In light of the growing number of instructional designers (IDs) of diverse educational and professional backgrounds in higher education, there is a need for formalized professional development programs. Currently no systematic pathway exists for equipping novice IDs with the requisite knowledge, skills, and experiences for successful performance and career growth. This article introduces the Development of Instructional Designers Apprenticeship (DIDA) model, comprised of four stages: (1) Observation and Modeling, (2) Tasks with Coaching, (3) Contextualized Practice, and (4) Reflection and Exploration. In this cognitive apprenticeship approach, an expert ID guides a novice through a continuum of tasks that graduate in level of difficulty over time. Case studies and sample tasks for each stage of development are provided as guides for implementation.

The purpose of this research was to identify the professional association services relevant to instructional design professionals working in institutions of higher education. A conceptual framework connecting professional association services to the existing research on the leadership, career development, and networking of instructional designers in higher education is provided. Based on this conceptual framework and an existing instrument, we provide the design, development, and adjustment of a survey to measure professional association services relevant to instructional designers in higher education; and provide the preliminary validity and reliability evidence of this survey on an administration with N = 217 instructional designers working in higher education. We titled this survey the Instructional Designer in Higher Education Professional Association Survey (IDHEPAS). The cross-sectional data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, descriptive statistics, internal consistency reliability, and correlation analyses. The analyses resulted in eight internally consistent factors explaining approximately 71% of the variability in these data: 1) Professional networking services, 2) Growth and advocacy services, 3) Professional communication services, 4) Ancillary discount services, 5) Leadership and mentoring services, 6) Relevant literature services, 7) Training and credentialing services, and 8) Vendor and continuing education services. These findings are discussed in detail, and recommendations for future research and practice are provided. The IDHEPAS was found to be a sound measurement tool for the stated purpose.

This article describes six major challenges facing faculty members and teams as they engage in the design of degree programs in higher education and how technology tools for program design can be employed to address those challenges. They include tools for collaboration, leveraging best practice, designing for quality and distinctiveness, addressing standards overload, focusing on assessment, and making feedback a meaningful part of the design process. The article makes the case for each of the challenges and shows examples of how the tools help teams engage in collaborative program development in higher education.

Social workers make difficult decisions every day and must do so in keeping with professional ethical standards. This exploratory study examined the types of instructional strategies used to teach social work ethics and ethical decision-making along with the topics of ethics instruction. Using a mixed-methods approach, social work students, educators, and practitioners identified instructional strategies and ethics related topics addressed in social work education. Respondents identified lectures and analysis of ethical dilemmas as the top two instructional strategies. Common ethics related topics among all respondents included boundaries/dual relationships, confidentiality and privacy, as well as sexual relationships with clients. Likewise, respondents indicated confidence in their ability to identify and respond to ethics related issues in practice. Only a minority of respondents indicated that previous training or education was used as a resource to resolve ethical dilemmas. Topics related to social media, technology, and challenges dealing with employers and colleagues were lacking from ethics instruction. Ethics education should include a variety of proven instructional strategies to ensure social workers have the requisite skill and knowledge to resolve ethical dilemmas in practice. Moreover, the complexity of ethical issues and topics of instruction should reflect the nuances of contemporary practice. More research is needed to explore instructional strategies such as think aloud protocols to analyze how social workers resolve ethical dilemmas.

The Food Network's television show Chopped pits chefs against each other, in a three-round battle, to create their best appetizer, entrée, and dessert. Facing master chef judges, the chef participants present their dishes with one chef chopped (eliminated) after each round. The last chef standing is crowned the Chopped Champion. A faculty member in an instructional design and technology program, created Chopped ID, an innovative adaptation and gamification of the Food Network's Chopped for application in a distance learning environment. Participating as competitors and judges, graduate students, firsthand, experienced gamification as an advanced instructional design technique. In the end, Chopped ID helped graduate students improve their instructional design skills.

What are the optimal techniques for applying the latest generation of telepresence, video conferencing, and communication technologies in distance education and virtual classroom designs? If human beings use more than voice to communicate, what implications does the ability to more effectively replicate eye-to-eye contact have in collaborative distance education? This research study explored the effects of perceived faculty credibility and immediacy during virtual classroom presentations. This quantitative experiment created four independent treatments that varied the video resolution and varied the ability of the instructor to maintain virtual eye-contact with students during each presentation. Participants were assigned into one of the four treatment groups, each listening to the same instructor narration and viewing the same instructor present the same subject matter, only the resolution and camera angle differed. A series of 2x2 Analysis of Variances were conducted on independent groups where an instructor was simultaneously recorded from two high-definition (1920x1080) cameras, one at eye-level and one located 15-degrees above eye-level, during the delivery of a 20-minute instructional module. These two camera angles were also replicated in a lower resolution (320x240). A total of 108 undergraduate and graduate participants completed the video and audio multimedia presentations and completed credibility and immediacy survey instruments. The results suggest that the position of the instructor's camera is more important than the resolution of the recorded video.

When assigned to develop higher education courses for the online learning format, faculty members and instructional designers (IDs) are often assigned to work together as a course development team. Sometimes, faculty members may be unaware of the field of instructional design and the valuable knowledge IDs can bring to a course development project. As a result, they may not realize that the advice and assistance IDs offer can help bring their courses to the next level. IDs possess specific knowledge of learning theories and instructional design models that are the keys to improving the quality of instruction within online higher education courses. When such specialized knowledge is not utilized, the result can be low-level courses in which students are unsuccessful. Therefore, it is important for individuals within academia to begin to understand the key role IDs play in improving the quality of online higher education courses. IDs often are responsible for helping faculty members write course objectives, create engaging assignments for the online format, and develop methods for presenting course information to learners. This paper outlines research and information gathered from 12 research study participants that details the important role IDs play in course production and seeks to bring new knowledge about instructional design to the forefront of the field. IDs are a valuable resource within higher education, and the expectation is that others within the field of academia will gain a clearer understanding about the need for IDs to be involved. Such an understanding can lead to a smoother course development process and a higher quality online course result. In addition to discussing the role of IDs in higher education, the 12 research study participants shared their strategies for successfully working with faculty members to develop high-quality courses within higher education.

The purpose of this project was to implement an e-learning program for a decentralized instructional design team. The team is decentralized by department, location, and reporting structure. Therefore, successful collaboration among the team members requires the implementation of standards and processes to ensure a consistent level of quality in the e-learning instructional content. This consistency was introduced and maintained through the ADDIE instructional design model; and development and implementation of consistent software templates, writing standards, forms, and processes.

The rapid evolution of instructional design, its relative novelty, and trends impacting it serve to cloud understanding and complicate practice. This study sought insight into an area of instructional design practice in higher education by exploring a subset of survey data gathered in early 2018. In part, the survey asked instructional designers and leaders of instructional design teams, working in higher education settings, which design models and theoretical frameworks guided their work. Nearly two hundred individuals provided responses. Answers offered most often included models with long histories, relative to instructional design at large, such as ADDIE and Backward Design. Technology's impact on instructional design was also made apparent by the inclusion of tech-focused frameworks including TPACK and SAMR. Statistical testing failed to develop significant relationships between the quantity of models reported in use and other characteristics of designers, however some relationship may exist relating to education and time in the field. Altogether, this may suggest, as reported by a small number of subjects, that the design process can or even ought to be ill-defined and remain fluid to best respond to unique needs as presented by each subject matter expert or design project.