Higher learning has seen an increase in web-based distance education programs, which coincides with advancements made in educational technologies. As these programs are on the rise, it becomes increasingly more important to ensure that instructional designers are prepared to accommodate the needs of these academic institutions. Developing a culture of collaboration through the optimization of instructional design methods is part of the profession’s identity but has gotten overshadowed by the pressures of thinking of courses as products. Optimizing Instructional Design Methods in Higher Education is an essential reference source that discusses the importance of collaboration, training, and the use of new and existing models in supporting instructional designers to formalize and optimize curriculum development in higher education. It covers the importance of adapting, adjusting, and re-evaluating models based on learner needs in relation to both the process of learning and outcomes. Featuring research on topics such as human resource development, academic programs, and faculty development, this book is ideally designed for educators, academicians, researchers, and administrators seeking coverage to support design thinking and innovation that encourages student learning.

The mission of higher education in the 21st century must focus on optimizing learning for all students. In a shift from prioritizing effective teaching to active learning, it is understood that computer-enhanced environments provide a variety of ways to reach a wide range of learners who have differing backgrounds, ages, learning needs, and expectations. Integrating technology into teaching assumes greater importance to improve the learning experience. Optimizing Higher Education Learning Through Activities and Assessments is a collection of innovative research that explores the link between effective course design and student engagement and optimizes learning and assessments in technology-enhanced environments and among diverse student populations. Its focus is on providing an understanding of the essential link between practices for effective “activities” and strategies for effective “assessments,” as well as providing examples of course designs aligned with assessments, positioning college educators both as leaders and followers in the cycle of lifelong learning. While highlighting a broad range of topics including collaborative teaching, active learning, and flipped classroom methods, this book is ideally designed for educators, curriculum developers, instructional designers, administrators, researchers, academicians, and students.

In today's educational settings, infusing technology into educational practices is not optional. It is a necessity because of the changing expectations and needs of learners. In a fast-paced environment such as the medical profession, it is critical that future healthcare professionals have access to the most advanced training environments and resources. Optimizing Medical Education With Instructional Technology is an essential reference that reports on technology-supported medical education. It introduces the best practices in 21st century learning approaches. This book, in addition to looking at medical education through the lens of instructional technologies, features research on topics such as the ethics of online education, mentoring research, and technology in the clinical setting. This book is designed for medical educators, instructional designers, researchers, practitioners, and academicians.

Digital classrooms have become a common addition to curriculums in higher education; however, such learning systems are only successful if students are properly motivated to learn. Optimizing Student Engagement in Online Learning Environments is a critical scholarly resource that examines the importance of motivation in digital classrooms and outlines methods to reengage learners. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as motivational strategies, learning assessment, and student involvement, this book is geared toward academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on the importance of maintaining ambition among learners in digital classrooms.

“What does a new instructional designer need to know to find her or his feet when working with faculty to create online classes?” This is a practical handbook for established and aspiring instructional designers in higher education, readers who may also be identified by such professional titles as educational developer, instructional technologist, or online learning specialist. Jerod Quinn, together with a team of experienced instructional designers who have worked extensively with a wide range of faculty on a multiplicity of online courses across all types of institutions, offer key guiding principles, insights and advice on how to develop productive and collegial partnerships with faculty to deliver courses that engage students and promote enduring learning.Designing and developing online classes for higher education takes a combination of pedagogical knowledge, the ability to build trust with faculty, familiarity with frameworks on how people learn, understanding of accessibility and inclusion, and technical skills to leverage a learning management system into an educational experience. Coming from diverse backgrounds, few instructional designers enter academia well versed in all of these aspects of creating online classes. This book provides the foundation on which instructional designers can build their careers. The guiding principle that animates this book is that the student experience and successful learning outcomes are paramount, and governs discussion of course design, pedagogy, the use of multimedia and technological advances, as well as the use of different forms of interactive exercises and group assignments. The succinct, informally written chapters offer ideas and means to apply theory to the daily work of instructional design and cover the four key components that drive this work in higher education: ·Defining the scope and main design approaches of our work·Building trust with the faculty we work with·Applying frameworks of how people learn·Mastering common online instructional practices.

