Instructional Design 

Instructional Design is a discipline that pulls key theories and practices from the areas of Education, Psychology, and Communication. An instructional designer works with subject matter experts (i.e., instructors), designing and implementing the best teaching strategies and assessment tools to achieve target outcomes. Instructors provide the content knowledge, and instructional designers provide the advice, tools, and best practices.

How Can Instructional Design Help You?

• Teaching tune-ups. Want to strengthen or rebuild your syllabus or course assignment? Or, would you like someone to sit in on your class and provide feedback and advice? Reach out to an instructional designer. They might be able to help you uncover entirely new strategies or provide some simple tips to improve upon what you’re doing. You set the goal—they’ll help you get there!
• Curriculum design. Are you designing a new course or trying to refine a lesson or activity and want to know whether you are teaching (and measuring!) the desired learning outcomes? Instructional designers can help you design or streamline your teaching to ensure your outcomes, objectives, and assessments are appropriate and aligned (healthcare education’s “triple aim”).
• Assessment strategies. Does multiple choice work for all learning outcomes? How do you assess problem solving vs. motor skills, vs. attitudes? Instructional designers can expand your assessment options for any situation, goal, or learner!
• Engagement strategies. When should you use questions, how do you get (and hold!) students’ attention? Instructional designers can share the nine events that science has shown all good instruction uses to teach and engage students—even during lectures!
• eLearning. Who says all learning has to take place in the classroom? An instructional designer can help you design and develop interactive, simulations, games, or tutorials.
• Add (or subtract!) technology. Effective integration of technology increases efficiencies in and out of the classroom and can even support different cognitive skills; instructional designers can help you determine whether what you’re using is working and where you might benefit from change.
• Educational scholarship. Are you in the pursuit of publications, grant funding opportunities, or professional growth? Instructional designers can help you conceptualize your teaching as research, whether you want to generate publications and presentations or determine the effects of different approaches you adopt.

Each of the instructional designers at Education Resources holds a doctorate in Instructional Design and Technology. We bring over 20 years' combined experience in instructional design, research scholarship and higher education to the SMHS. Reach out to us today. 

Dr. Richard Van Eck, Associate Dean for Teaching & Learning
richard.vaneck@med.und.edu • 777-3528 • Office: E452

Dr. Adrienne Salentiny, Instructional Designer
adrienne.salentiny@med.und.edu • 777-4272 • Office: E451