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Faculty Office of the Provost

Instructional Designers and Instructors: Maximizing the Collaboration

Abstract

There is an increasing number of online courses in higher education and an increasing demand in quality instruction and course environment design. As a result, many higher education institutions employ instructional designers to assist instructors in the course design process. Designers offer expertise on best practices for instruction in online environments, teaching strategies, technology resources, and quality standards. Instructors contribute their content knowledge, field experience, and instructional practices and preferences. The combination of content knowledge and best practices results in higher quality courses and more satisfied students.

However, the quality of the course design is impacted by the relationship between designers and instructors. Instructors' perceptions of designers' roles and limited understanding of designers' skills along with designers' perceptions of instructors' roles and expectations for the design project impact the ability to produce high-quality courses.

During this session, participants will discuss their current knowledge of the roles and responsibilities of instructors and instructional designers in the course design process. Participants will share their expectations of the partnership and what they would like to improve. The presenters will also share their tips for collaborating on course design and managing expectations for course design projects. This discussion will give instructors and instructional designers a better understanding of how the other perceives the partnership and how that partnership can be improved.

The purpose of this session is to facilitate a discussion between instructors and designers. We will accomplish this by using Poll Everywhere to ask the audience to respond to questions related to perceptions and expectations. We will explore audience responses to facilitate discussion. To conclude the workshop, we will provide research-based suggestions for establishing effective relationships.

References:

Stevens, Karl B., "A Case Study of Professors' and Instructional Designers' Experiences in the Development of Online Courses" (2012). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 1201.

Tate, E. (2017). Easing conflicts between instructional designers and the faculty | Inside Higher Ed. Insidehighered.com. Retrieved 5 April 2018, from https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2017/05/03/easing-conflicts-between-instructional-designers-and-faculty

Tate, E. (2017). Roundup of instructional designers and faculty ideas for working together | Inside Higher Ed. Insidehighered.com. Retrieved 5 April 2018, from https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2017/05/10/roundup-instructional-designers-and-faculty-ideas-working

Tessmer, M. Journal of Instructional Development (1988) 11:29. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02905001. 1201. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/1201

van Leusen, P. & Millard, M. (2013). Interpersonal Consulting Skills: Developing Effective Relationships with Online Faculty - A multiple case study. In T. Bastiaens & G. Marks (Eds.), Proceedings of E-Learn 2013--World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (pp. 2150-2158). Las Vegas, NV, USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved April 5, 2018 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/115199/.

Objectives

  • Perceptions of roles of designers and instructors in course development
  • Role of instructional designers in course development
  • Tips for an effective instructor-designer partnership

Presenters

Randi Kirkland, UAB Division of eLearning and Professional Studies
Randi is a Senior Instructional Design Specialist in the Division of eLearning and Professional Studies at UAB where she collaborates with instructors to design, develop, and improve online and web-enhanced courses. She serves as a Quality Matters (QM) Coordinator for UAB, a QM Master Reviewer, and a Facilitator for the Applying the QM Rubric workshop. Randi is also pursuing a PhD from UA and has taught online courses at UA.

Courtney Felton, UAB Division of eLearning and Professional Studies
Courtney is the Instructional Design Manager in the Division of eLearning and Professional Studies at UAB. She serves as a Facilitator for the Applying the QM Rubric workshop. She has a background in education and a master's degree from the University of South Alabama in Instructional Design and Development.