{"id":1996,"date":"2022-04-18T14:03:34","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T21:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/?p=1996"},"modified":"2026-02-03T08:48:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T16:48:25","slug":"program-spotlight-instructional-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/program-spotlight-instructional-design\/","title":{"rendered":"What is instructional design? An inside look at Oregon State’s online certificate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Lindsay Andrews is the program lead and an instructor in Oregon State’s online Graduate Certificate in Instructional Design, a program she says features “a lot of hands-on, applied work.”<\/p><\/div>\n

Discover how to build a career through the thoughtful creation of learning experiences<\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s a behind-the-scenes peek at how things work at Oregon State University Ecampus:<\/p>\n

Every one of Oregon State\u2019s online courses \u2014 all 1,600 of them \u2014 has been developed by an OSU faculty member in tandem with an Ecampus instructional designer (as well as multimedia developers). It\u2019s a meticulous process that takes about six months per class.<\/p>\n

When you spend that much effort thinking about online course design and how to best structure the student learning environment, you become great at it. (And forgive our boastfulness, but, yes, we\u2019re great at it.)<\/p>\n

At Oregon State, we\u2019re also imparting that greatness to a new generation of education professionals through the university\u2019s online Graduate Certificate in Instructional Design<\/a>. It\u2019s a 20-credit, hands-on program offered by OSU’s College of Education<\/a> that teaches students how to thoughtfully construct material to help guide a student\u2019s learning from start to finish.<\/p>\n

Lindsay Andrews<\/strong> is an OSU instructor and the program lead, and she provided in-depth answers to a series of questions about the field of instructional design, the program\u2019s unique features and how it\u2019s a great pathway to a related career or master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

What is instructional design and how does it show up in everyday life?<\/h3>\n

\u201cInstructional design is the creation of a learning experience. It\u2019s a purposeful approach to learning, placing value not only on what<\/em> you would like to teach but how<\/em> you do it. Instructional designers make learning impactful by designing content that can be accessed by a universal audience and promoting accessibility as a guiding principle for users.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn everyday life, you can recognize the impact of instructional design by observing consistency throughout learning materials, font selections for readability, multimedia captioning, clearly worded instructions and the ability to approach learning similar to how you would read a book.\u201d<\/p>\n

What learning experiences can certificate students expect online in this program?<\/h3>\n

\u201cStudents in this program complete a content-specific course along with a practical application course each term. Our goal is to blend those two classes in some way so the learning is connected.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, during the second term in the program, students take needs assessment and instructional technology courses. After the data has been gathered and analyzed from the needs assessment, students are then asked to present that data in an infographic format as part of the technology course. Having the classes intersect allows for an excellent opportunity to blend research and design by taking complex information and making it presentable beyond numbers on a page.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, students are asked to draw upon their lived experiences in virtual discussions, demonstrate various teaching strategies with their peers and explore new applications in the creation of a digital portfolio. There is a lot of hands-on, applied work that will happen during this program, meaning that much of what you will learn can be applied into your professional setting right away.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are some unique features of the instructional design certificate?<\/h3>\n