Dynamic Duos: Choreographing the Dance of the ID & SME

Concurrent Session 3
Leadership

Session Materials

Brief Abstract

The meeting ground of instructional designers and subject matter experts more often resembles a skirmish than a dance. Supporting these interdependent roles requires out-of-the-box thinking and creative leadership. This session will challenge participants to reimagine their institution’s approach to course design while metaphorically choreographing the ID and SME dance.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Cheryl Fulghum, Haywood Community College

Cheryl Fulghum is the Director of Instructional Design and Online Learning at Haywood Community College in western North Carolina. In this role, she is responsible for instructional design through faculty development, online course design, emerging technologies research, accessibility compliance, and the administration of several learning platforms. She describes her main role as 'faculty cheerleader', empowering faculty to become technology-informed and innovative in their teaching practices. Prior to her work in the online learning field, she served as full-time faculty in the commercial arts and worked as project manager and media content creator for Shadowbox Design, specializing in online ancillaries for higher education textbook publishers. She has degrees in Educational Media: Curriculum and Instruction, Broadcast Communications, and Journalism.

Extended Abstract

Fostering healthy collaboration and positive partnerships may be the key to course design and redesign success. A well-choreographed dance between instructional designers and faculty is as important as instructional content and tool proficiency. Instead of observing the directive: “Let the designers be the designers and the subject matter experts be the subject matter experts” and dividing duties, what might we accomplish if we pair professionals who complement one another to co-create?

Such an effort is led by academic and instructional support leadership. It is unlikely to occur organically, with designers and faculty, unless a higher-level leadership tier is modeling it. A dynamic duo framework is only as strong as its promotion by leadership and the initiatives leadership champions.

This session will guide participants through evaluating their organizational structures and course design constructs. The exercise seeks to highlight areas requiring a mindset change for the sake of institutional change and reveal under-supported interdependent roles tasked with creation and revision. It will also include consideration of an institution’s course review and improvement process and expose the likelihood those tools are underutilized and even misunderstood.

Participants will leave the session with a better understanding of the course design process at their institution, its strengths and weaknesses, and ideas for positive institutional change resulting in healthier and more effective course design and redesign practices.