentation interview: defending design choices in front of a panel, and preparing for the hard questions.

   Ask yourself: Which of your design choices would you find hardest to defend, and what evidence would you bring?

7. 48 Developing Your Niche as an Instructional Designer(opens in a new tab)

   15 min read. Finding a niche across a content area, a hard skill and a soft skill, with case studies of each combination.

   Ask yourself: Name a content area, a hard skill and a soft skill you could be known for. Which combination is rarest?

8. 49 How to Be a Great Instructional Designer Who Gets Hired Every Time(opens in a new tab)

   7 min read. The 2023 original of the Lesson 1 reading, kept for the contrast: tools, theory and soft skills as the whole job.

   Ask yourself: Compare this with the 2026 rewrite from Lesson 1. What was dropped, what was added, and which change matters most to you?