Instructional Designer Survey & Presentation
My main priority when I started in this role was to take the time to hear from our faculty on what they needed and wanted from an Instructional Designer, knowing that many people on campus were unclear on what an Instructional Designer was and how it differed from our Instructional Technologist role.
I borrowed an Instructional Design presentation from my colleagues at Skyline and altered it to fit the information that I wanted to gather and to share with our faculty at Cañada. I brought the presentation to each of our division meetings, and hosted a workshop ‘What is a Cañada Instructional Designer?’ in the Faculty Teaching & Learning Center and Lounge. I found that while most faculty (72%) weren’t familiar with the role of an Instructional Designer, the majority (75%) felt the role could help them with their courses.
Survey Trends
Faculty were most interested in Instructional Design support around equity-minded practices, pedagogy/best practices, advanced course design, and accessibility standards.
The preferred methods for instructional design support included drop-in office hours, individual consultations, small group/department consultations, online resources, and asking questions via email.
Common challenges mentioned include increasing student engagement, aligning course content with learning outcomes, and making instructional content more accessible.
DEAC & Technology Committee
I supported the work of these committees this semester while the Instructional Technologist position was being filled. Our Fall 2023 work included:
- Updating committee bylaws for PBC approval
- Drafting our Strategic Plans
- Making recommendations to PBC for how to address students needs from our last Student Technology Survey
- Putting together clear guidance for faculty online teaching certification, re-certification and equivalency
We also began to test the idea of consolidating these committees to better align the work we’re doing on each of them and to ease the burden of committee representation on campus.