What this life looks like
You build learning experiences that work without a teacher in the room. Instructional Designers and E-Learning Designers create online courses, digital learning modules, video lessons, interactive assessments, and blended learning programmes that enable people to learn effectively through technology. As African corporations, universities, and schools shift to digital and hybrid learning, demand for skilled instructional designers has grown significantly.
What she actually does
You analyse learners' needs and prior knowledge, define clear learning objectives, design the structure and flow of a course or module, write scripts and storyboards for video lessons, develop interactive activities and assessments, work with subject matter experts to ensure content accuracy, build course content in LMS platforms (Moodle, Articulate, Storyline), test and revise designs based on learner feedback, and measure the effectiveness of your programmes.
Where you can work
| Sector | Places in Africa |
|---|---|
| Corporate L&D | Banks, telecoms, FMCG companies — large organisations with significant online training requirements across Africa |
| EdTech Companies | African EdTech startups producing digital curriculum and learning products for schools and universities |
| Universities | Open distance learning universities: UNISA (SA), National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), African Virtual University |
| NGO & Development | NGO e-learning for health workers, teachers, and community development workers across Africa |
Why it matters in Africa
African universities, corporations, and governments are all investing in e-learning — particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic that forced rapid digital pivots. African e-learning platforms — Udemy Africa, Coursera Africa, EdX Africa — are growing. Corporate e-learning in African banking, telecoms, and FMCG companies creates significant demand for instructional designers. The ability to design learning that works for learners with limited bandwidth and varying digital literacy is a uniquely African design challenge.
Your pathway in
- Study Education Technology, Instructional Design, Multimedia Design, or Communications
- Master the core instructional design frameworks: ADDIE, SAM, and Dick and Carey are the most widely used
- Learn e-learning authoring tools: Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, and iSpring are the industry standards
- Build a portfolio of designed learning modules — you will be judged on the quality of what you have created
- Connect with the Learning and Performance Institute (LPI) or International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) for professional development
Skills you will need
- ADDIE and instructional design frameworks
- Articulate Storyline / Adobe Captivate
- Learning objectives writing
- Video scripting and storyboarding
- Learning Management Systems
- Assessment design
A woman in this field
Julie Kimere
Kenya
Julie is a learning designer at the African Management Institute in Nairobi, where she has worked for eight years. She did not start as a designer. She joined as a programme associate on a Mastercard Foundation youth employment programme, recruiting graduates from underserved communities across Kenya and helping them prepare for interviews and their first jobs. From there she moved into content, then into design. She has led the translation of AMI programmes into Swahili, Arabic, Amharic, French and Kinyarwanda so that learners can study in their own language, and coordinates the video editors, graphic designers and translators who build the courses. Her path is the point: she began by helping other young people find work, and learned the craft on the way.
Take your first step
- Create a free Articulate Rise account (360.articulate.com) and build a short 5-minute online module on a topic you know well — experiencing the creation process is more valuable than any textbook
- Study the ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) — it is the foundational framework for all instructional design work
- Research the African Virtual University at avu.int — it is the largest open distance e-learning institution in Africa and their course designs show you what African e-learning looks like in practice
- Complete the free Google Applied Digital Skills course — it teaches practical digital skills while demonstrating excellent instructional design principles