Experienced instructional designers review every piece you build in the Applied Instructional Design Academy (AIDA), live calls and Ada are there between reviews, and you work alongside other members. When you finish, you keep the AIDA network.
Teaching yourself ID, you don't know what you don't know, and there's no one to show you how to make the work better. In AIDA you get feedback on every piece, live calls every week, other members doing it right alongside you and someone keeping you accountable.
When you finish, you join a network of 1,200+ AIDA grads who know exactly what it took to earn your certification, because they did it too. They're the ones posting openings, referring each other and vouching for each other.
Your first draft is never your best work. It's true of every paper you've ever graded or written for school: you get better with feedback and another round, because you only know what you don't know. Here's how a Portfolio-Grade Review works, on every piece you build.
Lori Jennings-WilsonTeacher (22 Years) → Instructional Designer, ProAgEvery AIDA mentor went through AIDA, so they've been where you are. They moved into ID from another career, they've worked as instructional designers for several years now, and most of them mentor junior IDs today. They review your samples to the same standard their own work is held to every day.
Katie taught K-12 music for 16 years. Today she's a Senior Learning Specialist at Zebra Technologies, building Storyline modules daily.
Jennifer taught high school biology for 11 years. She was promoted to Senior Instructional Designer within a year of being hired, and quality review is part of her day job.
Elaine taught English for 16 years, middle school through college. Now she's a fully remote ID at Purpose Financial, trusted with the projects that get executive attention.
Join any call. You don't need to sign up, and you don't need a question. Every call is recorded, and the recordings are in AIDA HQ.
Bring your questions, your half-finished sample, or just listen while someone else asks yours. Raise your hand and a mentor calls on you.
All through the programA live session where we build with AI together. Bring all your AI questions.
All through the programYour portfolio, resume and LinkedIn questions, answered live.
Job ReadinessPractice your answers out loud and get coached on them.
The searchGet ready for interviews and offers with Taran, our Career Services Specialist.
The searchPractice networking with people who know exactly where you are.
Job Readiness and the search
Lavonda DaltonEducator → Learning Solutions Developer, Unum Colonial Life
Monique WilliamsSenior Software Engineer → Learning Experience Designer, SweetRushNetworking is how you skip to the front of the line, because a referral gets your resume read. So in AIDA it's intentional. We teach you how to network inside AIDA and outside it, and we tell you exactly what to do at your own comfort level. You keep everything here after you finish. The only thing that ends is the active program.
Carol BeachRetail and Fashion Manager (25 Years) → Lead Instructional Designer, Experian
Jenica ScaifeKindergarten Teacher → Instructional Designer, PerceptaQuestions, wins and feedback between calls, with members working through the program and grads already working in ID.
When you finish, you join the grads' own group, where openings get posted and grads refer each other.
Find people a step ahead of you, including grads already working in ID, and reach out. When you're running your search in ID Job Search HQ (our system that helps you find a job), your application tracker matches you with AIDA grads in the jobs and at the companies you're applying to.
Live sessions that connect people in AIDA with each other, where you practice networking with people who know exactly where you are.
Want the full numbers? See where grads work and how they found their jobs in the Outcomes Report.
About 15 hours a week on top of a job and a family is a real ask, and no two weeks look the same.
AIDA HQ is where you do AIDA: your lessons, submissions, rubrics, mentor feedback, pace plan and the call recordings all live in one place.
A quick estimate based on AIDA's design: 6 months at 15 hours a week, up to 12 months to finish. Your Pace in AIDA HQ does this with your real week, block by block.
Career change stirs up real stuff: imposter feelings, overwhelm, perfectionism, guilt about the time this takes. There's support for all of it.
Short guided modules you work through at your own pace, from growth mindset to protecting your study time. Each one ends with something you make and keep, plus a library of recorded mindset sessions.
The AIDA Facebook group for questions, wins and feedback between calls, and the Member Directory to find people a step ahead of you.
Ada can match you with another AIDA member to swap check-ins with. You keep each other moving and celebrate each other's wins.
I've spent 20+ years in ID. AIDA is everything I know about what hiring managers want, put in an order you can follow. I set the review standards, and I'd love to see you inside.
We hear it a lot, usually with a number attached: money spent on a course where nobody answered emails and nobody ever looked at the work. "They ghosted me. I can't get a hold of anybody. Nobody will email me back." That's a career changer on a call with me, about a course she'd already paid for.
Maybe yours was a certificate or a master's that taught you the theory and never had you build anything an employer could click through.
In AIDA, real people review every submission, you can talk to them live every week, and you don't move on until your work is ready. Your portfolio carries our name too, so we keep going until it's right.
Laura HallTeacher → Instructional Designer, NearmapAfter a year and a half of applying on her ownEmail 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
The November cohort's enrollment closes Tuesday, November 17 at 11:59pm CT, and we start Wednesday, November 18. See the price and what's included on the AIDA overview.