Languages that are beneficial to know for Instructional Design?

Nov 27, 2020

Hi,

I'm  curious which languages would be most beneficial to learn for Instructional Design?  Whether I'm applying it to Articulate or another platform?

I'm guessing CSS or HTML, but I been out of the loop for awhile.

Also, where is a good place to learn it online?

Thanks.

5 Replies
Zsolt Olah

Hi John,

Basic CSS and HTML5 skills are always good for webdesign. Understanding how to manipulate colors, hiding/showing elements, or just formatting the output can help. These two determine how the site looks. 

JavaScript is useful if you want to add additional functionality and change how the site behaves. Just learning about math functions, string functions, and basic loops, conditions, arrays, etc. can either speed up the learning development or add missing functionality.

Beyond these you may also look into xAPI. xAPI allows you to capture richer interaction data than SCORM.  

Walt Hamilton

I certainly agree with Matthew (and, as far as that goes, with Math and Zsolt.)  There is no language that can make you a better Instructional Designer. There are some things you can learn that will make authoring easier, whether you are trying to bring good or poor designs to life.

If you are going to follow Matthew's advice (as you should), I would recommend W3schools. A lot of "real" programmers ridicule the site, but it has a lot to offer to those who are learning. It has clear examples and explanations of how things work, and best of all, an editor that allows you to experiment.

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