The New L&D Skillset: Why 'Prompting' is Replacing 'Drafting' in Instructional Design Jobs

Instructional design has always evolved alongside technology. From classroom binders to eLearning authoring tools, each shift changed how learning content was produced. Today, another shift is underway—and it’s happening faster than any before it. AI tools are no longer just accelerators. They are becoming collaborators. As a result, the core skill for instructional designers is moving away from traditional drafting and toward something new: prompting. This doesn’t mean writing skills are obsolete. It means the value of the role is changing. Instructional designers are being hired less for how well they can write content from scratch and more for how well they can direct, shape, and refine AI-generated learning experiences.

The Traditional Role of Drafting in Instructional Design

For years, drafting sat at the center of instructional design work. Instructional designers were expected to:

• Translate raw subject-matter content into structured learning materials
• Write lesson scripts, facilitator guides, and learner-facing copy
• Manually design assessments, scenarios, and activities
• Iterate through multiple review cycles with SMEs and stakeholders

Drafting required deep familiarity with learning theory, strong writing skills, and patience. Turning messy inputs into polished outputs was the job. Even as authoring tools improved, the core process stayed the same: humans created the content line by line. That expectation is now being disrupted.

AI’s Entry Into the L&D Workflow

AI didn’t enter L&D as a replacement for instructional designers. It entered as a productivity tool. Early adoption focused on speed:

• Generating first drafts of learning content
• Summarising SME interviews or long documents
• Creating quiz questions or learning objectives
• Rewriting content for different levels or audiences

Corporate L&D teams quickly realised that AI could do in minutes what used to take hours. Drafting was no longer the bottleneck. Decision-making, quality control, and alignment with business outcomes became the real constraints. That shift exposed a new gap in skills.

From Writing Content to Directing Intelligence

When AI can draft reasonably well, the differentiator is no longer who writes, but who directs. Prompting is the skill of telling AI:

• What role to assume
• What constraints to follow
• What quality standards to meet
• What learning outcomes matter most

A weak prompt produces generic, surface-level content. A strong prompt produces instructionally sound, context-aware material that still requires human judgement—but far less manual drafting. In practice, instructional designers are becoming:

• Editors rather than authors
• Learning architects rather than content writers
• Directors rather than producers

This is why prompting is replacing drafting—not as a technical trick, but as a core professional capability.

Why Prompting Is Becoming a Hiring Signal

If you scan current instructional design job descriptions, a pattern is emerging. Employers are asking for:

• Experience using AI tools for content creation
• Ability to evaluate and refine AI-generated learning materials
• Strong judgement around learning effectiveness and learner experience
• Faster turnaround without sacrificing quality

What they are not asking for is someone who can spend weeks drafting from a blank page. Prompting signals three things employers value:

1. Efficiency

Prompting allows designers to move quickly without lowering standards.

1. Judgement

Knowing how to guide AI requires understanding learning theory, audience needs, and organisational context.

1. Adaptability

Prompting shows comfort working with evolving tools rather than fixed processes. In a crowded job market, those signals matter.

Prompting Is Not “Just Asking Questions”

A common misconception is that prompting is simply typing better instructions into ChatGPT. In L&D, effective prompting is structured and intentional. It often includes:

• Clear definition of the learner persona
• Explicit learning objectives tied to business outcomes
• Constraints around tone, modality, and cognitive load
• Instructions aligned with learning science principles

For example, prompting an AI to “create a training module” yields weak results. Prompting it to “design a scenario-based microlearning module for frontline managers, applying retrieval practice and spaced reinforcement” yields something far more useful. The difference is instructional expertise—not technical fluency.

The Science of Learning Still Matters

AI can generate content, but it does not inherently understand how people learn. Instructional designers still provide the intellectual framework:

• Cognitive load management
• Retrieval practice and spacing
• Transfer to real-world performance
• Assessment validity and feedback design

Prompting becomes the way those principles are operationalised. Instead of manually drafting every activity, designers encode learning science into prompts, review outputs critically, and adjust until the design meets standards. This is not a reduction in rigor. It’s a redistribution of effort.

What Happens to Drafting Skills?

Drafting isn’t disappearing. It’s being repositioned. Instructional designers still need to:

• Rewrite AI outputs for nuance, clarity, or sensitivity
• Craft high-stakes content where precision matters
• Edit for organisational voice and compliance
• Create bespoke elements AI cannot infer

However, drafting is no longer the primary value driver. It’s a supporting skill. Think of it like graphic design after templates became common. Designers didn’t vanish—but their value shifted from production to judgement, creativity, and problem-solving. The same is happening in L&D.

Prompting as a Strategic Skill, Not a Technical One

The most effective prompts are not long or complex. They are strategic. They reflect:

• Understanding of organisational goals
• Clarity about learner constraints
• Alignment with performance outcomes
• Awareness of what not to generate

This is why prompting is emerging as a leadership skill within L&D teams. Senior designers and learning leaders are often better at prompting than juniors—not because they know the tool better, but because they know the context better. Prompting rewards experience.

The Impact on Instructional Design Careers

This shift has implications for anyone entering or navigating the field.

For early-career instructional designers

The traditional path—proving value through volume of content produced—is narrowing. What matters more is:

• Ability to critique and improve AI outputs
• Understanding why a learning design works or fails
• Comfort collaborating with both humans and machines

For experienced instructional designers

Prompting offers leverage. It allows senior professionals to:

• Scale their impact
• Focus on strategy rather than production
• Lead design decisions across multiple projects

This aligns with data showing that AI adoption in instructional design has had a net positive impact on both responsibilities and salaries.

Why Some IDs Feel Displaced by This Shift

Not everyone welcomes this change. Instructional designers who built their identity around writing may feel that prompting devalues their craft. Others worry that AI lowers the perceived expertise of the role. In reality, the opposite is happening. When drafting is automated, thinking becomes visible. Weak designers are exposed because they can no longer hide behind polished prose. Strong designers stand out because they can consistently produce effective learning—regardless of the tool.

How to Build Prompting Skill as an L&D Professional

Prompting is learned through practice, not theory. Effective ways to build this skill include:

• Reverse-engineering strong AI outputs to understand what worked
• Comparing different prompts against the same learning goal
• Embedding learning principles explicitly into prompts
• Treating AI outputs as drafts, not deliverables

Most importantly, designers should document what works. Prompting becomes a reusable design asset over time.

The Future of Instructional Design Is Direction, Not Drafting

The instructional designer of the future is not a faster writer. They are a better director. They know:

• What learning outcome matters
• What constraints apply
• What quality looks like
• When AI helps—and when it doesn’t

Prompting is simply the interface through which that expertise is expressed.

Conclusion

Prompting is replacing drafting not because writing no longer matters, but because value in L&D has shifted from production to judgement. AI can draft content. It cannot decide what should exist, why it matters, or how it supports performance. That responsibility still belongs to instructional designers. Those who embrace prompting as a core skill will find themselves more relevant, more influential, and better positioned for the next phase of L&D work.