A new model is presented that provides structure for collaboration between instructional designers and faculty members, both of whom have varied experience and competencies. Experience and skill sets exist on a continuum from beginner to advanced, and predictably impact the expectations, collaboration, product development, and delivery of the online course.
Summary:
Each institution has unique expectations for the relationships between instructional designers and the faculty they work with. Within
each institution, each online learning group is unique in its needs and expectations. It is often difficult to gauge how to coordinate
course development projects, particularly if you have new staff and/or faculty that you are working with for the first time. What if
you had a flexible model that allowed for differences within institutional administrations, instructors, and staff that led to clear lines
of communication and level of desired assistance with online learning staff members? This proposed model demonstrates how the
levels of instructor autonomy and the levels of instructional designer engagement are integrated. We are all trying to meet high
standards of course development in limited amounts of time. This model is helpful in quickly determining how and when the
instructional designer can assist the instructor, regardless of their level of perceived autonomy in course development. Consider with your
fellow online learning specialists how to have a flexible instructor and instructional design relationship that results in a well-designed
course within a reasonable amount of time.
Goals:
Participants will gain awareness of the integration of instructional design engagement and faculty autonomy in a practical working context.
Participants will learn the advantages of informed and intentional pairing of instructional designers and faculty members based on expected product complexity and scheduled development time and be able to apply them to practical collaborative efforts.
Participants will be able to self-identify competency levels for the purpose of defining the most appropriate collaborative pairing.
Participants will identify which course creation documents would be helpful, and will identify how and when to use them wisely, if used at all.
Materials:
Participants will recieve a hard copy of the slide deck, and will recieve digital copies of the course creation documentation (about 15+ pages of Word documents).
Format of Presentation:
The session is an interactive and engaging presentation of the basic underlying assumptions (the competencies and skill sets required for appropriate online course development, the need for faculty engagement, the desire for faculty autonomy, the integration of engagement and autonomy). After the inital introduction of the model, this presenter would like to invite the participants to brainstorm the value of the new model, how it could be applied, and the potential methods and questions to gather data to test the model by potentially surveying faculty and instructional designers.
For committee viewing only, the basic model can be found at the link below. Please do not share.
https://www.icloud.com/pages/0CkRKL9CCSwWYYUSEcwTP1AlA#Collaboration_Model_image