Course Design Job Aid

Project Description

I created a job aid to guide instructional designers through initial client consultations when starting a new course development project.The tool consists of structured question sets organized into six key categories: Goals and Learning Objectives, Project Timeline, Deliverables and Scope, Design Elements, Course Organization and Structure, and Institutional or Departmental Constraints. Each question includes a stated purpose to help the ID understand why that information is critical for project planning.

The job aid was designed to solve a common challenge in our workflow. Course design involves many moving pieces that clients need to determine upfront for us to create something they will be satisfied with. Early in my career as an instructional designer, I found that our team did not have a standardized question list, which sometimes led to consultations where we realized afterward that we had missed important questions. This tool ensures more comprehensive information gathering during Step 2 of our process (Consultation), which leads to better project proposals and fewer misunderstandings later in development.

This was originally built as a course assignment, but it addresses a real need I have experienced on my team. I plan to refine it and potentially introduce it as a reference tool for standardizing our consultation process.

Goals

Conduct a structured client consultation using a categorized question framework.
Identify critical project parameters including goals, scope, timeline, and constraints during the initial consultation phase.
Enter client meetings prepared with purposeful questions that support confident and professional facilitation.

Job Aid Structure

The job aid is organized into six consultation areas, each addressing a different aspect of course planning:

Goals and Learning Objectives

Question	Purpose	Notes
Who is the target audience for this course?	To ensure that the content is relevant and tailored to the learner.	No notes
What are the main goals of this course?	To identify what the course aims to achieve and how it will benefit the learners.	No notes
What should participants know or be able to do after completing this course?	To define specific, measurable learning outcomes.	No notes
Are there any specific competencies or skills you want learners to develop?	To ensure the course targets the right skills for the learner needs.	No notes
Will this course lead to any certification or credentialing?	To understand if there are any certification requirements tied to the course.	No notes
Who will be the Subject Matter Expert (SME)?	To identify the expert responsible for providing the course's content and ensuring accuracy	No notes

Project Timeline

Question	Purpose	Notes
What is your desired launch date for the course?	To determine the final project deadline.	No notes
Are there any specific milestones or deadlines we need to meet along the way?	To establish intermediate milestones for progress tracking.	No notes
How long should the course be (e.g., total hours or weeks)?	To identify any critical deadlines that must be met.	No notes
Are there any hard deadlines or external dates that we need to consider?	To ensure the course duration meets institutional or regulatory requirements.	No notes

Deliverables and Scope

Question	Purpose	Notes
What deliverables do you expect from this course development project? (e.g., modules, quizzes, multimedia content)	To set expectations for what will be provided as the final product.	No notes
Do you have any existing materials (e.g., presentations, documents, videos) that can be incorporated?	To determine what pre-existing content can be used.	No notes
Are there any examples of courses or projects you like?	To understand design and content preferences.	No notes
Are there any specific case studies or real-world examples to include?	To align the course content with practical, applicable learning scenarios.	No notes
Are there any aspects of the course you want to exclude or avoid?	To define out-of-scope activities and avoid misunderstandings later.	No notes

Design Elements

Question	Purpose	Notes
Do you have any branding materials (e.g., logos, colors, fonts)?	To ensure the course matches the institution's or department's branding guidelines.	No notes
What kind of visual or multimedia elements do you envision for the course (e.g., videos, infographics, animations)?	To clarify the multimedia content needed for engaging learning.	No notes
Is there a preferred structure for the course (e.g., modules, lessons, units)?	To establish the organizational framework of the course.	No notes
Are there any interactive elements you'd like to include (e.g., discussions, group projects, peer assessments)?	To incorporate engagement strategies that foster active learning.	No notes
What tools or platforms would you like to use for the course (e.g., LMS, external tools)?	To align on the technology and platforms that will support course delivery.	No notes

Course Organization and Structure

Question	Purpose	Notes
How should the course content be organized? (e.g., weekly modules, topic-based units, etc.)	To determine the content flow and sequencing.	No notes
What kind of learner activities do you want to include (e.g., assignments, quizzes, group activities)?	To ensure varied learning activities for engagement and assessment.	No notes
Are there any prerequisites or prior knowledge required for this course?	To ensures that learners have the necessary background to succeed in the course.	No notes

Institutional or Departmental Constraints

Question	Purpose	Notes
Are there any budget limitations for this project?	To understand any financial constraints for development or tools.	No notes
Are there any institutional policies (e.g., accessibility, privacy, data security) we need to consider?	To ensure compliance with relevant policies and regulations.	No notes
Do you have any preferences or restrictions on the platforms or technology used?	To confirm platform choices and avoid compatibility issues.	No notes

Design Process

The design process started with experience rather than a blank slate. Drawing on firsthand observations from consultations, I identified the types of information that are most critical to gather upfront and organized them into six logical categories. Each question in the job aid includes a purpose statement explaining why that information matters, which helps the instructional designer understand the reasoning behind the question rather than treating the tool as a simple checklist.

Challenges & Decisions

The core challenge was determining the right scope for the tool. Client consultations cover a lot of ground, and the risk was either asking too few questions and missing critical information or overwhelming the conversation with too many. The goal was a tool that felt comprehensive but still practical to use in a real meeting.

The decision was to organize questions into six logical categories and pair each one with a purpose statement. This structure keeps the tool scannable and usable without losing the reasoning behind each question. It also makes the tool useful for newer instructional designers who may not yet know why certain questions matter, not just what to ask.

Reflection & Takeaways

The next step for this tool would be testing it in real consultations and gathering feedback from colleagues to see how the questions flow in an actual conversation. The goal would be to refine the language and sequencing so the tool feels natural to use rather than scripted, and to confirm that all critical information is being captured before moving into proposal development.

Building this tool reinforced how much upfront planning shapes the rest of a project. Gaps in the consultation phase do not stay in the consultation phase, they always show up later when changes are harder and more expensive to make. It also highlighted the value of making the reasoning behind a process explicit. Including purpose statements alongside each question turned a simple checklist into something that could support newer instructional designers in understanding not just what to ask, but why it matters.