In response to the growing demand for instructional designers—from both on campus and off—the School of Education’s Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation (IDD&E) program has created an online certificate of advanced studies in Designing Digital Instruction.
The CAS will help students develop competencies required to design digital learning resources and effective and efficient online or e-learning instruction.“This CAS will get professionals prepared and credentialed faster than an M.S. degree,” says Professor Tiffany A. Koszalka, former chair of IDD&E. “And given it is built on internationally validated instructional design, online instructor and online learner competencies, the program prepares graduates to take on design responsibilities quickly.”
Inquiries have come from people in the military, higher education and students from across campus, Koszalka says.
“Digital instruction is used in almost any context you can think of: health care, higher education, business and industry, military and security, K-12, retail, food hotel and tourism, nonprofits, government, small business,” she says. “Anyone with a bachelor’s degree and interest in learning how to design digital instruction is a potential student.”
The focus is on working professionals who want to enhance their competencies in creating effective, efficient and acceptable digital learning experiences.
On campus, students might come from the Institute for Veterans and Military Families, which provides online programs to support veterans across the county.
The CAS program includes four required courses, one elective and a portfolio with sample digital projects and reflections on the student’s development of instructional designer, online instructor and online learner competencies. The required courses are “Technologies in Instructional Settings” (fall semester), “Design of Online Courses” (winterlude), “Strategies in Educational Project Management” (spring) and “Advanced Instructional Design” (summer session).
The program provides students with what IDD&E calls a 360-degree view of digital instruction and learning—from the perspectives of the designer, the facilitator and the learner. The student will then be able to design and create sound instructional resources and environments that will lead to quality learning experiences.
Koszalka says the CAS will stimulate students “to really think about how to design quality digital instruction that engage learners.”
The certificate can be completed within one year with fall, spring and summer courses. Students must work with their advisor complete and submit a CAS program of study before their second semester. There are no graduate course prerequisites.