More and more courses are being adapted from offline formats into online learning, while entirely new e-learning courses are being created to expand business capabilities.
Developing a course is actually a long journey—especially if we’re talking about a thoughtful, well-structured training program. A high-quality course cannot rely on a single person, “a jack of all trades”, handling everything. The good production is backed by team members who can respond to business needs, align learning objectives with organizational goals, and deeply research the topic. The result is a course that learners complete not just for the sake of finishing it, but because it’s meaningful, motivating, and impactful.
To give you a clear picture of what you’re investing in—and what a typical budget for a high-quality course covers—we’ve outlined 10 key roles in e-learning development, what each person does, and, from a business perspective, the value and advantages each stage brings to the table. 🤓
Summary
- Why understanding roles in e‑learning development matters
- Roles in e‑learning development
- How Blue Carrot can help your business
- Conclusion
Why understanding roles in e‑learning development matters
Can a course succeed without every e-learning course production roles we’ll describe below? The answer is: yes and no. In practice, if you’re aiming for a high-quality course, every person needs to be in their proper role—even if that sounds obvious. Otherwise, having one person try to do the work of three creates problems at the highest level. Arguably, one can be an expert in multiple areas and meet deadlines for all of them.
Understanding who does what is crucial—not just for the production team, but also for the business goals. When you know who is responsible for each part of the process, you’re not managing blindly. You have tangible data, which allows you to monitor progress, maintain quality, and ensure accurate delivery of the information. Each specialist brings a unique perspective, and knowing their roles helps you see the project from all those angles.
Well-defined e-learning course production roles form the foundation of course success. When everyone knows exactly what they’re responsible for teams’ work run smoother. With this approach you can cut down on bottlenecks and create a workflow where each handoff is seamless. Strong direction from a leadership position ensures these processes remain aligned from start to finish.
✏️ Tips for course production team formation
Building a course team isn’t about adding as many people as possible. It’s about having the right mix of skills and managing them well. With the right setup, work moves faster, projects stay on budget, and scaling becomes much easier without losing quality. Here are three online course creation tips from our experience:
- Blend subject expertise with learning design
Many projects have no success because the development team has a lot of content experts but only few on instructional design. A strong e-learning content development team structure should balance subject matter experts (SMEs) with people skilled in learning experience design. - Prioritize project management early
Even the best experts struggle without coordination and proper allocation of development roles. Before hiring designers or media specialists, decide how to make a project plan for an e-learning course: set milestones, deadlines, and approval stages. - Think long-term scalability
The size of team should not be based only on one project, as those people should be able to scale the processes quickly if the need arises. Will you need translations, annual content refreshes, or integration with a new LMS? Forming a team with scalability in mind prevents expensive restructuring later. According to Brandon Hall Group (Mike Cooke. Research Highlights Feb. 10-16: Two Major Reports and Much More – Brandon Hall Group. Brandon Hall Group. 2020), 60% of organizations that design for scalability report faster rollout of future programs.
Don’t forget about ongoing support. Learning is never “set and forget.” Assign roles for QA, IT, and analytics so your courses keep running smoothly all the time without interruptions. 🤓
Roles in e‑learning development
A structured e-learning course creation team helps move the course from concept to launch without hiccups. Here’s a quick look at the roles involved in the typical development of an e-learning course.
📌 A full-scope role in course production
The e-learning Project Manager leads the entire process: planning, budgeting, assigning tasks, and keeping timelines on track. According to Gallup’s 2025 State of the Workplace report, 70 percent (Client Challenge. 2025) of engagement depends on the team leader’s ability to set clear expectations and communicate consistently. The role of Project Manager aligns the team, prevents bottlenecks, and fosters accountability across all phases.
📌 Pre-production stage roles
The first step in shaping any e-learning course is getting clear on who your learners are and what they need to achieve. The team should have a shared understanding of the topic, niche and the goal from the start. That’s why planning the structure, sketching out scripts, and thinking through visuals before production begins should be a regular to do.
