Books for Aspiring Instructional Designers
If you are a new or aspiring instructional designer (or even if you're not), these books will help you learn more about the practice. From working with SMEs to learning theories, design frameworks, and evaluation tools, these books provide insights you'll need to succeed as an ID.
Think I’m missing any or want to share your takeaways from these books? Let me know in the comments below. Don’t hesitate to add links to posts you’ve made about these or other books related to Learning and Development; I’d love to read your thoughts.
Happy reading!
If you select the “View All” link, you’ll go to a page that shows this list as well as why I recommend each one. You’ll also be able to see more information about the books themselves instead of just the covers (some of which aren’t showing for one reason or another).
Disclosure: The links to the books included above are affiliate links. If you purchase the book from Bookshop.org, I will receive a small portion of your purchase price (at no additional cost to you).
Two other books that I’d recommend checking out are only available on Amazon. Those are Dr. Luke Hobson’s “What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming an Instructional Designer” and Dr. Robin Sargent’s “Do It Messy”.
What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming an Instructional Designer
I love this book because Dr. Hobson provides reflection questions in nearly every chapter and answers a lot of the questions I had during my career transition as well as some that I didn’t know I had until after I started my career in instructional design. If you’re interested in starting a conversation about this book, you can follow the #WIWIK hashtag on my blog to see my reflections from each chapter. Let me know what you think and feel free to put a link to any reflections you publish.
The Do It Messy Approach
Sometimes the best advice can come from a Disney song. One line from Encanto that continues to resonate with me is “It doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be.” Robin Sargent’s book discusses how to “Do it messy” and create an engaging learning experience.
