This session will cover FIU Online's efforts toward planning and implementing the Instructional Design Core Curriculum (IDCC), a comprehensive professional development initiative for its instructional design team. We will also present the results of a research study into the perceptions and effectiveness of the IDCC program.
This session details the design, development, and implementation of a comprehensive professional development program suitable for an audience of largely non-expert instructional designers working in a university setting. This program was implemented with the instructional designers working in a distance learning department at a large public research university. The goal of this program, called the Instructional Designer Core Curriculum, was to address areas of critical importance for instructional design teams while building in a framework for participants to engage in opportunities that leverage their areas of strength, need, and interest. The four areas of critical importance, or strands, used as an overarching framework for the program were instructional technology, instructional design theory and practice, project management and leadership, and faculty collaboration and service excellence. Also covered are the results of a survey research study designed to evaluate the perceived effectiveness of the professional development program using Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation as a framework; the data suggest that participants reacted positively to the professional development program, found their skill sets to be improved or enhanced, and transferred their learning to their work environments.