How to Use AI as a Stand-In SME for Portfolio Samples

One of the challenges of building instructional design portfolio samples is the lack of a SME. If you’re working on your own, you don’t have a SME to collaborate with like you would for a real project. But these days you have the option of using AI (specifically, an LLM) as your stand-in SME and collaborator. You can use an LLM as a thought partner to brainstorm ideas, generate briefs, perform a hypothetical needs analysis, gather information, and provide feedback. In this post, I’ll share some sample prompts and example results of role playing with an LLM to build portfolio samples.

Obviously, working with an LLM isn’t the same as working with an actual SME on a project. For a real project, even if you did use an LLM this way, you’d need to verify everything with an actual expert with the knowledge to find errors. LLMs can confidently produce inaccurate information, and they probably will sometimes with these prompts. But even though hallucinations are possible (and generic content is likely), the risk of inaccuracy isn’t that high for a portfolio sample. You’re showing your process and how you would work with a SME if you had access to one, not trying to build something for actual implementation. Still, use your common sense; if something seems off, verify it with other sources.

Brainstorm portfolio sample ideas

One way to use an LLM is to brainstorm ideas for your portfolio samples. Yes, you can build something about how to make a sandwich or about a hobby where you have expertise. But sometimes one of the blockers in looking for an ID job is showing that your skills translate to workplace training, especially if you’re changing careers from teaching or another field. In those situations, having samples explicitly related to workplace training might give you an edge over other candidates. You can use my post with 30+ ideas for portfolio samples, but of course that’s just a starting point. AI can easily help you brainstorm more.

Here’s a sample prompt for brainstorming. Adjust this to target the type of work you’re most interested in and skills you want to highlight.

I’m an instructional designer building portfolio samples to demonstrate my skills to potential employers. I want to create samples that show range across different formats and contexts.

Please brainstorm 10 ideas for portfolio samples I could create. For each idea, include the format (e.g., elearning module, job aid, video script, facilitator guide), a potential topic or industry, and one specific skill it would demonstrate to a hiring manager.

I’m particularly interested in [insert any preferences: industries you want to work in, formats you want to practice, skills you want to highlight].

Generate a Fictional Organization and Training Need

Another problem with making your own portfolio samples is that it doesn’t reflect a real business problem. You can create your own fictional business problem though; that lets you show your thought process and how you’d approach similar issues in your work.

Sample training scenario prompt

I’m an instructional designer creating a portfolio sample on the topic of [insert topic]. I need a realistic but fictional scenario to work from.

Please create a fictional organization and training need for me. Include the organization name, industry, size, and a brief description of what they do. Then provide a one-paragraph summary of a training need related to [insert topic], including who the learners are, what problem or gap prompted the training request, and any initial goals the organization has mentioned. Make the scenario feel grounded and realistic rather than overly simplified.

Example adapted prompt and results

I already had a topic in mind: stormwater protection. I’ve created some elearning on this topic in the past. While I’m definitely not a SME, I know enough to at least recognize glaring errors in the LLM-generated content. So, I adapted the prompt to focus on that topic and an audience I’m familiar with.

I’m an instructional designer creating a portfolio sample on the topic of stormwater protection. I need a realistic but fictional scenario to work from.

Please create a fictional municipal government department and training need for me. Include the department name and a brief description of what they do. Then provide a one-paragraph summary of a training need related to stormwater protection, including who the learners are, what problem or gap prompted the training request, and any initial goals the organization has mentioned. Make the scenario feel grounded and realistic rather than overly simplified. The problem or gap should help narrow the topic to something achievable rather than the broad topic of stormwater protection.

Using Claude Opus 4.6 as my LLM, I got this scenario to work with.

Department: City of Lakeport Department of Public Works — Stormwater Management Division

The Stormwater Management Division oversees the maintenance, inspection, and regulatory compliance of the municipal stormwater drainage system for the City of Lakeport (pop. ~95,000). The division is responsible for managing approximately 340 miles of storm drain infrastructure, ensuring compliance with the city’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit under the Clean Water Act, and coordinating with other city departments and private contractors on construction and land disturbance activities that affect stormwater runoff.

