The Applied Instructional Design Academy (AIDA) teaches the practical skills you'll use as an instructional designer, in a scaffolded, accelerated, step-by-step path, with feedback on every piece, that helps replace experience.
It's self-paced, designed to take 6 months at about 15 hours a week, and you have up to 12 months to finish. The curriculum follows the Applied ID Portfolio Method and uses the LEAD AI Framework for working with AI.
AIDA works like an incubator. You learn, then you do. Then you learn the next piece and do that, each rung sized so you stretch without drowning. It's how you get to expert level in a short period of time without being overwhelmed.
Marion CallahanInstructional Systems Design Manager, CPaT GlobalHas hired five AIDA grads
Michelle PuryearElementary Library Media Specialist → Instructional Designer, Flourish ResearchTap a rung to see what you learn, what you build and what you earn. The ladder climbs from the bottom up.
Every piece is built for your portfolio from day one, and every piece is reviewed. These are the pieces a hiring manager clicks through before deciding whether to call you.
Four portfolios AIDA grads built with these pieces. Click through any of them.
“Coming from someone who had a certificate and then also did your program, the tools, right? The actual tools of the trade. [...] You're getting into Storyline and Rise and there's sort of other additional tools, Camtasia and Vyond.”
Gina Hauth-MillerCorporate Trainer → Instructional Designer and Developer, TrainingProsYou always know what's next, and nothing moves forward until it's ready.
The rubric sits right next to the submit box, so you know the standard before you start. If your work needs another round, you get specific feedback, you revise, and you turn it back in. You keep going until it meets the rubric, because your portfolio carries our name too.
Sabrina MackeyFirst Grade Teacher → Instructional Designer, Tropical Smoothie CafeFinish AIDA and you earn the Applied Instructional Design Certification (AIDC), which you can add to LinkedIn and your resume, plus the AI for Instructional Design badge. Every badge behind it was earned on real, reviewed work, and employers who click the link see what you did to earn it.
AIDA is pre-approved by the Association for Talent Development (ATD), the field's leading professional organization, and counts for 60 credits toward its APTD and CPTD certifications.
The ladder shows the phases. The curriculum and syllabus goes through every module lesson by lesson: what each section covers, how long it takes, and the work that gets reviewed before you move on.
Here it is. I also emailed you the link.
Download the curriculum (PDF)Email info@learningstrategyanddesign.com and our team replies within one business day. Refund within 4 days of purchase, minus a $300 processing fee, and you can pause your enrollment for up to 3 months. Read the terms.
Jill Davidian is the founder of Learning Strategy & Design and creator of the Applied ID Portfolio Method. 20+ years in instructional design, including time as a hiring manager. 1,200+ AIDA graduates. More about Jill
Last updated: November 2026
Enrollment closes Tuesday, November 17 at 11:59pm CT, and we start Wednesday, November 18. See the price, the pause and the refund window on the AIDA overview.
