A new online orientation course equips students with the tools and skills to thrive in online programs. It welcomes them to the university, introduces the learning management system, fosters peer connection, and locates essential resources. Additionally, it teaches valuable strategies for time management, motivation, and success in online…

As global university budgets fall due to inflationary and political pressures and international competition for students becomes increasingly fierce, it is increasingly important that these institutions are financially efficient and academically effective. While accrediting agencies guide the requirements of higher education structures necessary…

This design case presents the conceptualization, design, and development of Early Science Matters (ESM), an online teacher professional development (oTPD) program for early childhood teachers. The program design consisted of five primary features that were expected to promote participant learning, including (1) visually oriented content, (2)…

Maker-based education holds promise as a method to support students' development of essential skills and content knowledge across the curriculum. Over a five-year period, the authors developed and iterated on an experiential instructional design specifically designed to afford educators with diverse academic backgrounds and divergent career goals…

This design case highlights how two instructional designers initiated, designed, and implemented a K-12 novice teacher training program to address three known challenges teachers face when understanding, designing, and implementing project-based learning (PBL). The design framework comprised three areas: trainees, training program design, and…

This design case centers around a creative assignment given to graduate students studying instructional design. The goal of the assignment is to facilitate mastery of learning theories through the theory-based evaluation of an instructional product, using both research and imagination. By applying learning theories in a practical and engaging…

The purpose of our instructional design team is to service the faculty and staff of a multi-campus state university system with pay and benefits educational programming. Our learning population includes the university's diverse workforce of over 25,000 benefits-eligible employees. We support faculty and staff with resources to make informed…

Research over the last decade has indicated that active learning and student-centered instruction lead to better learning outcomes in undergraduate biology courses than traditional methods such as lecturing. This shift in pedagogical approach has been applied to both high-enrollment lecture-based courses as well as smaller laboratory courses. In…

This design case describes three iterative development phases of online integration training design from 2015 to 2021. Online integration training is a public educational service for adult immigrants who are registered as unemployed in Finland. The learners are from diverse backgrounds, typically residing in sparsely populated areas or unable to…

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been widely incorporated in STEM classrooms. Unfortunately, its effectiveness for foreign language teaching is less explored. This design case describes the design and implementation process of a Chinese PBL unit in a US elementary school along with the design considerations of teaching dilemma-centered…

Research on games and simulations for learning in the last decade has expanded the instructional design knowledge base to such an extent that degree programs in instructional design and technology are beginning to develop and offer courses on games and simulations as learning technologies. This design case chronicles the context, design decisions,…

Reasoning Mind products are used by over 100,000 students a year and have shown positive outcomes. In this design case we focus on implementation: how Reasoning Mind's approach evolved to tackle the challenge of achieving consistently high-quality implementations with many different schools, teachers, and students. Key insights include the…

As the developers of "Journey to El Yunque," we have taken a different approach to the process of designing a science curriculum. Rather than start with a specific set of concepts or skills to target as learning outcomes, we started by identifying a specific community of practice to which we sought to connect students. Researchers in the…

Academic juries have a long tradition as a method of educating students and assessing their work. This tradition has been limited to a relatively narrow range of disciplines, such as architecture and various fine and performing arts. This article describes the case of an online graduate-level Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) program…

Current science education reforms and the new standards (Next Generation Science Standards [NGSS], 2013) advocate that K-12 students gain proficiency in the knowledge-generating practices of scientists. These practices include argumentation, modeling, and coordinating evidence with theories and models. Practice-based instruction is very different…