This book presents a comprehensive, systematic approach to the development of curricula in higher education in which each component is configured to optimize learning. The approach is based in an analysis of the psychophysics of the learner and employs theories of learning, instruction, and environment to design each component.

Streamlined ID: A Practical Guide to Instructional Design presents a focused and generalizable approach to instructional design and development – one that addresses the needs of ID novices, as well as practitioners in a variety of career environments. Emphasizing the essentials and "big ideas" of ID, Streamlined ID presents a new perspective – one that aims to produce instruction that is sustainable, optimized, appropriately redundant, and targeted at continuous improvement. The book features an enhanced version of the classic ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) that emphasizes the iterative nature of design and the role of evaluation throughout the design/development process. It clearly lays out a systematic approach that emphasizes the use of research-based theories, while acknowledging the need to customize the process to address a variety of pedagogical approaches: Instructivist, Constructivist, and Connectivist. The book opens with an overview of the basics of ID and each subsequent chapter describes major activities in the ID process with step-by-step instructions and tips for streamlining the process. Numerous job aids serve to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of your design efforts. Each chapter highlights key concepts and provides additional exercises and assignments based on the work of Benjamin Bloom. Streamlined ID is an ideal reference guide for optimizing professional practice.

Instructional designers hold the responsibility of selecting, sequencing, synthesizing, and summarizing unfamiliar content to subject matter experts. To successfully achieve legitimate participation in communities of practice, instructional designers need to utilize a number of communication strategies to optimize the interaction with the subject matter expert. Instructional Design: Case Studies in Communities of Practice documents real-world experiences of instructional designers and staff developers who work in communities of practice. Instructional Design: Case Studies in Communities of Practice explains the strategies and heuristics used by instructional designers when working in different settings, articulates the sophistication of communication strategies when working with subject matter experts, and provides insight into the range of knowledge, skills, and personal characteristics required to complete the tasks expected ofthem.

Under the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is important that organizations recruit and retain managers with skills that allow them to focus on meeting strategic objectives. To achieve this, companies must focus on implementing strategic management that allows managers to manage and lead continuous change, creativity, innovation, learning, productivity, speed, and effectiveness of their activities that turn them into constant value generators. Managers must also possess personal competences such as initiative, resilience, assumption of risk, creativity, networking, empathy, negotiation, self-control, self-knowledge, and the ability to turn difficulties into opportunities. These capabilities are important in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution because they will allow organizations to cope with the highly changing environment that will enable them to consolidate their growth and profitability. Management Training Programs in Higher Education for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Emerging Research and Opportunities delivers emerging research investigating empirical studies on the formation of management competences in higher education in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in regards to its development and linkage with the business sector in order to offer educational strategies at the national and international level. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as sustainable development, circular economics, and big data analysis, this book is ideally designed for academicians, educators, executives, managers, entrepreneurs, organizational development specialists, consultants, policymakers, researchers, administration professionals, and high-level students.

This book explores the role and function of instructional designers in higher education, highlighting the real-world discrepancy between their actual contributions to organizational growth and the official job descriptions provided by universities. Investigating how higher education professionals navigate the daily conflict arising from this misalignment, it highlights a number of approaches including improvising to accommodate additional tasks, or strictly adhering job descriptions. The volume is structured around main three themes: the interpretation of instructional design and the role of instructional designers, the concept of street-level bureaucracy and coping strategies, and the contribution of instructional designers to organizational development. The research is grounded in the sociological and management theory of street-level bureaucracy, allowing the author to dissect employee behavior into microelements and connect these to the macro-outcomes of organizational development. The study employs a qualitative approach, using quantitative content analysis and qualitative interviewing on a sample of 17 instructional designers from three different regions in the US. The findings challenge institutional and practice assumptions, offering a new perspective of understanding which asks whether instructional designers are predominantly acting as street-level bureaucrats, or whether behavior and performance is framed by institutional culture and personal characteristics. The author then discusses the implications of these findings for policy, practice, theory, and future research. It will be of interest to academicians, post-graduate students, and higher education leadership professionals from fields across education, management, instructional design, sociology, and research methods.