"I just wanted to add my voice to the praise of what seems to be the most useful document in the field I've seen in a long time." –Erin DeSilva, Instructional Designer at Dartmouth College
As digital tools evolve and become more prominent in higher education, instructional designers, learning designers, instructional technologists, and folks with a dozen other related titles are assuming a more integral role in the learning process. But who are these mysterious designers of instruction, and what do they do? Under the funding and encouragement of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we investigated the role, workflow, and experience of instructional designers in higher education. The result was a 15-page report which became our first publicly published research document.
We began our investigation by researching available scholarship about instructional designers. Wherever conversations pertaining to the work of instructional designers were being had, we were there. Because of the profession’s rich history – dating back to WWII – we found many sources of information pertaining to instructional designers in the corporate sector, but very little in higher education.
With the help of Courseware providers and partners, we identified practitioners in the field of instructional design and conducted interviews to better understand the nuances of their roles. We also fielded a survey: 780 people responded that they both worked for a ‘Higher education institution’ and in ‘Instructional design, instructional technology, course design, or a related field’.
The sector did not have an understanding of instructional designers and how many exist. We wanted to use this survey to create an estimate of the instructional designer population in US higher education.
The estimate is based on two pieces of information:
This leads us to a population estimate for each institution type. When summed, it creates a total population estimate for instructional designers in the US: roughly 13,000. It is important to emphasize that this is a conservative estimate, meaning that the actual population could be higher.
After we published the report and with the support of several partner organizations – Online Learning Consortium, Edsurge, and Acrobatiq – we ran a series of free webinars with instructional design panelists to further explore issues and success stories. Over the course of three webinars, we had nearly 1800 participants – in some cases including entire school departments.
The goal of this report was to start a conversation about instructional designers; their challenges, potential impact, processes, methods, wins, and failures. We’re thankful to our partners, who were instrumental in facilitating these conversations through forums, articles, and report dissemination.
With this work, we tapped into a deep vein of enthusiasm from folks who want to share their voice and make a difference for students. We’re excited to continue standing beside instructional designers and hearing what they have to say.
