iDesign

“You have to fundamentally rethink your design to accommodate the new term length. Sometimes that really requires just erasing the whiteboard and starting over.” - Thomas Cavanagh, (Vice Provost for Digital Learning, University of Central Florida)   University Business piece from Alcino N. Donadel describing how UCF’s RN to BSN program serves #workingnurses at one of the largest universities in the country. When the institution decided to rebuild it for eight-week terms, the goal wasn’t speed. It was building something that actually fits the lives of the students it was designed for.   There’s a right way to do this, and a wrong way. Cavanagh lays out both, including a cautionary tale about what happens when institutions move too fast without the right people in the room.   Four principles. One of the largest online programs in the country. Well worth the read: https://lnkd.in/exKghZkg #highereducation #onlinelearning #coursedesign #instructionaldesign #nursingeducation

We're growing, and this is a role we're genuinely excited about. If you know someone with a strong track record in online program partnerships and a passion for what #highered can be, send them this way. Knowledge Leaders is leading our search. The full job description is linked below. #highereducation #onlinelearning #hiring

Excited to share that iDesign is exhibiting at the AAQEP Symposium. As educator preparation programs face increasing expectations regarding quality assurance, outcomes, and continuous improvement, the conversation is shifting from compliance to clarity. We look forward to connecting with leaders who are strategically thinking about program alignment, evidence, and scalable systems that support both rigor and innovation. If you’re at the AAQEP Symposium, let’s connect! #AAQEP #EducatorPreparation #HigherEdLeadership

"Nursing program teams are already under pressure to demonstrate competency alignment, and they shouldn't have to spend weeks configuring their tools before the real work begins. Making The Essentials available as a built-in default inside Align is about reducing friction so faculty can focus on what matters: designing programs that actually prepare nurses for practice." — Whitney Kilgore, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Academic Officer, iDesign American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)'s The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education is now embedded in Align as a default for all #nursing program users. RN-BSN, MSN, DNP, PMHNP, and ADN-BSN programs can begin mapping outcomes from day one. Align's multi-hierarchy architecture lets teams visualize coverage gaps, track outcomes across an entire program portfolio, and generate accreditation-ready reports. The field's defining competency framework is now inside the platform by default. "The complexity of nursing program design is real, and the stakes are high for institutions, for accreditors, and most importantly for future nurses and the patients they'll serve," said Paxton Riter, CEO of iDesign. #nursingeducation #AACN #highereducation #instructionaldesign #AI Request a demo at align.idesignedu.org or read the full announcement: https://lnkd.in/gBamDDw2

"No one is a lone instructional designer in a place that has a community of more than one hundred instructional designers in it." - Linda J. Lee (The Wharton School) In a fantastic new piece for EDUCAUSE Review, Linda Lee highlights the success of the Instructional Design Working Group (IDWG) at the University of Pennsylvania. In decentralized universities, instructional designers can often feel isolated within their specific colleges or programs. Penn solved this by launching a dedicated #Slack channel, learning cohorts, and a cross departmental mentoring program to break down staff silos and build a centralized knowledge base. This is a brilliant model for any institution looking to foster collaboration, prevent duplicated efforts, and attract top instructional design talent! #InstructionalDesign #HigherEducation #HigherEdLeadership #ProfessionalDevelopment #EdTech #Penn https://lnkd.in/gAY2crZG

As artificial intelligence reshapes higher education, a critical question emerges: what happens to the role of the faculty? A brilliant new piece in EDUCAUSE Review (all-star cast of contributors cited below) argues that AI will not replace #educators. Instead, it will act as a "genius #teachingassistant" to handle routine knowledge transfer. This technological shift will finally free #faculty to focus on the deeply human aspects of #teaching: building genuine relationships, fostering #criticalthinking, and ensuring every #student feels like they truly matter. This human centric vision for the future of learning is exactly what the industry needs. #HigherEducation #AIinEducation #EdTech #StudentSuccess #FutureOfWork Tanya Gamby, Ph.D. - David Kil - Rachel Koblic - Paul J. LeBlanc - Mihnea Moldoveanu - George Siemens https://lnkd.in/gZcdTXAP

Just went deep on Phil Hill’s “Hidden Geography of Online Higher Ed” special report on all 50 states and one thing is clear: 👉 Online education is not a national market. It’s a state-by-state battleground with very uneven winners and losers. A few takeaways that really jumped out: 1. California is the biggest prize… and the biggest exporter. California sends massive numbers of students out-of-state for online programs. That’s not just demand — that’s a structural failure of in-state institutions to capture their own learners. 2. Arizona, New Hampshire, and Western Governors = the “net exporters” playbook. A handful of institutions have figured out how to operate nationally at scale — pulling students from across the country. These aren’t just strong programs… they are distribution machines. 3. Texas and Florida are quietly becoming self-contained ecosystems. Large populations + strong in-state online options = more students staying local. That’s a different strategy: defend your borders vs. win nationally. 4. Small and rural states are getting hollowed out. Many states are net importers — meaning their students are leaving for online options elsewhere. That’s a slow erosion of local higher ed relevance. 5. This is a power law market, not a level playing field. A few institutions dominate cross-state enrollment. Everyone else is competing for leftovers or defending shrinking local demand. Online has turned higher ed into something closer to: streaming (a few national winners), or airlines (hub-and-spoke dominance). And most institutions are still operating like it’s a regional business. If you’re a university leader, the strategic question isn’t “should we go online?” It should be: 👉 Are we building to export students across state lines? 👉 Or are we trying to defend our home market? #HigherEd #OnlineLearning #EdTech #HigherEducation #DigitalLearning #EnrollmentStrategy #UniversityLeadership #FutureOfEducation #EducationPolicy #EdTechStrategy #OPM #OnlinePrograms #MarketDynamics Link to article: https://lnkd.in/gSVYbQTk

Are course "shutouts" quietly derailing graduation timelines? A striking new piece in The New York Times highlights a recent Instructure report showing that 85% of #students struggle to register for required courses. When classes are full or incompatible with working schedules, students are forced into extra semesters. This dramatically increases their tuition debt and delays their entry into the workforce. A student's graduation date should never depend on a scheduling bottleneck. Institutions must invest in flexible, high-quality online pathways to ensure learners can get the credits they need, exactly when they need them. https://lnkd.in/e59zA6Mb #HigherEducation #StudentSuccess #EdTech #OnlineLearning #CollegeAffordability

As our CEO Paxton Riter highlights in his latest breakdown, #onlinelearning is now the absolute center of institutional strategy because today's students demand it: "Their whole life is hybrid... [he] wouldn’t even have thought of attending a school that didn’t offer the option to take some of his classes online." Since high-quality digital courses are now the baseline expectation for this generation, we are incredibly proud to partner with universities to provide the elite instructional design expertise needed to build these rigorous ecosystems at scale.

Are we designing our approach to change, or is change just happening to us? That is the core question behind DesignedChange.ai, a brilliant new free assessment tool built by Sean Hobson, Ph.D., Chief Officer at EdPlus at Arizona State University. In a fantastic new interview with Joshua Kim on Inside Higher Ed, Sean explains how he used AI as a collaborative partner to build the entire platform from scratch in just nine days. The tool helps institutions evaluate the maturity of their Learning Innovation Departments, bridging the critical gap between day-to-day instructional support and long-term R&D transformation. Read the interview to see how AI can amplify domain expertise and turn academic research into actionable tools! https://lnkd.in/gHfwfDfA #HigherEducation #EdTech #LearningInnovation #ChangeManagement #AIinEducation #ASU