Instructional Design for Adult and Continuing Higher Education

The field of adult and continuing higher education has lagged behind in the development of new theories and approaches of instructional design and curriculum development, creating an urgent need for new perspectives and practices among practitioners and instructional faculty. This chapter provides a comprehensive review of instructional design and curriculum development trends, approaches and theoretical/conceptual perspectives and approaches that could be useful in adult and continuing higher education. Based on the review, the chapter proposes contemporary views and implications for practice and research.

Instructional Design Applied to TCN5 Virtual World

This chapter presents the development and implementation of an instructional design (ID) for computer networks learning within a three-dimensional (3D) virtual world (VW) that considers characteristics of cognitive style and level of expertise of the student, titled TCN5. For this purpose, a hybrid model of ID was created based on ADDIE and Dick and Carey models. To facilitate the inclusion and management of didactic materials, an educational resources manager called GRECx was developed, which was allocated to the VW through web pages inserted in 3D media objects. The approach was submitted to the evaluation of a sample of students, who pointed out that it allows greater use of didactic materials within the immersive environment, and that GRECx can actually help teachers in the inclusion of resources, avoiding the need to deal with VW settings.

Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Design for Learning

The learning context has gradually become more technology-rich and learner-centered along with the learning process, which is extensively regarded as configurative and dynamic. This has brought about significant shifts in educational practices. This shift has a crucial impact both on the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and on the approaches to educational design, giving way to the emergence of design for learning. This chapter is an attempt to explore potential synergies between CALL and design for learning, which is thought to strengthen the CALL practices and make an effective base for CALL design.

Instructional Design in Human Resource Development Academic Programs in the USA

The purpose of this chapter is to identify the current status of instructional design courses in human resource development (HRD) graduate programs. The authors examined the curricular content of HRD academic programs in the USA and suggested critical considerations to improve instructional design practices in higher education settings. By reviewing information about 124 institutions with graduate HRD programs, they found that 27 of the institutions (21.8%) offer required and/or elective instructional design courses. In addition, the authors conducted an in-depth review of those 27 institutions to identify the affiliations and features of their HRD programs (college, school, department, program names, degrees, and the existence of online programs). To better understand the instructional design practices in higher education settings, they also discuss three instructional approaches for instructional design, consideration for using technology-mediated instructional design, and instructional design models for learning transfer. Finally, the authors present conclusions and recommendations for future research.

The Role of Instructional Design in Surfacing the Hidden Curriculum

This chapter examines the role of instructional design in relation to the hidden curriculum in higher education. It also discusses the potential and limitations of instructional design methods to make explicit different aspects of what is hidden. The hidden curriculum, both offline and online, includes important practices that should be brought to the surface and not left behind as an afterthought. The authors promote a proactive, not reactive, curriculum by arguing that the learning space should guide both formal and hidden curricula. They also urge for the reader to consider the tensions between the formal and hidden curricula in higher education.

Advancing a New General Education Curriculum Through a Faculty Community of Practice

Many institutions of higher education are reimagining their general education curriculum or adding new, innovative programs to their course offerings. Faculty driving such innovation, while experts in their disciplines, often lack experience with instructional design and the benefits it subsequently brings to these types of programs. At the same time, process-driven, traditional approaches to instructional design may not feel relevant to some faculty. In this chapter, the authors describe the Learning Design Collaborative, a new model for instructional design built on the principles of intentional learning, authentic learning, and student engagement. Placed within the context of a faculty learning community, this experience has been used with faculty developing courses for the first-year signature experience of a new general education curriculum. Implications of this initiative suggest the importance of continually evaluating instructional design models, opportunities for implementing the model in other programs, and a relationship with other emerging instructional design models.

Resisting the Deprofessionalization of Instructional Design

In this chapter, the authors present the argument that instructional design as a professional field in higher education spaces is at risk of deprofessionalization, resulting from their common utilization as technical or production personnel, coupled with the fact that development of and within online and technology-enabled learning environments is increasingly accessible to faculty members and non-experts. As learning management systems and multimedia production platforms continue to become increasingly easy to use and normalized, the technical expertise of technically oriented, development-focused instructional designers risks becoming obsolete, irrelevant, or redundant. This chapter charts the trajectory of this deprofessionalization and presents strategies for how instructional designers—and the field as a whole—should assert its value through a scholar-practitioner approach that privileges the specialized faculties of instructional design (e.g., learning theory, design process models, pedagogy, design thinking) over production or development skills.

Applying Instructional Design Guidelines for Community Health Programs in Health Education

Community health programs promote healthy lifestyles and wellbeing. Numerous models and theories have been developed that support these programs; however, health educators are faced with how to implement these models and specific teaching approaches. Instructional design (ID) provides guidance on making these decisions, guidelines which can be customized for the field. This chapter provides four design guidelines to assist health educators to incorporate program models and theories and appropriate teaching models. Guideline 1 prioritizes the selection of learning outcomes before the choice of supporting models or theories in order to keep the needs of individuals, groups, and communities at the forefront. Guideline 2 customizes instructional design guidelines across the ID process. Guideline 3 raises an awareness of the full scope of teaching using Gagné's events of instruction. Guideline 4 suggests teaching models appropriate to the individual, interpersonal, and community levels of health education programs.

The Evolving Landscape of Instructional Design in Higher Education

This chapter introduces the readers to the current practice of instructional design in higher education and describes the need for optimizing instructional design methods and practice to increase its nimbleness and adaptive capacity. It also aims to challenge the readers to imagine how instructional design methods in higher education could serve as a catalyst for solving adaptive and complex systemic challenges. The authors argue that instructional design is no longer a process that should be relegated to online course design but is, in fact, a process that can bring about organizational change.