What Is Instructional Design in Education? Definition, Models & Examples

Interestingly, even the answer to the question, What is instructional design in education, can explain its main essence to us as educators. Let’s turn to the Cambridge Dictionary for help. We find this definition: Instructional design is the art of planning and creating activities, books, and other materials that teach people how to do something.

In this article, we’ll walk through the importance of instructional design in education, explore instructional design models like the ADDIE model, and highlight the benefits for learners and teachers. You’ll also see real instructional design examples, including how Raccoon Gang’s professionals integrate learning design into Open edX–based solutions for organizations such as NASA and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

By the end, you’ll have a clear view of how instructional design strategies can improve your curriculum development and training programs. Time to hit the road!

Traditional methods vs. instructional design: moving from cluttered, unstructured teaching to focused, technology-supported learning.

What Is Instructional Design in Education?

Instructional design in education is a systematic process. As we have already discussed, this process is designed to help us teach. When we talk about learning as a holistic approach, instructional design plays the role of an expert who advises corporations, universities, and individual course owners on best practices for designing, developing, and delivering educational and training materials.

Simply put, the importance of instructional design in education is to ensure that learning ceases to be intuitive and improvised, and is based solely on sound principles that make learning measurable, repeatable, and adaptable. No matter the environment.

The three elephants of Instructional Design

So, if our goal is to teach someone something, then the role of instructional design should stand on the following three elephants:

• aligning every lesson, course, or training curriculum design with clear learning outcomes
• combining pedagogy with technology, or, if you like, teaching methods and digital tools
• replacing intuition-driven teaching approaches with thought-out and proven instructional design strategies

A school is looking to develop new lesson plans? → Instructional design will suggest methods to connect lessons with curriculum goals.

A university is planning to build online and blended courses? → Instructional design will suggest strategies to structure content for both digital and in-person delivery.

A corporation is looking for options for training curriculum design?  → Instructional design will suggest programs that focus on workforce skills and compliance.

Benefits of Instructional Design (ID)

Instructional design is not theory for theory’s sake. It delivers real, measurable benefits in education and training. Here are the main ones:

Learning with a defined purpose

A school teacher can design lessons so students know exactly what skills they should gain.

Consistency across programs

Universities can create online and blended courses where students get the same quality, no matter the format.

Efficient use of resources

Course owners avoid wasting time and budget on activities that don’t contribute to learning outcomes.

Engagement through structure

Instructors can mix teaching methods with digital tools, making classes more interactive and relevant.

Scalable training curriculum design

Corporations may expand training for a large group of employees while keeping the quality high.

Measurable results

Trainers can track learner performance, assess progress, and adjust materials based on real data.

Instructional Design Models in Education

Modern instructional design rests on decades of educational research. Among the first, B.F. Skinner introduced the idea of ​​programmed instruction. As a result, an approach emerged that divided learning into small steps with immediate feedback. Benjamin Bloom is the creator of the taxonomy of educational objectives. This gave teachers a way to define and measure different levels of learning. And if we talk about Robert Gagné, he outlined his “Nine Events of Instruction,” a practical sequence for guiding learners from attention to retention.

These foundations shaped the systematic methods we use today. Let’s review the main ones.

Real Examples of Instructional Design in Education

Below are two brief cases showing how instructional design turns strategy into results — on Open edX, at scale.

EBRD: Policy Academy e-learning

Raccoon Gang redesigned the EBRD Policy Academy into accessible, modular e-learning on Open edX (hosted in Azure). The target audience spans EBRD staff and external stakeholders across shareholder countries.

What we did:

• E-module design and development.
• Content enhancement (editing, tagging, re-packaging, multi-formatting).
• Knowledge base migration from internal records to public e-modules.
• Platform management, hosting, cybersecurity, and maintenance.
• Accessibility and multi-device delivery (desktop and mobile).

Impact:

1. Policy knowledge made accessible to staff and nationals of shareholder countries.
2. Smooth transition of modules to e-learning with improved course materials.

NASA: Open Science 101 curriculum

Raccoon Gang helped design and deliver NASA’s Open Science 101: 5 modules, 25 lessons, ~12.5 hours of learning — aimed to empower 20,000 researchers over five years.

What we did:

• Instructional design for a complete curriculum.
• Development in Articulate Rise 360 with early testing and iteration.
• SCORM integration with an Open edX-based LMS.
• Added interactivity (tabs, interactive images, drag-and-drop, quizzes, video).

Impact & ecosystem:

1. Branded Open edX hosting with Ragon Gang Analytics tool for deep learning analytics.
2. Credly badges for achievement.
3. Post-launch support to keep the program running smoothly.

How Raccoon Gang Can Help You With Instructional Design

Our instructional designers will turn your learning goals into measurable results. This is how your learning materials and courses will turn into something more than just PowerPoint slides.

Our core services, which are designed to improve your learning initiatives:

• Multimedia development
• Assessment & evaluation
• Learning analytics
• Microlearning
• Gamification
• On-demand learning

Typical engagement flow

1. Needs analysis & goals — define learning outcomes and success metrics.
2. Model selection — choose the right approach (e.g., ADDIE/SAM) for your context.
3. Design & build — develop content, assessments, and LMS setup on Open edX.
4. Pilot & iterate — gather feedback, improve, and prepare for scale.
5. Launch & measure — track results, report insights, and plan the next cycle.

If you need instructional design for teachers, academic programs, or corporate training, we’ll match the approach to your goals and constraints — and ship.

Conclusion

Instructional design has recently become increasingly important in the budgets that organizations are willing to allocate for corporate e-learning solutions.

What we should understand is that Instructional Design isn’t just theory. It’s a real method that helps schools, universities, and companies teach with purpose, scale training, and measure results.

“Learning works best when it’s designed, not improvised. If you take only one thing from this article, it’s that instructional design makes education intentional, measurable, and valuable.” — Instructional Designer at Racoon Gang.

Bonus. See the ROI of Instructional Design

• Formula: ROI = (Monetary Benefits − Training Costs) / Training Costs × 100%
• Example: $376 benefit and $100 cost → ~275% ROI.

That’s about $3.75 returned for every $1 spent.