Roles in course development

We work together with you as a team to help you develop an engaging course.

Each team member brings unique knowledge and perspective to the design and development process.

Together, we can create an effective course that meets learning outcomes and offers students opportunities to demonstrate their learning.

Faculty member

As the primary "content specialist," faculty members bring their extensive knowledge of the academic discipline:

  • works with the development team to transform knowledge, experience and previously developed course notes and resources into an online or blended course
  • determines the appropriate learning outcomes, learning activities and assessment strategies in collaboration with the Instructional Designer
  • follows the steps outlined in the learning design process
  • presents the course outline, for approval, to Curriculum Committee
  • delivers content on time and in the specified format so that the course is ready for quality control check before it goes live
  • checks specific requirements at the program level for course review and sign-off procedures

Program staff

Program staff facilitate the learning design process:

  • hires faculty
  • writes and oversee contracts
  • reviews drafts of the course overview to ensure that appropriate learning outcomes are covered by the course
  • provides feedback on course content
  • is responsible for end of course faculty evaluations, and sometimes for mid-course faculty evaluations
  • works with the library and CTET as required to provide faculty support once the course is in progress
  • organizes and sets up student teams in Moodle

Instructional designer

The instructional designer is the course development project manager:

  • serves as the liaison between members of the development team (faculty member, creative lead, web developer, technical, copyright)
  • ensures that all development team members are aware of the course development process
  • clarifies the roles and responsibilities of team members
  • negotiates timelines and deliverables for development of course content
  • provides an orientation to our educational philosophy and approach to online development
  • directs the faculty member to additional relevant course development resources
  • orients faculty to the educational technologies that will be used, including Moodle and other web tools
  • suggests instructional and assessment strategies and enabling technologies that are appropriate for the content area
  • ensures that course development is on schedule by providing project management

The instructional designer also reviews and provides feedback on:

  • learning activities
  • assessment and evaluation strategies
  • course resources
  • use of discussion groups
  • course workload
  • balance between team and individual activities
  • clarity of the course schedule
  • use of multimedia
  • overall course design
  • clarity of language

The instructional designer does the following when course development is complete:

  • provides orientation to new faculty members on how to manage and facilitate their course in the online learning environment
  • debrief show it went once the course is completed
  • participates in the quality check process
  • participates in the quality check process

Senior learning technologist

The senior learning technologist provides:

  • course development support for implementing learning technologies in Service Level 3 initiatives
  • usability improvements for all learning technologies
  • technical problem resolution for learning technologies
  • research, testing and documentation of various learning technologies, media tools and plugins
  • project management of learning technology evaluations and implementations
  • advice, training and support for faculty and staff using learning technologies

Learning technologist

The learning technologist does the following:

  • works with the instructional designer to create online courses
  • provides quality control checks
  • provides ongoing support as required once the course is live