Develop instructional materials

Most of the output can be produced by software today.

This is the most automatable shape of work there is, and also the shape that most needs a live connection to the system the record lives in. Without that connection an agent can prepare the entry but cannot file it.

Key facts about this work activity
How automatableMostly automatable
Kind of workRecording, documentation and administration
Jobs that do it44 occupations
Tool categories that applyTools and auth, Builders
O*NET activityDocumenting/Recording Information (4.A.3.b.6)

What this looks like on the job

Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 44 occupations that perform it.

  • Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as financial accounting, principles of marketing, and operations management.
  • Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
  • Prepare materials for laboratory activities and course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
  • Provide information to the public by leading workshops and training programs and by developing educational materials.
  • Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, or handouts.
  • Prepare objectives, outlines, or other materials for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements.
  • Prepare assignments for teacher assistants or volunteers.
  • Prepare objectives, outlines, or other materials for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or school or state requirements.
  • Develop teaching or training materials, such as handouts, study materials, or quizzes.
  • Design posters and special displays to promote use of library facilities or specific reading programs at libraries.
  • Prepare and distribute leaflets, pamphlets, and visual aids for educational and informational purposes.
  • Design instructional aids for stand-alone or instructor-led classroom or online use.
  • Prepare lesson materials, bulletin board displays, exhibits, equipment, and demonstrations.
  • Develop teaching materials, such as syllabi, visual aids, answer keys, supplementary notes, or course Web sites.
  • Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as children's literature, learning and development, and reading instruction.
  • Develop instructional materials, such as lesson plans, handouts, or examinations.
  • Plan, prepare, and develop various teaching aids, such as bibliographies, charts, and graphs.
  • Complete laboratory projects prior to assigning them to students so that any needed modifications can be made.

What we would actually use

One recommendation rather than a shortlist, because a shortlist is just your problem handed back. This is what we would buy for recording, documentation and administration, and what it costs.

Our pickFrom $9/mo · one upgrade when you outgrow it
MakeStart hereVisual scenario builder over 3,000-plus apps, materially cheaper than Zapier at volume.From $9/moComposioWhen you outgrow itTool layer giving agents over 1,000 toolkits with managed connected accounts.Free tier

The work is not writing the record, it is filing it where the record lives. Make reaches most of those systems from $9 a month, which is the cheapest honest start; Composio is for when you are writing the agent yourself.

Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.

The rest of the category

Context, not alternatives to weigh up. We name the layer rather than promise a named product does your specific task.

Tools and auth

Arcade.dev
Free tier
StackOne
Custom
Nango
Free tier
Paragon
Custom

Builders

n8n
Free self-host
Zapier
From $29.99/mo
Lindy
From $19.99/mo
Relevance AI
From $29/mo

Matched from the kind of work, not from vendor marketing. Check any of them can reach the system your records actually live in — that connection, not the model, is where these projects stall.

How people actually do it

No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.

Catalogue content auditGet a complete audit of missing descriptions, alt text, and metadata across your entire product catalogue in one report.Catalogue · 8 stepsDraft every reply firstYour agent drafts replies to every email before you read it, so you edit instead of writing from scratch.Correspondence · 8 stepsInbox triage every morningWake up to a prioritized inbox summary with action items already sorted by urgency and sender importance.Correspondence · 8 steps

Who does this work

44 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.

Work that goes with it

O*NET groups these under “Prepare informational or instructional materials”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.

Related work activities
ActivityJobs
Create technology-based learning materials22
Modify teaching methods or materials to accommodate student needs16
Write informational material13
Document lesson plans12
Develop training materials10
Prepare healthcare training materials8
Prepare informational or reference materials6
Organize informational materials5

Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.