Instructional designers are people who create eLearning to assist organizations in training employees and improving business performance. This occupation is gaining popularity across all industries. An ID doesn’t require you to work for a specific company, college or training center. You can also double as a specialist.
What is Freelance ID? How it differs from a full-time job
Freelancers are more independent and have the potential to earn a higher income. You may face some instability and have to sometimes take on additional tasks. A freelance job does not require you to have a formal education, but it will help you be creative and proficient in tech. The choice of project, time and location for work is entirely up to you. This implies that you will need to have a certain set of skills.
You need the skills to stand out in a crowd if you are looking to make an independent career in ID. Let’s take a look at the five skills required to be an instructional designer freelance.
Research skills
ID is a learning profession that requires a lot of reading, learning and exploration from course creators. Freelancers will not have the same scope of topics as full-time employees. You won’t be familiar with many of the areas you will work on, and may not have any experience in them.
You might get an order for a healthcare provider one day and a training offer from an airline center the next day. Are you able to keep up with things? A freelance instructional designer must be able to read, research, and interview people.
Another important point is your ability to understand the context of work, identify the need for training, and justify the request. This makes you a little bit more of an investigator, able to ask specific questions and test hypotheses before drawing conclusions.
Learning-Centric Mindset
Your job is not done once you have conducted research and gathered insight from subject matter experts (SMEs) about the course topic. While SMEs might want to overwhelm learners with information, you must be open to the idea that your audience is not right and present content in a comprehensible and accessible way. It’s a good idea to learn how to put complex concepts into simple words.
A learning-centric mindset is a core skill of instructional designers. Learning-centric means that you are determined to create content that addresses learning objectives. It will be easy to learn. Imagine that you made a course for desktop computers, but your learners used their smartphones to view it. It would look completely different. These “Small’ details will put you at risk if you fail to pay attention.
Communication and Networking Skills
Communication is key to building a client base and establishing mutually beneficial relationships. Here are some tips to help you learn the rules faster and make better contacts.
Personal branding
It’s important to establish a virtual presence online and communicate with clients and colleagues. LinkedIn is the best place to start this process. You should have filled out your LinkedIn profile, highlighted all of your achievements, and received endorsements from peers who see you as a reliable and promising contractor.
Networking
Do not let imposter syndrome keep you from getting into the industry. Don’t be afraid of approaching people on LinkedIn. The ID community is friendly and open to all. People are happy to share their experiences, learn, and build relationships. You may also find ID community decision-makers and get hired by them. These people can be met in person at industry workshops, conferences and meetups. You’ll get exposure and expand your network.
Collaboration with clients and stakeholders
As a freelance instructional designer, meeting clients is part of the job. You will need to collaborate with many people on most of your projects. Leaders will be important to you. They should also be available to discuss your training needs. One tip: Talking to the people who create your training (e.g. salespeople) will help you gain their perspective.
Project Management Skills
You are a freelance ID and you own your business. This means you will need to be able to manage your time well as organize your resources to keep the lights on. In a project with multiple stakeholders, a budget and specific implementation times, you will be responsible for content creation. It is a good idea to establish a timeline for the project and keep track of each stage.
You don’t need to buy additional project management software. Google Sheets is sufficient for you as a single contractor. You can easily document everything, add every detail you need, and keep your eyes on the expected deliverables. It will be much easier to manage a large project and keep it on track when you have the right skills.
Rapid Content Authoring
You can create standout instructional designs with your creativity and mastery. As you can see, freelance ID jobs are very down-to-earth. Your counterparts might have budget restrictions, you may need to meet tight deadlines or you might have multiple projects at the same time. Rapid authoring is another skill you can improve.
With content created in PowerPoint, beginners and professionals can get to work quickly.
Consider installing an authoring program that is based on PowerPoint such as iSpring Suite. If you are:
- PowerPoint is already used as a primary authoring tool
- You are just beginning your journey in ID.
- You need to complete projects within tight deadlines
iSpring suite is the ideal tool to help you create professional-looking courses that don’t require complex authoring.
iSpring Suite allows you to quickly and easily create interactive eLearning content. PowerPoint is the main tool for creating interactive eLearning content. It’s intuitive because all of this work takes place in PowerPoint. You can continue creating slides as you normally would, but add interactive quizzes and audio narrations to your courses, and create role-plays that branch.
iSpring Suite allows you to create any type of eLearning content in record-breaking time. It doesn’t even matter how powerful your computer is – all that’s needed is PowerPoint 2007, or any other version. iSpring Suite includes an integrated video studio that can be used for all types of recording.
iSpring Suite allows you to add complex effects, triggers and animations to your slides when converting to SCORM HTML5, HTML5 or other eLearning formats. You can be sure that everything will look exactly as you intended on every device.
This is how iSpring Suite will help you create content quickly and allow you to focus on other skills that you need as a freelance instructional designer. These skills can be helpful if you are just starting your ID journey. We wish you success with your eLearning freelance projects!
