> [!summary]+ Summary > This page describes my developed practice of design while serving as an Instructional Designer at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Some background to the work and teaming is provided. Additionally, you can read about my design meetings, ID practice, project management, and my development plans. Also see [[2016, IMF MOOC page structure]]. # Instructional design of an IMFx MOOC It is no small effort to design an online course, but especially a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). These are generally large experiences that take months to create. The instructional design work takes a large amount of time and the media/video design and production work take an enormous amount of time. In the middle of all this, is significant project management, including people management, vendor management, and managing the unexpected. By the end of my tenure as an Instructional Designer at the IMF, we had a solid system in place for all phases of work. What made this hard work easier too was that everyone on our team truly liked each other. We would frequently have coffee together, lunch together, and have drinks after work until the sun went down. The following slide deck is an overview of the program delivered on May 17, 2018 to new leadership taking over our department and unit. I built this and multiple people on the team delivered it. It provides a high-level overview of where we were at by that time. <div class="container"><iframe class="responsive-iframe-sd" src="https://1drv.ms/b/c/13829E5D2EB238DE/IQTg9gVw_vTwSJZaD8C3Y0s6AUatIMCd6QfQEYpQ59qmgkU" width="100%" height="400" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></div> --- ## Background of a course team IMFx MOOCs first launched in early 2014. The team started out small. Not including a subject-matter-expert and instructor, the team had a project manager, a research assistant, and a technical lead. In contrast, edX recommended at the time for project teams have these people: 1) Instructor, 2) Project manager, 3) Instructional designer, 4) Video lead, 5) Camera lead, 6) Editor, 7) Media coordinator, 8) Production assistant, 9) Marketing lead, and 10) Librarian. For edX, media was the focus. Pedagogy was a minimal concern and instructional design work was only estimated at 8-12 hours per week. By 2022, edX recommendation changed significantly. The new recommendation was that a course have 3 different teams and more people. | Course design team (8) | Teaching team (2) | Media production team (5) | | ---------------------- | ------------------ | ------------------------------- | | Project manager | Instructor, SME | Media producer | | Instructional designer | Teaching assistant | Videographer and Audio engineer | | Technical lead | | Editor | | Marketing lead | | Media coordinator | | Research lead | | Production assistant | | Data lead | | | | Legal/Copyright lead | | | | Accessibility lead | | | As edX recommendations changed, so did our team. Over my time, my team looked as follows. | 2014 IMFx team (7) | 2018 IMFx team (14-17) | | --------------------------- | --------------------------- | | Instructor (x2) | Instructor (x3-5) | | Instructional designer (x1) | Instructional designer (x2) | | | Media producer (x1) | | Project manager (x1) | Project manager (x2-3) | | Research assistant (x2) | Research assistant (x5) | | Technical lead (x1) | Technical lead (x1) | Throughout this, I did **instructional design, media design, and project management.** Others also covered multiple roles as we all scaled up to accomplish more and be efficient. ## A design practice Below is a overview of the design practice I created at the IMF. ### Design meetings By the time that I left the IMF in September 2018 I had a well established design practice that was guided by effective instructional design, efficient project management, and collaboratively creative media design. In every design meeting, I strived to make it interactive and focus on [[making work visible]]. For example, module design meetings were a walk-around that included drawing/writing on surfaces, adding sticky notes, and talking on our feet. ![[Visible-work-ID.jpeg]] ### Instructional design (ID) To assist in collaborative and transparent instructional design, I created a series of documents that I shared with colleagues and used during the ID process. These covered writing course and module learning objectives, selecting assessment types for edX, and general guidance on writing assessments. Compared to what you might find in a university course, the assessments were quite simple. But this was *training and development* and not *teaching and learning*. <div class="container"><iframe class="responsive-iframe-pdf-land" src="https://1drv.ms/b/c/13829E5D2EB238DE/IQRjyUp7ZIgqQbs5fvvBTH3YASKvCMEjchP5M0XXUi-slww" width="100%" height="450" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></div> ID work was done iteratively, but not unending. Modules were planned to be completed over a 3 week period, but these were staggered on top of one another. The following is a summary of what I would do for each module. Additionally, I did project management work throughout. (Unfortunately, I am probably missing some things.) - Read through and annotate all course content provided - ==Note: It would have been great to have had LLMs!