What is an Instructional Designer?

The position of Instructional Designer may be unfamiliar and/or not fully understood by faculty and others at the college. For a succinct explanation, Loes Vergroesen (2020) states the following:

Instructional designers are the architects, who design the learning experience based on learning outcomes and objectives, assessments, and evaluation criteria. Instructional technologists are the engineers who figure out what tools are needed to build the course. Finally, the content developers are the builders, who use tools like Articulate and D2L Brightspace to construct the learning experience (para. 8).

Here, at St. Cloud State University, our team wears all the hats to better serve the college community through our trainings, webinars, tutorials, guides, and more.

The Beginning of the Design Process for the Faculty

When developing a course, whether you are designing a brand new one or redesigning a current one, many aspects will need to be identified and/or addressed. First, there are some questions that you may either be required to answer or need to ask the department to provide an answer. That would be the basic parameters of the course, like duration of the course, number of credits, course learning outcomes, etc. Next, you will have a few things to consider. What learning materials and activities should be included in this course? Learning materials would be any content used to help with learning the subject. This would include lectures, videos, and readings. Learning activities are the exercises used to assess student learning and can include assessments, labs, and writing assignments. Next, you would need to consider what will go into each learning material and learning activity that is added to the course. Something else to consider is to make sure that your learning activities are connected to your course learning objectives. This can be easily determined by mapping out your course (to be discussed in a later blog post). Lastly, you need to develop each learning material and learning activity that will be used in your course. Along the way, an instructional designer can help with the process in many ways.

Ways that Instructional Designers Support Course Development

Course Mapping

This involves simply mapping out the components of your course. During this process, a course is broken down into its parts to better see how each aligns with, and thus supports the course learning objectives.

Module Learning Objectives

Learning objectives are developed for each module/week/set period that aligns with the department-established course learning outcomes. These objectives can be designed using Bloom’s taxonomy catered to the specific subject and can be used to better identify the proper learning materials and activities for the course.

Developing Multimedia

The use of video and audio presentations, VR/AR simulations, games, and more can be added to the online environment to enhance learning. Both personally produced and third-party content can be incorporated into a course easily. Assistance with research and/or the development of Minnesota State-system-supported and D2L Brightspace-compatible multimedia can be performed through consultation with the faculty member.

Navigating D2L

There are varying levels of expertise when it comes to the usage of our LMS (Learning Management System), D2L Brightspace on campus. In addition to navigating the current interface, the LMS is constantly updating to improve upon its features within the system. Boot camps, 1-on-1 consultations, guides, and instructions can all be provided for an individual faculty member or a department to help them become more acclimated to the LMS.

Accessibility

Creating your content so that it is accessible to all users is necessary. From captions added to videos to alt text for images and everything in between, guidance on the proper ways to incorporate accessibility features into your materials can be done. In addition to what is presented on the Student Accessibility Service website, guides, instructions, and 1-on-1 consultations can be provided.

Quality Matters (QM)

This is a set of standards developed by MarylandOnline, Inc. (MOL) to improve the design of an online course. Quality Matters Standards also help to provide students with materials that can help them navigate the course more effectively. A member of the SCSU Online team or the faculty member (with a QM workbook) can review their course to see if the standards are met. A consultation with any of the SCSU Online team to make any improvements to the course can occur at the faculty member’s request.

Course Overview Check

Putting another set of eyes on a course to make sure there are not any missing pieces, broken links, or confusing steps will help to make completing the course more seamless for students. Instructional designers can use a critical eye to search for and recommend actions to faculty to improve the layout, flow, and overall tone of the course.

If you would like more information about anything mentioned above and other ways that the SCSU Online and Distance Learning team can assist with your course, please make an appointment with any of our instructional designers on our department’s Bookings site.

 

References:

Gaba, V. (2021). Black framed eyeglasses on top of a stack of books [Photograph]. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-framed-eyeglasses-on-top-of-a- stack-of-books-7437956/

Loes Vergroesen, L. (2020, July 6). What does an instructional designer do? Eduflow. https://www.eduflow.com/blog/what-does-an-instructional-designer-do

Subiyanto, K. (2020). Crop person making notes in notepad [Photograph]. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-person-making-notes-in-notepad-4126743/