Subject matter experts are often the heart of a course because they bring years of professional experience, disciplinary knowledge, and practical examples that can make learning more meaningful. Ask them about their field, and they can often speak with confidence and enthusiasm for hours. Ask them to design a course, however, and the conversation sometimes changes because knowing a subject deeply is not the same as knowing how to teach it. That gap is exactly where instructional designers can be most helpful.
Many subject matter experts naturally approach course development by asking, “What information do students need to know?” Instructional designers tend to ask a different question: “What should students be able to do after learning this?” That shift may sound small, but it changes how the course is organized, what kinds of activities are used, and how learning is assessed. Helping subject matter experts think like teachers does not mean asking them to become instructional designers. It means helping them organize their knowledge in ways that support learning rather than simply transferring information.
Expertise Does Not Automatically Translate Into Teaching
One of the biggest misconceptions in education is that expertise alone guarantees effective teaching. Subject matter experts understand their disciplines at an advanced level, and many of their decisions have become automatic through years of experience. Because of that, they may unintentionally skip steps that beginners still need to see, hear, and practice. What feels obvious to the expert may be completely unfamiliar to the learner.
This is sometimes described as the expert blind spot, where advanced knowledge makes it harder to remember what it felt like not to know something. Experts may forget which ideas were once confusing, which steps required practice, or which mistakes were common early in their own development. That is not a flaw in the expert. It is a normal result of becoming highly skilled.
Instructional designers help bridge that gap by slowing the process down and making expert thinking visible. We can ask questions that uncover the reasoning behind a task, the decisions that matter, and the points where learners are most likely to struggle. Once that thinking is made visible, it can be turned into instruction that is much easier for learners to follow and apply.
Start With the Learners, Not the Content
Many course development meetings begin with textbooks, lecture slides, or long lists of topics. Those materials may be useful, but they are not the best starting point. A stronger starting point is the learner because the course ultimately exists to help someone learn, not simply to house content. When the learner becomes the focus, instructional decisions become much easier to justify.
Ask questions such as who the learners are, what experience they already have, what misconceptions are common, and what challenges they are likely to encounter. It is also useful to ask what learners should be able to do by the end of the course and what evidence would demonstrate that learning. These questions naturally shift the conversation away from content coverage and toward learner success. They also help identify which information truly belongs in the course.
Once the learner is clearly defined, content becomes easier to prioritize. Information that directly supports the learner’s goals stays. Information that exists only because “I have always covered it” becomes easier to question. That conversation can be uncomfortable at first, but it usually leads to a stronger course.
Focus on Outcomes Before Content
One of the most useful questions an instructional designer can ask a subject matter expert is, “What should learners be able to do when they finish this course?” The emphasis on do matters because it moves the conversation from passive knowledge to observable performance. It also helps determine what kinds of activities and assessments will make sense later. A clear outcome gives the course a destination before anyone starts packing it with content.
For example, “Students should understand instructional alignment” is difficult to measure because “understand” can mean many things. A stronger outcome might be, “Students should be able to align learning objectives, activities, and assessments when designing a course.” That statement immediately suggests practice tasks, case studies, design exercises, and authentic assessments. It tells both the instructor and the learner what successful performance should look like.
Learning outcomes should guide the selection of content rather than being written after the course has already been built. When the outcome is clear, the expert can make better decisions about which examples, readings, activities, and explanations are necessary. The content becomes a means to reach the goal rather than the goal itself. That distinction is one of the most important shifts subject matter experts can make.
Encourage Examples Instead of Explanations
Experts are often very good at explaining concepts, but their examples are frequently even more useful. When working with subject matter experts, ask them to describe when they have seen a concept in practice, how they would recognize it in the real world, and what happens when someone gets it wrong. Those questions often produce richer instructional material than a definition alone. Real examples help learners see what abstract concepts actually look like.
Stories and examples also provide context, which makes learning easier to remember and apply. A learner may forget a formal definition but remember the case where a decision led to an unexpected consequence. That story becomes a mental anchor for the concept. It gives the learner something concrete to connect with later.
This is especially important in adult learning, where relevance matters. Adult learners often want to know why information matters and how it connects to work, life, or future responsibilities. Subject matter experts are usually full of these real-world connections because they have lived them. Instructional designers can help bring those examples forward and turn them into meaningful learning experiences.