== - Prepare discussion questions about the content - ==Note: Again, I wish I had LLMs!== - Schedule and hold design meetings (45-90 minutes) - Ask content questions - Co-create initial roadmaps and/or draft graphics - Co-write module learning objectives - Discuss assessments - Discuss in-person structure - Discuss potential discussion forums and questions - Propose ideas I saw for organizing the content - Collaborate with Multimedia Producer (MP) - Independent ID work - Compile notes and review decisions against course learning objectives - Outline a structure - Write assessment questions - Write discussion questions - Draft any additional visuals - Hold a second design meeting (45-90 minutes) - Seek agreement in all design aspects - Collaborate with Multimedia Producer (MP) - Independent ID work - Move to finalize design by building all parts into the **Development Plan**. - Coordinate with Media Producer (MP) - Explain my vision and hear the MP vision - Find agreement on a joint design - Hand-off all media design and production to MP - Prepare instructional materials for the learners - Interface with Research Assistants as needed - Write any custom HTML and CSS for the LMS (i.e. edX platform) - Coordinate and coach web developer - Move on to next module #### Note on instructional design work Sometimes this workflow would take 3 weeks, but gradually it became less. Often my study of the content and frequent discussions and coffee chats with SMEs helped tremendously. Most weeks, I would spend at least 1 late night in the office studying. (==Again, I wish I had LLMs back then.==) I also learned how to lean on my colleagues and do one of the hardest things for most Instructional Designers I have meet… **stop thinking everything is instructional design**. ### Project management (PM) In addition to my ID work, I spent a significant amount of time creating the system and documentation for our project management. In truth, this took a couple of years to figure out as we collectively needed to gain more experience and were so inefficient early on that 1 MOOC was taking 9-12 months to complete. Within a couple of years, I helped us to put a 6 phase system in place that conservatively projected MOOCs at 9 months. In actuality, the timeline was shorter as I and others gained efficiencies and learned how to lean on one another. <div class="container"><iframe class="responsive-iframe-pdf" src="https://1drv.ms/b/c/13829E5D2EB238DE/IQQqVIoiUzBsR6LRJguUBMahAUYjicSjfEh-VtOxuz0oQ2Q" width="100%" height="450" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></div> ### Development plan The key deliverable for my ID work was what I called the **Development Plan**. This was the architecture for the entire course. It laid out for the Instructor, the Multimedia Producer, and the Web Developer, the course build. It was organized by the sequence of the module. In general I followed a **10-10-10 rule**. No more than 10 course modules, 10 sections for each module, and 10 units per section. (Units are equivalent to pages.) Furthermore, I aimed to break up the learning content to allow for reading and off-site exploration. Such as linking learners to additional IMF and/or World Bank resources and highlighting something(s) in particular for them to read or view. On the next unit they would then watch a video and take an assessment. For key information, such as a legal reference, I would include that text on the unit page along with the video so that they could reflect as they paused the video and compared what they were seeing and hearing. Below is an example of a plan that I created for module 2 of my last IMFx course. <div class="container"><iframe class="responsive-iframe-pdf-port" src="https://1drv.ms/b/c/13829E5D2EB238DE/IQSl18c8EcExRKbCBEQT12KgAU5La4Ap3GRiYeqXFG3cpAc" width="100%" height="550" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></div> #### Note on the development plan Architectures are easily understood by designers and most SMEs who have been working on the project with you. But they will very likely not be understood by those outside your circle. This was very true for me. While my boss knew and understood what I was doing, some others did not and it would take time unnecessarily to explain. My advice is to think carefully about how you are communicating your plans. Make sure all who need to understand, **understand** and are in **alignment with you**. I would communicate my architectures differently now after being a director overseeing teams who do this kind of work. Finally, be sure to see [[2016, IMF MOOC page structure]]. ## References - [ARCHIVE](https://1drv.ms/b/c/13829E5D2EB238DE/EVWM4ShhmptDl7HqrtMMAUkB9Ys83TJNN53nqvsUdBSCAA?e=fJIwha) — edX Staff for Course Creation (February 16, 2015) - [ARCHIVE](https://1drv.ms/b/c/13829E5D2EB238DE/ERVh0yOy6qRPhNj5DleofkMBq5qRHRMTslAy3Z30VRB0gA?e=c22zfn) — edX Assemble your Course Team (February 2022)