Indispensable Instructional Designers at Professional Schools  – Faculty Focus

There are many ways to design a course in higher education, but why do it alone? As the educational landscape continues to evolve, the role of an instructional designer (ID) has become necessary. 

ID Benefits

While traditionally associated with K-12, higher ed, and the corporate world, IDs can bring transformative benefits to professional schools (programs offering terminal degrees for a specific profession) and support faculty in their endeavors to innovate and engage students. Professional schools, such as pharmacy, medical, dental, law, etc., should consider incorporating instructional designers into their academic teams to boost the quality of education and to help reshape what faculty are doing. 

Professional schools cater to a diverse student body with varying learning preferences, needs, and accrediting bodies to answer to (Coble, 2015). These adult learners thrive in multimodal contexts which can look like traditional lecture-based settings, hands-on experiential learning, or online coursework. Most importantly, adults need consistency, organization, transparency, and a community (Sockalingam, 2012 & Binder, 2023). Instructional designers are experts who use their flexibility, knowledge, and skills in theory and practice to help faculty adapt to new ways of educating students (Pollard & Kumar, 2022). IDs work closely and collaboratively with subject matter experts (SMEs) to design and implement strategies that reflect these needs, as well as design universally for accessibility and diversity. IDs specialize in integrating and managing learning tools and systems, creating multimedia content, designing interactive simulations, building e-learning courses, and eliminating technology shortcomings of professors (Kenny, Zhang, Schwier, & Campbell, 2005). Instructional designers empower faculty to focus once again on teaching, content, and their students. 

In essence, an instructional designer leverages technology by marrying pedagogy and practice with selective and useful innovations. The word selective is important. Technology is not always the answer, and the ID must evaluate each innovation thoroughly before implementation. Faculty professional development follows as the goal of an ID should always be toward faculty autonomy. 

Is an ID a Consultant or Admin? 

Think of an instructional designer as your personal consultant for teaching and learning. The consultant term works well to describe an ID because it is a familiar advisory term that helps describe the expectations and nature of the ID/faculty relationship (Carliner & Chen, 2024). Moreover, an instructional designer with administrative privileges, such as senior ID, director, or assistant dean, can work collaboratively with faculty and administration to create important policies and procedures, promote one-stop-shop modalities, and recommend innovative and transformative practices for learning. For example: 

• designing and promoting the use of a syllabus template,  
• aligning objectives with outcomes,  
• promoting multimodal teaching,  
• offering professional development workshops,  
• serving on faculty committees,  
• implementing accreditation standards,  
• publishing articles,  
• and scheduling specialized one-on-ones with faculty.  

Let’s also not forget about assessments. IDs can build authentic assessments, rubrics, and evaluation strategies (graded or non-graded, formal or informal, formative or summative, metacognitive or content-driven) to gauge students’ knowledge and skills. They help faculty use a data-driven lens when making decisions about teaching and learning in their course. This data focus helps professional schools make informed decisions about curriculum improvements, student support, and satisfying accreditation standards. Practically, this alignment is also crucial for producing graduates who are well-prepared to meet the evolving demands of their profession. 

As higher education continues to evolve, professional schools must adapt to meet the changing needs of their students and their profession. Hiring instructional designers is the pivotal change agent needed to innovate and engage students. Utilizing IDs as a consultant or administrator is a necessary resource to revamp and rethink teaching, as their expertise in pedagogy, technology, accessibility, and assessment is indispensable. 

Patricia Baia, PhD, is a senior instructional designer at Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center and teaches instructional design at Touro’s Graduate School of Technology. She was the previous Director of Online Learning and Instructional Technology at Albany Law School and was an assistant professor for 10 years at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Dr. Baia has more than 20 years of experience in higher education and has designed over 500 online, hybrid, and F2F courses.