DELIVERING QUALITY ONLINE: THE INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER- FACULTY PARTNERSHIP

Purposes/Aims: Academic nurses bring content knowledge that students expect, but increasingly students also expect technological acumen in the delivery of course content. Working with Instructional Designers, skilled in the design and delivery of education via technology, is one approach to meet both needs.  This presentation will present multi-modal approaches and lessons learned working with instructional designers in an online graduate nursing program in the context of the Quality Matters framework.

Rationale/Background: Optimizing the student experience is a priority for academics and consumers alike.  Students select their program of choice based on its academic ratings as well as its design appeal.  Even so, as technology grows ubiquitous in everyday life, students expect both functionality and portability in how they engage with learning. Educators are eager to include variety in their delivery of important content while maintaining the veracity of their subjects. Advanced Practice Nurses of the future will need to be literate in technologies to span distance and many nurses are eliminating barriers to education that distance creates by pursuing online educational programs.  Experiential learners naturally are drawn to nursing, and their need to experience the topic and engage with the faculty member are supported by online tools including you-tube, live web conferences, game-based learning and social connections in online communities.  The suite of technologies available can be overwhelming, but Instructional Designers are experts in the delivery of online content and a valuable resource for faculty.

 

Undertaking/Process: Tips for working with Instructional Designers in the context of our experience will be presented including 1) recognizing their unique strengths, 2) setting schedules, 3) creating shared understandings, and 4) establishing shared recognition. How to find and use educational technologies available online will be demonstrated to add fun and interest to the online classroom.  Key documents offering guidance to maintain privacy and professionalism in online communities will be presented.

 

Outcomes Achieved: Working with Instructional Designers has yielded more intuitively designed technology that fits user’s expectations. Creating systematic approaches to integrating technologies has related to higher user engagement in graduate level courses in our experience, reflected by positive student evaluations.  

 

Conclusions: Recognizing ways to work with design experts, Instructional Designers, in particular is the first step in meeting students’ needs in the online environment. Their expertise is synergistic to the content expertise that faculty bring to support the student experience.