Instructional design is a systematic and continuous process, deeply rooted in learning principles and pedagogy and supported by educational technology, to develop the most effective and efficient learning experience for students. Our instructional designers are available to collaborate with full-time faculty, instructional specialists, and adjuncts on many aspects of teaching and learning.
Our instructional designers are committed to learning from recent trends in learning science while leveraging the latest instructional technologies to support student learning and engagement. Most of our instructional designers also teach as adjunct faculty, bringing valuable teaching experience. To get started, schedule a course design consultation.
Instructional designers can assist with:
- Course Design and Development – We collaborate with faculty to provide guidance on how to improve existing courses or develop new ones.
- Syllabus Design – We provide feedback and guidance on creating or refining your syllabus.
- Course Mapping and Alignment – We assist with mapping your course goals and learning outcomes to ensure there is alignment with course materials, activities, and assessments.
- Online Asynchronous, Synchronous, and Hybrid Course Design – We assist with modifying courses taught in person to be taught in other modalities such as asynchronous online, synchronous online, and hybrid.
- Accelerated Formats – We assist with transforming existing courses into accelerated formats going from 15 to 8 or 4 weeks.
- Course Content Presentation – We share technologies and techniques to improve the way you present content in your courses.
- Student Engagement and Active Learning – We share ideas to improve student engagement in your courses and promote active learning.
- Assessment Strategies – We assist with providing suggestions on how to assess student learning to promote academic honesty, use authentic assessment methods, and effectively use design tests/quizzes.
- Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning – We provide recommendations to ensure your course is designed to be accessible to all learners.
- Instructional Technologies – We share suggestions on the effective use of instructional technologies to support your teaching and learning goals.
- Visual Design and Usability – We help you modify course templates to enhance the visual design and usability of your courses.
- Multimedia Production – We provide guidance on how to produce DIY videos and assist faculty in the creation of high-quality videos in our professional studio and editing facilities.
How to Get Instructional Design Support
Some aspects of the course design process can take time to develop so it is best to start the process a semester before the course is going to be offered. The better designed the course is in advance, the more time you will be able to devote to facilitating the course. If you are planning to teach or assigned a face-to-face, hybrid or online course(s) in the coming semester and would like instructional design assistance, you can set up a one-on-one course design appointment with one of our Instructional Designers.
Course Design Resources
- Learn more about our course development process and the course design frameworks we use.
- Review the Teaching and Learning section of our website. This includes Teaching Essentials, Pedagogical Strategies and Practices, Online and Hybrid Teaching.
- Start working with the Montclair State Canvas Course Template for your course to customize it using modules. Review our public gallery of courses.
- Review the Canvas Faculty Orientation, a resource for you to reference anytime.
- Learn how to use Instructional Technologies beneficial to teaching and learning. Attend our workshops.
- Participate in the Empowering Online/Hybrid Teaching and Learning (EOTL) program. This is a three-week online, asynchronous course intended to provide faculty with strategies and best practices for designing and teaching high-quality, learner-centered online and hybrid courses at Montclair State University. The cohort experience allows for a rich exchange of ideas and practices between faculty peers across the university.