Instructional Design Services

What is Instructional Design?

Simply speaking, 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. Instructional design processes and methodologies can be applied to any subject or discipline across any educational delivery mode, such as in-person, hybrid, and purely online. The instructional design process is a team-oriented collaboration that includes faculty as subject-matter experts, instructional designers, and multimedia specialists, as needed.

Joe Russo working with aisian female faculty

Working with an Instructional Designer

Our instructional designers are available to collaborate with you on many aspects of designing courses. An instructional designer can work with you on designing new courses, transforming existing courses to new modalities (such as converting an in-person course to an online course), or simply refining specific areas of your courses. They can provide guidance on instructional strategies, learning assessments, new technologies, and more.

OCIA Course Design Model

The Instructional Technology and Design Services team has developed a course design model in collaboration with faculty members for use at Montclair State University called OCIA (Orientation-Content-Interaction-Assessment). Our model supports a social, interaction-embedded approach to course design and development and uses learning modules to structure the course. The OCIA model and course template, elaborated upon further in this page, are guided by the nationally recognized Quality Matters Program (QM) in order to ensure high-quality online/hybrid education. This enables faculty and Instructional Designers to work collaboratively to enhance online/hybrid teaching and learning outcomes.

Course Design Frameworks

Learn about a few of the frameworks and practices in use at Montclair State below and the benefits they offer you and your students. Utilizing a design framework throughout the development of your course provides benefits for both students and faculty. Course design frameworks establish consistency in design while providing a model to follow throughout development and while teaching, enabling the integration of pedagogical best practices throughout each element of your course.

Online Course Design

The successful design of an online or hybrid course requires thoughtful consideration of how the modality shift impacts teaching and learning, both logistically and pedagogically. You should expect a shift in approach from the way you teach in a physical classroom, and you’ll need to determine what components will be asynchronous or synchronous depending on your course’s assigned modality.

Online Program Development

he ITDS group serves as a partner to provide course design and faculty development services to ensure Montclair’s online program courses are designed and delivered to meet high standards of quality. Whether a program consists of a few courses to earn a certificate or a full sequence of courses to earn a Bachelor or Master’s degree, ITDS’ instructional designers help design and develop all courses in a close collaboration with faculty members.

Course Review and Quality Assurance

Many research studies over the last two decades have attempted to figure out what has the most significant impact on student learning. To promote quality assurance in online course design and teaching and learning at Montclair State, the ITDS group has developed a set of review forms for online course design and teaching.

Multimedia Services

Research has shown that creating a faculty presence can greatly enhance the learning experience in any course. The use of video and multimedia is an excellent way for instructors to build a faculty presence and increase student engagement.