Training Need

The division’s MS4 permit requires that all city personnel whose work involves or impacts stormwater infrastructure follow proper illicit discharge detection and reporting procedures. Following a recent state audit, the division learned that field crews in three departments — Public Works, Parks and Recreation, and Fleet Maintenance — were inconsistently identifying and reporting non-stormwater discharges entering the storm drain system, such as wash water, chemical spills, and sediment-laden runoff from maintenance activities. In several cases, crews observed discharges but did not file reports because they were unsure whether what they saw qualified as a violation or did not know how to use the city’s updated reporting system. The Stormwater Management Division has requested training for approximately 160 field crew members and their supervisors, with the goal of improving crews’ ability to recognize common types of illicit discharges they are likely to encounter during routine work, follow the correct escalation and reporting procedures, and document incidents using the city’s FieldReport mobile platform. The division hopes to see a measurable increase in properly filed discharge reports and a reduction in repeat audit findings when the state returns for a follow-up review in eleven months.

Stand-In SME Interview

Use this sample prompt as a starting point to prompt for a SME interview.

Sample SME interview prompt

I’m an instructional designer creating a portfolio sample, and I need to practice conducting a SME interview. Please act as a subject matter expert on [insert topic] who works at [insert organization name or describe the fictional context].

As we talk, respond the way a real SME would. This means you should answer my questions based on practical, real-world knowledge of the topic, but also introduce realistic constraints I’d encounter in an actual project (limited time, budget, resources, or learner availability). If I make assumptions or suggest approaches that might not work well, push back or ask clarifying questions. Be occasionally skeptical of my recommendations—not difficult for its own sake, but the way a busy expert might question whether a suggested approach is really necessary or feasible.

I’ll ask you a series of questions about the training need, the content, the learners, and the context. Ready to begin?

Example Simulated SME interview

I adjusted the first paragraph of the interview prompt to align with my Lakeport scenario above.

I’m an instructional designer creating a portfolio sample, and I need to practice conducting a SME interview. Please act as a subject matter expert on water systems and protection who works at the City of Lakeport in the Department of Public Works.

Claude’s “thinking” about how to respond:

The user wants me to role-play as a subject matter expert (SME) at the City of Lakeport’s Department of Public Works, Stormwater Management Division. They want me to behave realistically — knowledgeable but busy, occasionally skeptical, introducing real-world constraints, and pushing back when appropriate. I should stay in character and wait for their questions.

Let me establish a persona. I’ll be someone like a Stormwater Program Coordinator or Compliance Manager — someone who knows the technical side well and has been dealing with the audit findings. I’ll be cooperative but realistically busy and occasionally questioning whether certain instructional design approaches are practical for field crews in a municipal setting.

I’m ready to engage with whatever they throw at me.

Claude’s SME persona and intro

Yeah, I’m ready. I’m Dan Morella, Stormwater Compliance Coordinator here in the division. I’ve been with Public Works going on twelve years now — started out on a field crew myself before I moved into the compliance side of things. I’m the one who put in the training request after we got the audit results back, so I can speak to most of what you’ll need.

I’ll be honest with you, though — I’ve got a pretty full plate right now between the corrective action plan and our wet season prep, so I’m hoping we can keep these conversations focused. I’ve done training projects with consultants before and sometimes it feels like we spend more time in meetings talking about training than it would take to just do the training, if you know what I mean. But I get that you need information from me to build this thing right, so let’s get into it. What do you want to start with?

Questions and answers

Then, I used questions from “How to Conduct a Lightning-Fast Needs Assessment Clients Will Love.” (As a side note, I met Sardek Love at the Training 2026 Conference and thanked him for this article since I use and cite it regularly. He said it’s the most popular piece he’s written for ATD.)

OK, let’s get right into it then. I promise to stay focused. I’ve got a few questions to start with to make sure nobody wastes time and money on something we don’t need. What’s the problem we’re trying to solve here?

