UNDERSTANDING INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN
SYNOPSIS:
Instructional designer Christine Scott discusses the nature of ID, her background in the field and how this kind of online design work can lead to a rewarding career.
Published April 8, 2025
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Instructional Design is one of the most exciting career opportunities for those interested in combining education with technology. But what is it?
“It’s a question we get all the time,” laughs Christine Scott, an instructor with Oregon State’s College of Education and full-time instructional designer. "Most people aren’t really sure what we do, but Instructional Design focuses on how people learn and how to create effective educational experiences to help them to help to achieve their learning goals."
At its essence, instructional design is an innovative process for creating accessible digital learning materials for a specific audience. In this respect, Instructional Design is valuable in the educational, corporate, and private sectors, especially for higher education, human resources, on-the-job training, or providing customers, clients, and the public with needed information or skills.
But Instructional Design is about more than imparting information — it is also about making learning fun and engaging for the learner, even if they are working on a laptop at their kitchen table.
“To create an online course, we start with a set of learning outcomes, and then we align that with all of the good things that we know make a really good course. That includes things like peer-to-peer interactions and active learning activities and varied assessment types,” said Christine.
A critical aspect of Instructional Design is that the manner of instruction must be motivating and enjoyable, both of which promote deeper understanding and retention on the part of the learner. To ensure this, Instructional Designers draw on principles from various learning theories to understand how people best learn.
One of the most exciting aspects of Instructional Design is that it allows greater accessibility to education and other forms of learning for diverse learners.
“We think a lot about accessibility and how to reach all learners,” said Christine.
Because of its digital nature, Instructional Design naturally lends itself to inclusive learning experiences. By presenting information in various formats, such as text, audio, video, and graphic design, Instructional Design accommodates different learning preferences and sensory needs.
While this may seem complex, Christine notes that the OSU programs are designed to assist students with no previous experience in Instructional Design or online learning.
"Not all, but many of us do come from more traditional teaching backgrounds,” said Christine. “I taught English language learners in the U.S. and abroad for many years. From there, I moved into academic publishing and sometimes wrote content for English language learners in Spain and Latin America, and eventually I moved into creating digital content... Eventually, I formalized my instructional design work and later became part of the design team at OSU’s Ecampus.”
Today, Christine is the primary instructor of the Instructional Technology series offered through the College of Education. The college offers multiple options to meet the needs of learners.
The Instructional Design Graduate Certificate is a one-year program designed to provide learners with applied skills and knowledge for creating, implementing, and assessing educational programs in a variety of formats, including in-person, online, and hybrid. All the credits earned in the certificate can be transferred to the Master of Education in Adult & Higher Education degree.
The second option is offered through OSU’s Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) Program and is designed for working professionals who want to boost their credentials or make a career change. Completion of the E-Learning Instructional Design and Development Certificate enables students to create online courses, programs, and blended learning solutions for their employer.
“One of the highlights of my job is working with faculty to help create online courses,” said Christine. “I really enjoy that lightbulb moment when faculty who may be initially skeptical realize the full possibilities of online learning through Instructional Design.”
Corbin Davey is a teacher — but he has a very unusual classroom! This graduate of the College of Education's Master of Education in Adult & Higher Education program explains how he uses his degree to better train prospective firefighters at Rogue Community College.
Melissa Medina is both a student and employee at Oregon State University. As a graduate of the Master of Education in Adult & Higher Education Program, she learned how to connect better and more creatively with her other adult learners. As a trainer with OSU's Human Resources office, she's implementing that education. This is her story.
To address growing demand for online education, this professional certificate equips participants with the skills to enter — or advance in — the field of instructional design by providing broad exposure to principles and applications of e-learning.