Instructional Design

One team, many hats

We are designers

The EdPlus instructional design team supports faculty in creating courses that address the needs of online learners. Our designers are experts in online learning pedagogy, and look forward to helping you turn your vision into engaging courses.

How we work

Developing engaging online courses is an iterative process. Each ASU Online program is paired with a dedicated instructional designer to continuously improve the ways in which curriculum is delivered. Ways our team can provide services using our consultation model include, but are not limited to:

Ideation

The sky’s the limit.

Collaborating to ensure your courses meet learning outcomes and objectives.
Providing a second pair of eyes and serving as a soundboard for ideas.
Providing you with options for technology tools and media selection.

Creation

Your vision, our expertise.

Designing course structure, organization and learning content.
Suggesting engaging activities that boost learning outcomes.

Evaluation

We pivot when necessary.

Defining success criteria for assessments.
Evaluating course delivery from the online student perspective.
Identifying strategies for assessing learning.

Education

We embrace lifelong learning.

Introducing new tools as they become available.
Providing evidence-based ideas for course enhancements.
Recommending resources to improve academic integrity.
Resources for building community and increasing participation.
Sharing relevant tutorials.

The course development lifecycle

Our detailed course development process is evidence-based and created using up-to-date industry standards. We have used our experience to create a detailed guide including steps of the process and the expected timelines of each phase. As your partner in educating ASU Online students, we’re here to help you through the entire process.

A snapshot of the ASU Online course development phases

1. Pre-planning

Time to get started. Learn methods for instructing online learners through reviewing faculty expectations and completing training opportunities. In about two weeks, you’ll demonstrate readiness to design and develop an online course.

2. Design and planning

Let’s collaborate. You’ll work with your assigned instructional designer and our quality assurance team to kick off the development of your course. You’ll identify learning objectives, select technologies to be used and more. At the end of this phase, you’ll have a completed course design roadmap for your course.

3. Building and development

Putting the plan into action. In collaboration with your instructional designer, we’ll build out course content, learning materials, assessments and opportunities for engagement in the LMS according to the roadmap.

4. Course finalization

Let’s wrap up the development process. In this phase, it’s time to complete a final review and make any final revisions needed to be ready for launch. This final check should be completed at least two weeks prior to the term start date.

5. Course delivery

Now, it’s time for the fun part. Because you planned ahead, you can focus on creating an experience for your students that is engaging, effective and meaningful. Your presence as the course instructor has a large impact on the success of your course and the student experience.

6. Course revisions

Your course went great, now what? In this ongoing phase, you’ll work with your instructional designer to identify successes and room for improvement. We encourage you to keep track of any revisions or enhancements along the way.

Our services

Our instructional designers partner with you to design, develop and enhance online courses. Our goal is to promote the acquisition of knowledge in ways that are efficient, effective and appealing to students. We accomplish this through pedagogical strategy, course support, technology and tools and additional resources.

Pedagogical strategy

Experts in online learning pedagogy, our designers strategize with you on how to deliver engaging and effective courses. Ways we partner with you include:

Building community through instructor-to-student and student-to-student engagement.
Defining criteria for success for graded work.
Identifying effective online instructional strategies and models.
Refining strategies to assess learning.
Sharing course facilitation recommendations.

Course support

Online courses require a unique approach. Whether you’re developing a new course or refining one that exists, we support you by:

Advising on learning activities that support objectives.
Analyzing course and unit objectives.
Consulting on course structure, organization and learning content.
Promoting academic integrity maintenance strategies.
Providing course enhancement consultation and support.
Setting milestones with actionable steps to maintain course development pace and adherence to design standards.

Technology and tools

You develop course materials, and we support you in preparing to share them with online learners. We provide:

Consultation on media options to best present your course materials.
Guidance for proper tool usage.
Access to the ASU Online media studios.
Online tutorials and workshops.

Additional ASU resources

You have access to a wide network of support at ASU. Some resources you may use include:

Instructional design roles

ID Assistant

Student workers who help with course readiness checks and other tasks.

ID Associate

Entry-level instructional designers who are mentored by IDs on the team to learn how we do design.

ID

Main contact for online faculty for all things instructional design. IDs are able to quickly pivot between projects to meet the unique needs of faculty and courses.