We do what...again?

What is an Instructional Designer? 

Over the past three years of working at Emporia State University, and really my entire career, I have been asked..."You do what, again?". The job title "Instructional Designer" leaves some to question what it is we exactly do. In general, an instructional designer is someone who has been trained, often certified, to design curriculum based training. This includes corporate training, educational training and non-profit training - ALL training. There are instructional methodologies that we use to help us identify how to design a course to fit the learners needs. We consider everything including retention, alignment of assessments to outcomes, course sequencing, accessibility, universal design and much, much more. We specialize in working with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to develop a course framework. A few of us on the Learning Technology team are Quality Matters certified. Quality Matters is a company that created a standard rubric for course; you can think of it as a quality assurance rubric, an evaluation of your course to ensure it was designed to meet specific design standards.

Is that all you do?

Short answer? Nope. We have a wide range of other skills as well! We offer a wide range of initiatives ranging from Virtual Reality to Digital Badging. We specialize in finding new and emerging technologies that will improve or enhance the learning experience for your students. Do you have a concept in your course that students struggle with learning? We can help. We spend a good majority of our time researching new and emerging technologies and researching their effectiveness with all disciplines on campus. We can create unique solutions to help you with your instructional concerns to elevate retention.

We are also very active with grant writing and contract work. We have been selected by other universities and colleges for our design services. We recently ended a 50k contract with the community college system in the state of Maine and most recently, were selected as the winning bid from Grantham University. The funds received from these contracts and others allows us to provide additional technologies to you for your instructional needs.

So now what? 

Reach out to us. We're here to help on all levels of instruction. The Instructional Designers are out and about at every department once a week. You can reach us during Embedded Instructional Designers hours (where we come to your department) or, contact us on our website: http://www.emporia.edu/learningtechnologies. We also would love to host your class and give them a tour of the Virtual Reality studio, MakerLab and our One Button Studio. All of these are resources for you and your students to use. Let us know how we can help you!

~Anna

acatters@emporia.edu
620.341.5107