If you’re new to instructional design, you can explore our guide on how to create an online course step-by-step for the bigger picture. ✨
At this stage, several key roles come into play:
- The learning strategist
Sets training objectives, selects the right mix of formats (videos, interactive modules, simulations), and ties everything back to business needs. This is a person who will understand your business goals, your product or service from the inside out, and find the right angle from which to present it. It’s a kind of bridge between educational goals and business goals. - Instructional designers
Depending on the scope of the project, there may be more than one such expert. Their main role is to build a well-structured training course and do everything possible to achieve a balance between text and interaction. In other words, this is a person who has a deep understanding of the niche and teaching methods, someone who knows more than just basic facts and can provide insights into the industry.
Instructional designers translate set objectives into a concrete course framework. Storyboards, assessments, and user flow are crafted to shape the learning experience, ensuring it is structured and grounded in knowledge.
For a complete workflow from concept through delivery, see our step-by-step guide on how to create an online course. 🚀
- Scriptwriter and storyboard artist
Once the structure is in place, the scriptwriter and storyboard artist take over, drafting the course script and visual storyboard. They outline scenes, narration, and transitions, creating the blueprint that guides both design and production teams. These people not only outline content, but also work with instructional designers and other team members to create a script or storyboard that is filled with the right messages, in the right sequence, and with the right visuals.
📌 Animation production
Well-designed motion and visuals simplify complex concepts, focus learners’ attention on the most critical points, and increase knowledge retention. In business terms, this translates to faster comprehension, higher engagement, and a stronger return on training investment. Ultimately, it helps your teams apply skills confidently and consistently.
At this stage, several specialists work together to turn learning content into purposeful, visually compelling experiences:
- Storyboard Artist
The storyboard artist breaks down the course into scenes. They figure out where characters go, what moves, and how everything flows. This role is your content architect, ensuring every visual detail is in its place and has a meaning to it. This proactivity supports learner comprehension from the very start. - Art Director & Illustrator
These experts set the visual style, color scheme, and design language for the course. By doing this, they create a consistent look that helps guide learners’ attention. Though it may seem obvious, this consistency reinforces key concepts and enhances the learning experience by making sure every visual element supports understanding of what is shown. - Motion Designer
As simple as it sounds, motion designers take static graphics and make them move. Motion is a cognitive tool. When used with intent, it can shape how the same exact information is perceived and with what focus. It acts as a logical stress and guides learners’ attention, emphasizes the most important points, and makes abstract or complex concepts easier to understand. By controlling pacing, transitions, and movement, they help learners process information in a natural, logical sequence.
Discover the final result of the animated e-learning video created by Blue Carrot:
📌 Interactive slides production
Interactive slides are parts of a course where learners actively engage with the content instead of only watching or reading. These include quizzes, simulations, clickable scenarios, and branching paths where learners make choices and get instant feedback. Interactions designed with educational intent make courses meaningful, helping people practice skills, test their understanding, and remember the material more effectively.
- Designer
Good design reduces cognitive friction, guides learners naturally through content, and makes sure attention is focused on what matters most. It’s also important to keep the design consistent with your brand, so learners immediately associate the course with your company. From a business perspective, designers are indispensable—they help create a lasting impression that learners remember and come back to.
- Developer
Making your interactive course work without glitches and any technical problems is almost as important as the design. Developers build the interactive elements, like quizzes, branching paths, and simulations, using tools such as Articulate Storyline or Captivate. They also handle LMS integration (SCORM/xAPI), so learner progress is tracked and results can be analyzed. Their work ensures learners can interact smoothly with content, practice safely, and that you have reliable data to measure training effectiveness.
See an example of interactive slides production:
Gen-Z students case study
View demo📌 Post-production roles
The final phase of course creation is all about polishing and perfecting. This is when the course is fine-tuned, thoroughly tested, and made ready for learners. Every detail is refined—from visuals and audio to functionality—so that the learning experience is smooth, engaging, and professional.
- Sound Designer handles all course audio, editing voiceovers, adding sound effects with sound equipment, and mixing music. Their work makes the content clear, keeps learners engaged, and creates an immersive atmosphere that enhances understanding.
