Problem Analysis – Expert Strategies to Resolve Issues

An Agent of Change through Instructional Design

Campbell et al. (2007) discussed how instructional designers (IDs) shape their practice and identity to provide positive outcomes for teaching and learning and the overall educational institutional service. The researchers acknowledged IDs direct and intentional interactions with faculty and staff to address the student needs, the pros and cons of technologies and learning environments used, and current campus and Department

Impact of ESOL Background on Instructional Design

Instructional designers (IDs) often come from previous educational backgrounds such as instructional technologies, teachers, or academic support staff (e.g., librarians). Other times, they come from careers in health, business, or military. IDs’ backgrounds and experiences enhance their work on designing training, courses, or other related job aids and informational material. This blog describes how my background experience as an English

Reflection on 2023 Educause Horizon Report

Our Futures Thinking cohort within the University of California-Berkeley’s Research, Teaching, and Learning (RTL) met to analyze and share our ideas on the latest Educause Horizon Report for Teaching and Learning (Pelletier et al, 2023). As a budding futurist, I realize my long and multifaceted career in education provides me with deep knowledge and hands-on experience with using various technologies

How I incorporate DEIBJ in online course design

At the University of California-Berkeley (UCB), we infuse diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and social justice (DEIBJ) in our efforts across campus to meet the needs of all learners, as well as in our various practices and interactions at work. As an instructional designer for Berkeley’s Digital Learning Services (DLS), I design remote and fully online courses. As tasks arise, I

Active Learning Typology – UC Tech

My colleague, Joseph Kearns, and I are excited to present our active learning typology at the 2023 UC Tech Conference in July! This venue is for those interested in and working with technology within the University of California system. Student workers are also invited to attend. This year has its first teaching and learning program track for which we applied.

I’m becoming a Futurist!

This fall, at the University of California-Berkeley (UCB), I was selected to participate in the first cohort of Research, Teaching, and Learning staff to learn future thinking skills. This involves taking Coursera’s online Futures Thinking Specialization certificate program with the general public, reading three books selected by our team leaders, practicing the skills, discussing signals and drivers of the future,

Community of Inquiry: Research to Practice

My peers and I from the Division of Distance Learning with the Association of Educational Communications and Technology gave this webinar highlighting research to practice of the community of inquiry framework by educators and instructional designers. Here’s the recording. I focused on my action research and general application of the Online Community of Inquiry Syllabus Rubric. I briefly presented the

Design Media for How We Learn

One of the most impactful textbooks I read in my instructional design (ID) doctoral program was Clark and Meyer’s (2011) E-Learning and the Science of Instruction on how best to design multimedia for online instruction. This post addresses Chapter 2 on how we learn from online media and some takeaways for ID. I included supporting learning theories not included in

Online Teaching Readiness Needs Assessment

I use this questionnaire at the beginning of course design collaborations with instructors. It helps me gather their prior knowledge and better address where to begin the instructional design process. Also, surveys serve as a way to inform the participants. Feel free to adapt and use it with your instructors, as this one is based on the Canvas learning management