The Relationship Between Instructional Design And IT
Technology is increasingly critical in delivering quality online education in today's higher education landscape. Instructional Designers must work closely with IT departments to ensure that faculty, staff, and students have all the necessary resources to offer high-quality online education. However, for Instructional Designers to succeed, they need a collaborative relationship with IT departments that understands the importance of innovation and acquisition of new technologies, the need for high-quality technical support, and the importance of allowing Instructional Designers to manage and administer educational technology platforms.
In this article, we will explore how Instructional Designers can build an effective and productive relationship with IT departments in higher education. We will examine how they can ensure that IT departments understand their needs and goals and how they can work together to achieve these objectives.
Importance Of Innovation And Acquisition Of New Technologies
The first step in building an effective relationship between Instructional Designers and IT is ensuring that IT understands the importance of innovation and acquiring new technologies. Instructional Designers are responsible for creating online courses that engage students and help them achieve their learning goals. To accomplish this, Instructional Designers must have access to the latest technologies and tools.
IT departments are responsible for managing the institution's technology infrastructure, and they often deeply understand the latest technologies and their capabilities. However, Instructional Designers are the ones who understand how these technologies can be leveraged to create practical online courses. Therefore, IT departments must collaborate with Instructional Designers to identify new technologies and tools to enhance online education.
To facilitate this collaboration, Instructional Designers should keep IT departments informed about the latest trends and technologies in online education. This could include attending conferences, webinars, and workshops related to Instructional Design and educational technology. In addition, Instructional Designers should proactively communicate their needs to IT departments. They should make clear what technologies and tools are necessary for them to create effective online courses.
Permitting Instructional Designers To Manage And Administer EdTech Platforms
Another critical factor in building an effective relationship between Instructional Designers and IT is ensuring that IT departments permit Instructional Designers to manage and administer educational technology platforms. In many institutions, IT departments manage educational technology platforms, such as Learning Management Systems (LMS) and other software applications. However, Instructional Designers are the ones who create the content and design the courses that are hosted on these platforms.
To be effective, Instructional Designers need administrative privileges to manage and customize these platforms to meet their needs. This may include adding and removing course content, managing student enrollments, customizing the user interface, and integrating technologies with the LMS. Instructional Designers must have control over these platforms to ensure that they can create effective and engaging online courses.
To achieve this, Instructional Designers must work with IT departments to establish clear guidelines and procedures for managing educational technology platforms. IT departments should provide Instructional Designers with the necessary training and support to use these platforms effectively. This includes access to documentation, technical support, and ongoing training to ensure that Instructional Designers can use these platforms to their full potential.
IT Departments Understanding The Need For High-Quality Technical Support
Another critical factor in building an effective relationship between Instructional Designers and IT is ensuring that IT departments understand the need for high-quality technical support. Online education requires a robust technical infrastructure to support student content delivery. Any technical issues that arise must be resolved quickly and efficiently to minimize disruptions to the learning experience.
To achieve this, IT departments must proactively provide technical support to faculty, staff, and students. This includes providing access to technical support resources such as online helpdesk portals, phone and email support, and chat support. In addition, IT departments must work closely with Instructional Designers to identify and resolve technical issues that may arise during the development and delivery of online courses.
Instructional Designers can also ensure that high-quality technical support is available to faculty, staff, and students. They can provide IT departments with feedback on the effectiveness of technical support and suggest improvements where necessary. Instructional Designers can also work with IT departments to effectively develop training resources for faculty and staff on using educational technology platforms.
Instructional Designers And IT Departments As Willing Partners
Finally, Instructional Designers need IT departments to be willing partners who share the same goal of ensuring faculty and staff have all the resources necessary to offer high-quality online education and that students receive the best quality online experience possible. Both Instructional Designers and IT departments have critical roles in achieving this goal.
IT departments must be willing to collaborate with Instructional Designers to identify and implement new technologies and tools that can enhance the online learning experience. They must also be willing to work closely with Instructional Designers to ensure that educational technology platforms are configured correctly and that technical issues are resolved quickly and efficiently.
Instructional Designers must also be willing to work collaboratively with IT departments. They must recognize IT departments' expertise and be willing to listen to their recommendations and advice. They must also be willing to work within the constraints of the institution's technology infrastructure and be open to finding creative solutions to any challenges that may arise.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Instructional Designers play a critical role in delivering high-quality online education but cannot do it alone. They need to work closely with IT departments to ensure that faculty, staff, and students have all the necessary resources to create an effective online learning experience. This requires IT departments to understand the importance of innovation and acquisition of new technologies, permit Instructional Designers to manage and administer educational technology platforms, provide high-quality technical support, and be willing partners with the same goal.
By building an effective and productive relationship with IT, Instructional Designers can ensure they have access to the latest technologies and tools, administrative privileges that allow them to customize educational technology platforms to meet their specific needs, and access high-quality technical support. This will result in a better online learning experience for students, which is the ultimate goal of all involved in online education.
