Should you Switch from Teacher to Instructional Designer in 2025?

It takes more than a new headline on your resume to transition from teacher to instructional designer. If you’re a teacher, you may be exploring ways to leverage the ongoing demand for learning professionals in other fields. It may be tempting to simply rebrand yourself as an instructional designer, but the transition requires more than a title change—it demands additional credentials, skills, and a clear understanding of the role.

Before you make the leap, it’s essential to recognize the key differences between these professions and determine what additional skills or certifications you might need. The Teamed Career Board is an excellent resource to help you explore your options, whether that means earning a degree, completing an upskilling program, or connecting with a mentor. It provides a streamlined way to find and analyze pathways into instructional design, ensuring you make informed career decisions.

Teacher vs Instructional Designer

Instructional design isn’t just a new name for teaching. While teachers design lessons and deliver instruction, instructional designers focus on developing effective learning experiences at a broader scale. Here’s a breakdown of their respective responsibilities:

What a Teacher does:

• Provides direct instruction
• Manages a learning space (in-person or virtual)
• Builds personal-professional relationships with students
• Prepares lesson plans
• Grades assignments and tests
• Evaluates and documents student progress
• Delivers personalized instruction
• Follows a curriculum set by the district or school

What an Instructional Designer does:

• Conducts market, audience, and topical research
• Collaborates with a team of subject matter experts, content and media production professionals, and stakeholders
• Defines learning outcomes, the learning strategy, and a detailed plan
• Researches and recommends technology and learning resources
• Develops the learning or training curriculum
• Builds learning experiences using technology
• Evaluates the results and iterates

There’s some overlap, but the roles differ significantly.

Do You Want To Be A Teacher Or An Instructional Designer?

We’ll show you how to position yourself as an instructional designer in just a moment. The question is: Do you want to be an instructional designer? The day-to-day work in this role is very different from that of a teacher.

As an instructional designer, you may not have direct contact with the people who use the courses you develop. If you take satisfaction from helping students learn and watching them make progress, you may find that instructional design doesn’t offer the same sense of accomplishment. You’re still supporting learners, but you may not see the personal evidence of your efforts.

As a teacher, you get to know your students and may customize lessons to meet individual student needs. By contrast, instructional designers are creating learning opportunities that support students in a particular audience or demographic. They may not know learners personally. While they can provide opportunities for customization, it’s up to the instructor or the student to take advantage of those tools.

You’re likely to contribute as a member of a digital learning team. This might include learning technologists, project managers, quality assurance specialists, learning designers, data analysts, and content developers. You’ll often work under tight deadlines and need to manage competing priorities and stakeholder inputs. You may work in an office or remotely, either way, you’ll spend a lot of your time in front of a computer screen thinking, writing, and manipulating technology.

How To Position Yourself As An Instructional Designer

Employers are inundated by teachers who have rebranded as instructional designers without the skills and credentials. Show them you’ve done your homework by taking the time to position yourself as an instructional designer. Follow these three steps:

Step 1: Pick a focus

Instructional design is a complex field. The best instructional designers know their strengths and pick a specialty that fits. You might specialize by:

• Industry: corporate, government, non-profit, higher ed, K-12
• Function: strategy, content creation, technology, eLearning development, project management, data analysis, graphic and UI/UX design
• Or both! For example, you can specialize in content creation for corporate or technology for higher ed

Find your focus by considering your background and skills. For example, if you started your career as a fourth-grade teacher, specializing in K-12 might make sense. If you minored in creative writing in college, maybe you want to focus on content creation.

Step 2: Get the credentials

While a master’s degree in instructional design or educational technology can be valuable, if you already have a master’s, you likely don’t need another one. Instead, focus on upskilling through certificates and portfolio projects. Employers value hands-on experience and proficiency in instructional design tools over additional degrees.

The Teamed Career Board can help you identify the best upskilling opportunities, including microcredentials, upskilling programs, and mentorships, to gain the skills you need without committing to a full degree program.

Step 3: Build and Showcase Your Skills

Your resume, portfolio, and LinkedIn profile should reflect your instructional design expertise. Here’s how:

On Your Resume:

• Shift focus from classroom teaching to instructional design experience.
• Highlight curriculum development, eLearning tools, and learning strategy experience.
• Replace classroom management and lesson planning with instructional design terminology.
• Take a look at our Ultimate Resume Guide for templates and expert tips

In Your Portfolio:

• Include work samples like course design documents, interactive learning modules, and eLearning projects.
• Showcase proficiency in Articulate 360, Storyline, Captivate, or other relevant tools.
• Demonstrate understanding of learning frameworks and instructional strategies.

In Your Skills List:

• Employee or learner needs assessment
• Learning framework development
• Instructional strategy design
• eLearning development (Articulate Storyline, Captivate, etc.)
• Graphic design for learning
• Learning management system (LMS) administration
• Curriculum or training development
• Assessment design

Make the Switch with Confidence

By now, you should have a clear understanding that instructional design is more than a new title—it’s a specialized career path that requires preparation and skill-building. The good news? With the right plan, you can successfully transition from teaching to instructional design.

Use the Teamed Career Board to explore your options, from certificate programs to mentorships, and gain the credentials needed to stand out in the field. When you’re ready, visit Teamed’s Job Board to find instructional design roles that match your skills and career goals. Your next opportunity is waiting!