Instructional Design Role
The instructional design role involves working with the studio team and with subject matter experts to create various learning objects, including textbooks and interactive activities. The Instructional Designer is responsible for choosing design elements to follow best practices in creating a positive student learning experience and ensuring that standards surrounding accessibility and copyright are followed.
Common challenges in the ID role are listed in the table below.
Challenge |
Possible Solutions |
| Verify adapted open content | Look for an open licence on the source page. If you don’t see one, reach out for a copyright check. If it is an image, you may be able to find a similar image that is open. You can reverse image search images as well to find their original source. |
| Content is overwhelmingly text | Look for opportunities to include textboxes, images, or diagrams. Decorative images can be found on sites listed on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Images page, Unsplash, Pexels, or through an advanced Google search. The graphic designer may be able to assist by creating a custom diagram. |
| Text heavy image | Ask the following questions: Is the image necessary? Is there another way to display the image visually (i.e. a table, short video, etc.)? If there is a lot of alternative text needed and no other options, include the text in an accordion below the image. |
| Learning outcomes aren’t measurable. | Use Bloom’s Taxonomy to ensure that learning objectives contain verbs which can measure student achievement. |
Instructional Design Student Job Description
Under the general direction of the Director, Library and Media Services, the Instructional Design co-op student works with the OER Design Studio Project Lead and team to effectively utilize instructional technologies to develop Open Educational Resources (OER). The incumbent will work alongside experienced Instructional Designers to guide subject matter experts in project development. Content will be built into Pressbooks, the OER publishing platform, H5P interactive development software, and the college’s learning management system.
- Current enrollment in Instructional Design, eLearning Development, Web Development or other related program;
- Knowledge of current educational, and technological trends and applications;
- Experience with web development, including using HTML editing software and CSS coding;
- Experience using a Learning Management System for design and delivery preferred;
- Experience using Adobe Creative Cloud and Google Workspace is an asset.
- Multi-media production skills using a wide variety of hardware and software;
- Excellent interpersonal, communication, and time management skills to coordinate and carry out projects with minimal supervision and liaise with subject matter experts;
- Ability to multi-task and work on projects simultaneously;
- Awareness of copyright and web accessibility requirements.
