For several years, UMass Dartmouth has employed Instructional Designers in CITS.  These instructional designers have supported faculty in the use of instructional technologies across all teaching and learning environments.

However, the work of Instructional Designers extends beyond the use of technology in teaching to providing professional development to faculty and supporting our students in all modes of instruction.  Instructional design is a systematic and continuous process, deeply rooted in learning principles and pedagogy and supported by educational technology, to develop the most effective learning experiences for students and to promote student success.

As such, I am pleased to announce that the Instructional Designers have moved into Academic Affairs to better support our strategic priorities of promoting student and faculty success.  Mendy Smith, Instructional Designer, has extensive experience in instructional design, education, and pedagogy and a Master’s degree in Technical Communication.  Rachel Rebello, Lead Instructional Designer, is leaving UMass Dartmouth to pursue other opportunities.  We plan to search for her replacement in the spring.

Moving these positions to Academic Affairs will allow the Instructional Designers to more effectively support faculty, departments/programs, and colleges/schools in providing quality instruction aligned with best practices and supported by research.  It will also allow us to align pedagogical support with campus strategic goals around student retention, career learning, the integration of AI into instruction, and more.

The Instructional Designers will report to the Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Undergraduate Education and will work to support colleges/schools, faculty and instructional staff at every phase of program and course design.

Our Instructional Designers can assist with:

• Course Design and Development – We collaborate with faculty to provide guidance on how to improve existing courses or develop new ones.
• Syllabus Design – We provide feedback and guidance on creating or refining your syllabus.
• Course Mapping and Alignment – We assist with mapping your course goals and learning outcomes to ensure there is alignment with course materials, activities, and assessments.

• Course Content Presentation – We share technologies and techniques to improve the way you present content in your courses.
• Student Engagement and Active Learning – We share ideas to improve student engagement in your courses and promote active learning.
• Assessment Strategies – We assist with providing suggestions on how to assess student learning to promote academic honesty, use authentic assessment methods, and effectively use design tests/quizzes.
• Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning – We provide recommendations to ensure your course is designed to be accessible to all learners.
• Online Asynchronous, Synchronous, and Hybrid Course Design – We assist with modifying courses taught in person to be taught in other modalities such as asynchronous online, synchronous online, and hybrid.
• Accelerated Formats – We assist with transforming existing courses into accelerated formats going from 13 to 7 or 4 weeks.
• Instructional Technologies – We share suggestions on the effective use of instructional technologies to support your teaching and learning goals.
• Visual Design and Usability – We help you modify course templates to enhance the visual design and usability of your courses.
• Multimedia Production – We provide guidance on how to produce DIY videos and assist faculty in the creation of high-quality videos in our professional studio and editing facilities.