- Voiceover Artist (VO) delivers the course narration with the right tone, pace, and clarity. A well-matched voice brings the content to life and helps learners connect with the material.
- QA Specialist systematically tests each course module, checking buttons, quizzes, media playback, and accessibility features. Their careful review prevents frustrating glitches, ensures everything works as intended, and results in a polished, learner-friendly final product.
For one of our clients, we have done the animation of graphics and the post-production process of a series of educational videos:
📌 Live video production
If you are planning to use live filming as the main or additional format for your course, be prepared for high budgets and the fact that a certain number of people will be involved in the work. This is not just filming “on your phone” — team coordination, technical precision, and a clear understanding of roles are important here so that the end result looks professional and supports the learning objectives.
- Scouts (Location/Actors) — in addition to being responsible for organizing and finding locations and casting actors, they anticipate potential problems before filming begins: will there be enough light, is it easy to get there, are permits required? They also influence how seriously students take the material: the right location and professional actors increase trust in the content and help maintain attention.
- Filming Crew (Director, Camera Operator, Lighting, Makeup) — their work is important not only for the beauty of the picture. The director sets the pace and focus, the camera operator highlights key moments through framing, lighting creates mood and helps the brain process information, and makeup and costumes make characters recognizable and understandable. All these details subconsciously influence how quickly and effectively students absorb the material.
- Actors – their value lies not only in their ability to speak the text beautifully. A well-chosen actor can make complex concepts more understandable, add an emotional component, and even motivate students to continue learning. Poor delivery or boring intonation reduces the effectiveness of the course, even if the script and graphics are perfect.
- A video editor does more than just “glue frames together.” They determine the pace and logic of the material presentation, adding visual cues and accents to help students focus on the main points using editing software. They also check that everything is accessible: subtitles, audio, interactive elements.
📌 Emerging roles in e‑learning development
As e-learning evolves, new e-learning course production roles are becoming essential to improve learner engagement and bring fresh ideas to corporate training programs.
- Learning Experience Designers
Craft interactive journeys that keep learners engaged and help knowledge stick. - Data Analysts
Track engagement and performance to improve courses and demonstrate real impact. - AI Content Specialists
Work with AI to create content faster, streamline workflows, and maintain high quality. This is already happening today, not just a future trend.
How Blue Carrot can help your business
Blue Carrot is a full-service e-learning agency specializing in course design, media production, multilingual localization, and LMS integration. Our process blends educational best practices with rich visuals and efficient workflows — powered by AI and expert oversight. We’ve worked with over 300 organizations across 30+ countries, including the United Nations, DNB, USC, and Charité Medical University.
👉 What sets us apart
A dedicated in-house team
By handling all phases in‑house, from learning strategy and instructional design through scripting, animation, video editing, and QA, we eliminate unnecessary handoffs, speed up feedback loops, and deliver consistently high‑quality results.
Real and scalable results
We’ve produced 40+ e-learning courses — over 10,000 video minutes and 6,000 Storyline screens enabling enterprise-scale rollouts. For example, our Gen-Z “Job Role Explorer” course for InnoEnergy featured 120 interactive slides, youth-focused design, and close collaboration with client Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) through multiple revision cycles.
If you’re budgeting a similar project, see our guide on the hourly rate for e‑learning content development to set realistic cost expectations.
Agile and transparent production process
We use an agile, phase-by-phase process from discovery to QA, led by a dedicated account manager. Real-time updates keep projects on track while allowing smooth midcourse adjustments when scopes shift or new input arrives.
Conclusion
Great e-learning isn’t just about content, but about having the right roles in place to plan, build, and deliver it effectively. From strategy and scripting to design, media, and QA, every team member plays a key part in creating engaging, scalable training.
With clearly defined key responsibilities in e-learning and streamlined collaboration, your team can deliver impactful learning experiences that drive real results.
Need help assembling or scaling your e-learning team? Blue Carrot brings all the essential roles together under one roof. Contact us to discuss your next project.
