Instructional Design for Quality Education: Role of A Digital Learning Hub

Abstract

Quality education forms the foundation of all educational institutions and is made up of many aspects; a clear, well-thought-out curriculum and instructional design (ID) process, and everything else supporting the curriculum and ID ideals such as learning spaces, well-trained educators, availability of resources, management of processes and monitoring & evaluation exercises. For a long time, design and development of curriculum and ID was treated as a “given”, either because the curriculum was designed by a central body or “ID” was just another “normal” process, which was part and parcel of an employed educator, especially in higher education institutions (HEI). With current changes in the educational landscape whereby there is no guarantee of how a learning segment will be conducted, it is imperative that HEI look at these two components with a wider lens to mitigate possible setbacks and glitches for sustainable and continuing quality education. It has become vital that upskilling of ID is quickly acquired and certified. Considering this, we present a case study of how the Digital Learning Hub at the Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation has designed, developed, and implemented various projects using rapid instructional design methods to leap-frog and enable educators to gain crucial training for the skills and competencies related to instructional design. The aspects discussed include an overview of the newly setup digital learning hub, the amoebic process of achieving quality education, with ID as a core anchor and circumvented by the smart inter-play of stakeholders: students, educators, support staff, and leaders.