What is Instructional Design?

Instructional design is a collaborative process between faculty and instructional designers to create rich, meaningful learning experiences for students. Instructional design encompasses curriculum development, learning experience design, curation & creation of instructional materials, and instructional strategy coaching.

Why Instructional Design?

Participating in the development process creates a space for faculty specifically devoted to focusing on the big picture of their instruction facilitated by instructional experts excited to support them as they create meaningful learning experiences for their students using sound research based practices. Whether you want to transition to OER, align to specific standards, or create more engaging and effective experiences for your students, instructional design can help.

Development Process

The process is broken down into many smaller components but typically consists of four major phases, curriculum development, learning experience & assessment design, content development, and delivery strategy development.

Curriculum Development

Curriculum development begins with establishing the intended purpose of the course. Then course objectives are constructed to express that purpose. Those objectives are then broken down into component learning objectives that will be used to measure knowledge & skills demonstrated by students. Finally, a scope & sequence is developed to serve as a framework for instruction to be delivered.

Learning Experience & Assessment Design

Learning experiences and assessments should be aligned with learning objectives, encourage communication between learners and their peers and instructor, relate learning concepts to the real world, and provide students with the opportunity to construct artifacts of their learning.

Content Development

Instructional materials will be thoughtfully constructed and curated to support learner mastery of objectives. Multiple forms of content will be used to effectively present learning concepts. Pacing and scaffolding of materials will support learners. Materials will be accessible to all learners.

Delivery Strategy Development

All content and assessment will be designed with delivery in mind. Throughout the process, we’ll focus on how students will interact with one another, their instructor, and the content of the course. We’ll develop strategies for classroom practices as well as course site construction.

This support will continue into the classroom. Individual consultations will be customized to the needs of specific needs if each faculty member throughout the semester. These might take the form of observation and debrief sessions, implementation reflections, or even implementation assistance. We’re here to support our faculty and their students succeed.