Break Complex Processes Into Smaller Steps
Experts often perform complicated tasks automatically because they have practiced them for years. As a result, they may explain a process in a way that skips several important intermediate steps. A beginner, however, may need those steps made explicit before the larger process makes sense. This is one of the most common places where instructional designers can help.
Ask the expert to walk through the process slowly and describe what happens first, what decision comes next, and what clues guide that decision. It can also help to ask where learners usually become confused or what errors indicate that someone misunderstood a step. These questions help uncover hidden reasoning that the expert may no longer consciously notice. Once identified, that reasoning can be built into instruction.
Breaking a process into smaller steps does not mean oversimplifying it. It means making the structure visible enough for a learner to follow. Learners can then practice individual steps before combining them into a more complex performance. If you have ever heard someone say, “It is easy,” immediately before demonstrating twelve complicated steps, you already know why this matters.
Ask About Common Mistakes
One of the fastest ways to improve a course is to ask the subject matter expert, “What mistakes do beginners usually make?” Experts often know the answer immediately because they have seen the same errors repeatedly in classrooms, workplaces, or professional practice. Those mistakes are extremely useful instructional material. They show where learners are likely to need practice, explanation, or feedback.
Common errors can be turned into case studies, knowledge checks, reflection prompts, simulations, or short troubleshooting activities. Instead of waiting for learners to make the same mistakes during a high-stakes assignment, the course can introduce those mistakes intentionally and let learners practice responding to them. This turns predictable problems into learning opportunities. It also helps learners build judgment rather than simply memorizing correct answers.
Discussing mistakes can also make learning feel more realistic. Experts rarely perform perfectly every time, and learners benefit from seeing that professional judgment develops through experience, revision, and feedback. A course that pretends errors never happen can feel disconnected from real practice. A course that helps learners recognize and respond to errors feels much more useful.
Shift From Coverage to Application
Subject matter experts often worry about leaving content out because they know how much information exists within the field. That concern is understandable, but trying to include everything can create a course that overwhelms learners without helping them apply much of anything. More content does not automatically produce more learning. Sometimes it simply produces more scrolling.
A useful question is, “Which information will learners actually use after this course?” That question helps distinguish essential knowledge from interesting but less necessary detail. It also encourages the expert to think about performance rather than coverage. If learners will need to make decisions, solve problems, create products, or complete procedures, the course should give them opportunities to practice those things.
Application is where learning becomes meaningful. Healthcare students benefit from working through patient cases, future teachers benefit from designing lessons, and future managers benefit from working through realistic leadership problems. These activities require learners to do something with what they know. That is often more useful than trying to fit one more chapter into the schedule.
Build a Collaborative Partnership
The strongest instructional design projects are partnerships rather than handoffs. Subject matter experts bring disciplinary knowledge, professional experience, and awareness of what learners need to know in the field. Instructional designers bring knowledge of learning, accessibility, assessment, organization, and course design. Both roles are necessary, and neither replaces the other.
Regular collaboration helps keep the course aligned with both disciplinary expectations and learner needs. Productive conversations might focus on learning outcomes, assessments, accessibility, student engagement, technology choices, and course organization. When these decisions are made together, the course is usually stronger, and the development process is less frustrating. Everyone understands why decisions are being made.
The best partnerships also build trust over time. When subject matter experts see that instructional designers are not trying to take control of their content, they are often more open to reconsidering how that content is taught. Likewise, instructional designers benefit from listening carefully to the expert’s experience rather than assuming design principles answer every question. Good course design is collaborative by nature.
Respect the Expert’s Knowledge
Instructional designers can damage a partnership quickly if feedback sounds dismissive. Telling an expert that a lecture is “too long” or an assessment is “bad” may be technically understandable, but it rarely encourages collaboration. A better approach is to connect feedback to learner needs and course goals. That keeps the conversation focused on improvement rather than criticism.
For example, instead of saying, “This lecture is too long,” consider saying, “Your examples are strong. What if we divided them into shorter sections and added opportunities for learners to apply each concept before moving on?” The second version respects the expert’s contribution while suggesting a design improvement. It also explains why the change might help learners.
