Instructional Design, Development, and Context Expertise: A Model for “Cross Cultural” Collaboration

Abstract

The work of instructional designers in the current higher educational context is part of a complex process that traverses a range of professional relationships and communities of practice. The requisite professional skills include the ability to operate and communicate effectively across these different professional cultures. The term “culture” is used in a novel way to reflect the “academic tribes” concept described in the literature, and to highlight the complexity of working relationships in teams that are often transitory. This chapter presents a model that situates the instructional designers’ role within the process of educational design and development. The model is derived from many years experience of managing development teams of different size and composition. Representative case studies provide evidence of its effectiveness across a range of projects and situations.