This article also appears on LinkedIn as part of our Instructional Design, Reinvented series.
This is your invitation to rethink everything you thought instructional design had to be – and start shaping what it can become.
For decades, learning was built like an assembly line. You started with a list of objectives, added content, wrapped it in slides, and called it a course. And for a time, that made sense. But the world of learning has shifted. Rapidly. Irreversibly. And now, those who design learning need to shift too, – not just in what we do, but in how we think.
This is a guide for people stepping into that shift – teachers, trainers, coaches, facilitators, content creators – anyone starting to create digital learning experiences using tools like Articulate. Whether you’re building your first Rise course or experimenting with Storyline, what matters most is this: you are no longer just delivering training – you are designing a learning experience.
Let’s explore what that means.
The Old Rules No Longer Serve Us
Traditional instructional design has often felt like a checklist:
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Analyse the learner
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Define objectives
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Build the content
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Test and assess
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Done.
It’s clean. It’s neat. And in many environments, it still has its place – especially in compliance or certification.
But this model assumes:
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The designer knows everything the learner needs
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Learning flows linearly from start to finish
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The only way to learn is to be told something first
Modern learning just doesn’t work that way anymore.
People jump between topics. They learn by doing. They explore non-linearly. They prefer guidance over instruction. And they don’t want to be “taught” – they want to discover, try, fail safely, reflect, and apply.
That’s where instructional design needs to evolve – from structure to flexibility, from content to conversation, from theory to tangible outcomes.
This Era is About Experience, Not Instruction
Modern instructional designers aren’t just instructors. We’re:
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Experience architects
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Storytellers
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Learning journey creators
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Problem solvers
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Digital behaviour influencers
We’re designing for attention. For engagement. For emotion. For outcomes. And in the tools we use – like Articulate Rise or Storyline – we now have the power to craft experiences that move beyond “read and recall” into “choose and change.”
In this new era, the most successful learning isn’t a course, it’s a conversation, a scenario, a decision point, a visual, a challenge.
From Content-First to Learner-First
Traditional design starts with content: “What do we need to cover?”
Innovative design starts with the learner: “What do they need to do, feel, decide, solve?”
This is the shift:
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From teaching to enabling
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From content-heavy to context-rich
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From telling to guiding
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From structure to flow
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From information to impact
The best modern learning experiences are built around action. They help people try, reflect, get it wrong safely, and succeed when it matters. That’s where tools like Articulate Storyline shine — because you can build branching stories, show consequences, give feedback in real-time. Rise makes it easy to break content into elegant, responsive micro-moments that respect people’s time and attention.
Instructional Design is Now a Creative Discipline
Let’s be clear: the future of learning design is not about ticking boxes. It’s about creativity. Innovation. Curiosity. Empathy.
Designers today need to think like:
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UX designers – mapping flow and usability
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Marketers – knowing their audience
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Writers – crafting tone, clarity, and story
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Developers – building responsive, dynamic digital experiences
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Coaches – unlocking capability, not just knowledge
It’s not about more content. It’s about better design – design that makes someone want to lean in, try something, and keep going.
What This Means in Practice
Let’s bring this to life with a few quick examples of the old approach compared to the new approach:
Old: A 30-slide module explaining how to handle difficult customers
New: An interactive scenario that puts the learner in a customer conversation, allows them to choose responses, see how the customer reacts, and reflect on what worked.
Old: A PDF guide on how to use a new workplace system.
New: A 3-minute Rise module with video walk-throughs, a drag-and-drop checklist, and a quiz that directs learners to help articles based on what they miss.
Old: A mandatory induction module full of policies and procedures.
New: A self-paced onboarding journey with microlearning bursts, real stories from team members, and short scenario challenges to explore how policies apply in context.
So Where Do You Begin?
Right here. With a shift in mindset.
You don’t need to master every theory or model to get started. You just need to be open to designing for how people actually learn today. That means:
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Keep it real (scenarios, stories, relevance)
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Keep it short (microlearning beats content dumps)
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Keep it flexible (let learners explore, not just progress linearly)
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Keep it human (use language, tone, and visuals that feel real)
In this series, we’re not going to recycle the same old models. We’re not going to walk through ADDIE or SAM step by step. We’re going to reimagine instructional design from the ground up — with today’s learner in mind, and tomorrow’s tools at our fingertips.
Ready to keep going?
This is just the beginning of our Instructional Design, Reinvented series – a modern guide for anyone building digital learning using tools like Articulate Storyline and Rise.
👉 Part 2: Agile, Creative and Learner-Led
We unpack the mindset and methods that help modern designers move faster, collaborate better, and build learning that responds to what people actually need.
B Online Learning has been helping organisations design powerful eLearning for over 20 years. From Certified Articulate training to award-winning content development, we’re here to support your learning design journey.
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