UMKC Instructional Design (ID)

Where Pedagogy Meets Technology

What does the Instructional Design department do?

The Instructional Design Department at UMKC is available to assist faculty in all aspects of online teaching, course development and update of current online courses. Instructional Design staff teach several different workshops aimed at both the pedagogical aspects of online teaching as well as current theory in instructional design. Staff of this department are also responsible for certifying online courses and programs to ensure that they meet the UMKC standards for excellence in online teaching. The Instructional Design Department:

• Provides professional development to faculty groups who desire a greater understanding of pedagogical approaches to teaching online and for best practice in online course design.
• Provides Blackboard and Moodle course building workshops, course development assistance, and course design services to online programs offered by UMKC.
• Assists faculty with assessment and evolution of web-based technology in their courses.

What is Online Course Certification?

In 2010, UMKC adopted a set of standards that exemplify excellence in online course design. These course design elements were identified through examination of peer-reviewed educational research and have been confirmed by national online education groups such as Quality Matters and the Sloan Consortium. Although both of these groups have developed their own set of online course design standards, UMKC chose to develop a unique set of standards tailored to our own specific educational needs and environment.

Excellence in online course design is characterized by clear course goals and objectives, assessments that accurately measure those stated objectives, and interactivity with the course instructor and course content, to name a few. The UMKC Online Course Design rubric, which was developed cooperatively by UMKC faculty and instructional designers, is the measure that is used to determine if a course is "online certified".

UMKC Online Course Design Rubric

The Instructional Design Department, with support of the Online Education Advisory Committee, developed an instrument for certifying UMKC online courses. Click here to access a copy of the rubric (insert link here).

Instructional Design Workshops and Faculty Certification

The ID department offers a wide range of workshops throughout the year, including the summer.  For specific information on upcoming workshops and to register electronically, please visit our ITS Workshops site:  http://www.umkc.edu/ia/workshops. If you have a specific training request or would like to meet with an Instructional Designer one-on-one, please contact us by phone or email (listed below).

Contact Instructional Design