What are the best instructional design skills for Higher Education courses?

2 Applying learning theories and principles

Instructional design is not just about creating content and activities, but also about applying sound pedagogical principles and theories to support learning. You need to be familiar with various learning theories and models, such as behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, social learning, adult learning, and universal design for learning. You also need to understand how to apply these theories and principles to different types of learning outcomes, such as cognitive, affective, psychomotor, and metacognitive. By applying learning theories and principles, you can design courses that are relevant, meaningful, engaging, and effective for your learners.

4 Implementing and managing courses

Another important skill of instructional design is implementing and managing courses in various delivery modes, such as face-to-face, online, blended, or hybrid. You need to be able to use various tools and platforms to deliver your courses, such as learning management systems, web conferencing software, authoring tools, and multimedia software. You also need to be able to manage your courses, such as setting up the course site, enrolling learners, communicating with learners and instructors, facilitating learning activities, monitoring progress, and troubleshooting issues. By implementing and managing courses, you can ensure that your courses run smoothly and efficiently.

6 Collaborating and communicating

Besides the technical and pedagogical skills, instructional design also requires collaboration and communication skills. You need to be able to work with various stakeholders, such as subject matter experts, instructors, learners, administrators, and other instructional designers. You need to be able to communicate effectively with them, using various modes and methods, such as emails, meetings, reports, presentations, and feedback. You also need to be able to negotiate, compromise, and resolve conflicts with them, while respecting their perspectives and expectations. By collaborating and communicating, you can build trust, rapport, and support for your instructional design projects.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?