Improving Online Curriculum Design

Creating appropriate curriculum for online learning §requires a new instructional regimen for §Instructional Design staff and Subject Matter §Experts (SMEs). Professional Instructional Design §staff must be able to not only conceptualize vast §amounts of information but also design courses using §a student-centered approach with the overall goal of §meeting the needs of the learner. Instructional §Designers are often employed as part of a curriculum §production team and must work in collaboration with §SMEs. Investment in an Instructional Designer §training program is a necessity in order to meet the §demands and opportunities of the online learning §environment. The Instructional Designer applies §appropriate learning theory and technology, with §established and emerging pedagogies to create §effective course content. This study evaluated the §partnership between SMEs and Instructional Designers §to determine best practices related to curriculum §development and the training requirements of §Instructional Design staff. Understanding the roles §of each and the collaboration necessary was §instrumental to the development of the Instructional §Designer training program.