Respect matters because subject matter experts have usually spent years developing their knowledge. They are more likely to consider new instructional approaches when they feel that experience is being acknowledged rather than dismissed. Instructional design should help make expertise more teachable, not make experts feel as though their knowledge is being replaced.
Use Plain Language When Discussing Instructional Design
Instructional designers sometimes unintentionally create barriers by using too much professional jargon. Terms such as scaffolding, alignment, cognitive load, metacognition, formative assessment, and backward design may be familiar to us, but they may not be familiar to the subject matter expert. If we expect experts to think more like teachers, we also need to explain instructional concepts in ways that are easy to use. Otherwise, we are doing the instructional design equivalent of handing someone a dictionary and wishing them luck.
Instead of relying on terminology, explain what the concept means in practice. Rather than saying, “We need more scaffolding,” explain that learners may need guided practice before completing the task independently. Instead of saying, “The assessment is not aligned,” explain that the assignment is measuring something different from what the learning objective requires. Plain language makes collaboration faster and more productive.
This approach also models good teaching. If we believe learners benefit from clear explanations, subject matter experts deserve the same consideration when learning about course design. Instructional design conversations should reduce confusion, not introduce new layers of it. Clear communication supports better decisions on both sides of the partnership.
Celebrate Small Wins
Helping subject matter experts think like teachers is usually a gradual process. A faculty member may begin by rewriting one learning outcome, replacing one lecture with a case study, or adding a short reflection activity. These changes may seem small, but they can substantially improve the learner experience. They also build confidence for future course design decisions.
Recognizing these improvements helps reinforce good instructional choices. If an expert creates a strong authentic assessment, point out what makes it work. If they provide a useful example or redesign an activity around learner application, acknowledge the change. Positive feedback is not just for students.
Over time, these small wins change the way subject matter experts approach course development. They begin asking learner-centered questions on their own and anticipating design issues earlier in the process. Eventually, the instructional designer may hear the expert ask, “But what do I actually want students to do with this?” At that point, something has definitely clicked.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Instructional designers should avoid taking control of the course without collaboration, focusing only on cutting content, or treating development meetings like checklists. It is also important not to assume that teaching experience automatically means someone has formal preparation in instructional design. Experienced faculty may be outstanding teachers while still benefiting from support with online learning, assessment design, accessibility, or course organization. The goal is to add to their strengths, not discount them.
Subject matter experts, meanwhile, may need help resisting the urge to include every interesting detail they know. Expertise creates an enormous pool of information, but learners can only process so much at one time. Instructional designers can help prioritize what learners need now, what they can learn later, and what may simply be interesting background information. Curiosity is useful, but cognitive overload is not.
Both sides should also avoid treating disagreement as a problem. Good course development often includes productive disagreement because experts and instructional designers are looking at the course from different angles. Those conversations can lead to better decisions when they remain focused on learners and learning outcomes. Agreement is nice, but thoughtful collaboration is better.
Final Thoughts
Subject matter experts and instructional designers bring different strengths to the course development process, and the strongest courses benefit from both. Experts understand the discipline, the professional context, the common mistakes, and the real-world decisions learners will eventually face. Instructional designers understand how to organize those experiences into learning that is clear, accessible, engaging, and measurable. When those perspectives work together, the course becomes more than a collection of information.
Helping subject matter experts think like teachers is not about changing who they are or asking them to adopt an entirely new professional identity. It is about helping them look at their knowledge through the learner’s eyes and make intentional decisions about what learners need, how they will practice, and how they will demonstrate learning. That shift can change everything from the course objectives to the assessments.
The goal is not simply helping experts teach what they know. It is helping learners understand, practice, and apply what matters. When instructional designers and subject matter experts work as true partners, that goal becomes much easier to reach.
References
Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How learning works: Seven research-based principles for smart teaching. Jossey-Bass.
Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., III, & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Harvard University Press.
Kirschner, P. A., & Hendrick, C. (2020). How learning happens: Seminal works in educational psychology and what they mean in practice. Routledge.
Merriam, S. B., & Bierema, L. L. (2014). Adult learning: Linking theory and practice. Jossey-Bass.
Nilson, L. B., & Goodson, L. A. (2021). Online teaching at its best: Merging instructional design with teaching and learning research (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.