Slides are the artifact everyone recognizes, and that’s exactly why the myth survives: if a stakeholder can only see the deck, they assume the work is decoration. Jackie closes out the Myths in Instructional Design and Education series by pushing back on “instructional design is just making slides” and naming what professional instructional designers actually do long before anyone picks a template.

We walk through the hidden core of learning experience design: needs analysis, clarifying learning objectives, organizing content around performance, planning practice, building assessments, creating feedback loops, and checking accessibility. Jackie also unpacks why this misunderstanding shows up so often, especially when we’re invited in late and asked to “make it look nice,” or when information delivery gets mistaken for learning. A polished slide deck can still fail if it doesn’t help learners apply, transfer, and grow.

Then, Jackie offers a simple myth reset challenge you can use immediately. Pick one deck, module, lesson, or training you’ve created or supported and ask: what is the learning goal, what should learners be able to do, and where do they get practice and feedback? From scenarios to job aids to performance support, we explore how to let the goal guide the format, so form follows function and the learning actually works.

If this gives you a new lens on instructional design, subscribe to the podcast, share the episode with a colleague, and leave a review so more educators and learning leaders can find it.

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Myth Reset Case File: Beyond the Slides

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