So the short version is, we got dinged on our state audit back in October. The auditors reviewed our illicit discharge detection records and found significant gaps. We’re required under our MS4 permit to show that we have a functioning program for detecting and reporting non-stormwater discharges — things like wash water going into a storm drain, sediment runoff from a job site, somebody dumping something they shouldn’t. And we couldn’t demonstrate that consistently.

But here’s what really got my attention. It’s not that discharges were happening and nobody was catching them. I mean, some of that too, probably. But when I started digging into it after the audit, I talked to a bunch of the crew leads, and what I kept hearing was, “Yeah, I saw something but I wasn’t sure if it was a problem,” or “I didn’t know I was supposed to report that.” One guy in Parks told me he saw soapy water running into a catch basin from a fleet vehicle wash and just figured someone had already handled it. Nobody had.

And then on top of that, we rolled out the FieldReport app about eight months ago for digital reporting, and I don’t think half these guys have even opened it. Some of them are still trying to fill out the old paper forms, which technically we don’t even process anymore.

So it’s really two things — people not recognizing what they’re looking at, and people not reporting it properly even when they do. Does that help narrow it down, or do you need me to get more specific?

Let’s get a little more specific. Which metrics really matter here? What are we trying to affect that we can measure?

Good question. Alright, so the biggest one — the one my boss cares about and the one the state cares about — is the audit. We’ve got a follow-up review coming in about eleven months. If we get flagged again on the same findings, we’re looking at potential fines and a consent order, and nobody wants that. So at the end of the day, we need to pass that follow-up.

But that’s kind of a lagging indicator, right? I can’t wait eleven months to find out if the training worked. So the things I’m watching closer to real time are, first, the number of illicit discharge reports coming in through FieldReport. Right now we’re averaging maybe eight to twelve reports a month across all crews. Frankly, for a system our size with 160 people in the field every day, that number should be higher. I’d like to see it at least double, and I want to see reports coming in from Parks and Fleet, not just my Public Works crews who were already doing most of the reporting.

Second, report quality. We’re getting reports that are missing key fields — no photos, no location pin, vague descriptions like “saw something in the ditch.” That’s almost as bad as no report because I can’t action it.

Now, if you’re about to ask me about test scores or something like that, I’ll be honest — I don’t really care if somebody can pass a quiz. I care if they do the right thing on a Tuesday morning when they see something weird flowing into a drain. Can we measure that?

Full simulated interview

My full simulated SME interview ended up being 9 pages long, so I won’t include it all here. You can download the entire chat if you want to see how I used Claude as my stand-in SME and role played an interview. Even if you’ve never actually had an instructional design job, an LLM gives you the opportunity to practice interviewing a SME or stakeholder. You could even have a document to show your skills.

More ideas for using an LLM to build portfolio samples

While role playing a SME is one way to use AI to build your portfolio samples, you have plenty of other options too. Here’s a few more ideas.

Act as a learner persona to test whether your content and explanations make sense to someone unfamiliar with the topicReview your storyboard or script and provide feedback on clarity, flow, and instructional effectivenessGenerate realistic sample data or scenarios for practice activities and assessmentsSuggest potential misconceptions or common mistakes learners might have on a topic so you can address them in your trainingBrainstorm visual or interaction ideas when you’re stuck on how to present content in an engaging wayWrite placeholder content or first drafts that you then revise and improve in your own voice

Human help with your portfolio

While AI can be a great help with your portfolio, sometimes you need a human to provide feedback and guide you. Dani Watkins and I are launching a new step-by-step course: “Create a Portfolio That Gets You Hired.” This is an updated version of the portfolio course we previously co-taught for the University of California – Irvine as part of their eLearning Instructional Designer certificate program.

Your portfolio is not a storage unit. It’s a strategic story about how you design learning experiences. This course teaches you how to tell that story clearly, confidently, and professionally.

Would it help you to have a framework for building your portfolio, breaking the tasks down over 5 weeks? Would you like personalized feedback and coaching as you build and iterate your portfolio? Read more about the course so you can decide if it’s the right fit for your needs.

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