What Do Instructional Designers Actually Do?

An interesting recent blog post by Dr. Luke Hobson provided an excellent section on "Explaining What An Instructional Designer Does." Described some years ago by a faculty member as "the people who load your syllabus into Blackboard," UHCL's team of instructional designers (IDs) are actually educated and trained in a variety of areas and they apply that expertise in assisting faculty on a number of instructional fronts. Adapting from Dr. Hobson's blog post and accompanying video, I would describe what our team's instructional designers (IDs) do as follows:

• They understand how people, especially adults, learn. Although the IDs most often assist with online instruction, their understanding of adult learning crosses all modes of instructional delivery (100% online, hybrid/blended, face-to-face).
• The IDs work with faculty members to gather their instructional needs, information about their students and classes, teaching preferences, and subject-related expertise, and they then advise and assist with using that information to create effective learning experiences for students.

These efforts involve the design and development of learning outcomes, course materials, activities, and assessments, as well as guidance and support for the use of appropriate instructional technologies. The instructional designers serve as advisers and consultants to any faculty who would like assistance creating, updating, or fine-tuning their instructional planning and delivery. There are certainly other aspects to the daily tasks for our ID staff. They develop and deliver training and professional development, assist with planning for emerging online programs, evaluate and report on potential new instructional technologies, and review new online courses for approval and instructional use. If you haven't had an opportunity to meet our instructional design team, I encourage you to do so. Feel free to use the contact information provided in our blog post, Instructional Design and Technology Team - Contact Information, and make an appointment to visit a member of our team virtually or in person at the Center for Engagement, Teaching, and Learning (CETL)...safely distanced and masked, of course.