Education

Instructional designer

Changing

AI quickly puts together a draft curriculum, assignments and materials. The instructional designer makes sure the course actually teaches and doesn't just look well packaged.

  • 6 lessons
  • 5 tools
  • 4 resources
  • Checked: October 2026

Where this job sits on the map

In the same group: 78 of 100 professions.

What changes

  1. A draft curriculum and assignments come together in hours, and the work shifts to checking them and testing with learners

  2. Assignments have to be rebuilt: AI will answer simple questions, so you need projects, case reviews and practice

  3. Courses now get an AI helper built on the course materials, and the designer decides where it helps learning and where it gets in the way

AI drafts, the person decides

How the work splits here: AI prepares a draft, the person checks it and makes the call.

AI makes the draft

What AI does

  • A course structure built on learning outcomes
  • Assignments and rubrics for each module
  • Ideas for hands-on assignments and projects on a topic
  • Adapting material for a different age or level
  • A breakdown of learner feedback: where people get confused and where they drop out
You check itRead it, check the facts, fix it. Without this check the draft goes nowhere.
You decide and stay responsible

What stays with the person

  • The learning goal and the criteria for success
  • Checking facts and teaching method
  • Understanding the audience: interviews, observation, pilot groups
  • Accountability to the client for the quality of the course

What to learn first

6 lessons from the course, in order. Start with the first one.

  1. Your first 30 minutes with AI: where to startStarting from zeroYour first 30 minutes with AI: sign up, ask three questions, try seven everyday tasks, learn what never to share and which plan to pick.Start here
  2. How to write a good promptUserHow to give AI a task: the five parts of a good prompt, Plan Mode, and how to refine an answer instead of starting over.
  3. AI ethics and safety: hallucinations, attacks, biasUserHallucinations, prompt injection, bias, privacy and copyright: how not to trust AI blindly.
  4. Curricula: 8 learning tracks for different readersBuilderHow to build learning around a shared knowledge base: eight tracks for different readers instead of a single course.
  5. AI presentations with Gamma, Beautiful.ai and ClaudeUserPresentations with AI: Gamma, Beautiful.ai, python-pptx and how to structure a pitch deck in Claude.
  6. AI video generation: Runway, Kling, Luma and moreConfident userAI video: Runway, Kling, Luma, a pipeline from a Claude script to a finished clip, and license questions.

Which tools to use

  • An AI assistant for long documents, analysis and code, with Claude Code and Cowork on paid plans.

    Freemium
  • Formerly NotebookLM: upload documents, links and videos and get cited answers based on them.

    Freemium
  • Presentations, documents and sites from text; Gamma Agent edits a whole deck on request.

    Freemium
  • Turns text into diagrams, charts and infographics; exports to PNG, PDF, PPT and SVG.

    Freemium
  • A workspace and knowledge base with an AI agent that writes, summarizes and takes meeting notes.

    Freemium

Ready-to-use materials

How to earn with AI

We don't promise income: results depend on your niche, your market and your work.

  • Job

    Build module drafts with AI and spend the time on teaching method, assignments and testing the course with real learners.

  • Service

    Course design for an expert or an online course business: curriculum, assignments, rubrics, a pilot group test.

  • Product

    A course outline template and a set of prompts for experts who want to build their first course themselves.

Similar professions

Checked: October 2026