Michener’s Communications team recently caught up with three of our instructional designers to learn more about their role at Michener and how they support faculty and staff. Take a look at our conversation with Jen Levine, Andrea Dyack and Emily Paige Mork.
Michener: Welcome Jen, Andrea and Emily! Thank you for taking the time to chat today. Let’s start with a simple question — what is instructional design?
Emily: Generally, instructional designers take meaty, complicated academic subjects and make them digestible for students. We organize course content in an intuitive way, but also make sure there are no blocks in students’ learning. On the technology side, we use a program called Articulate 360 to build Michener’s courses, and we incorporate these courses into MichBrite (Michener’s learning management system). We then use our instructional designer skills to develop the e-learning experience with interactive features like quizzes, feedback tools and assignments.
Jen: Everything that students see on MichBrite is carefully thought out and intentional. We know that students bring their knowledge and life experiences to the learning material, and it’s our role to build the scaffolding so that the material comes alive and resonates with them.
Andrea: I also want to add that Michener’s faculty are experienced healthcare workers and they’re very intelligent people. We take this expert knowledge and experience from the instructors and build courses that make sense for students and hold their attention.
Michener: Tell me about your typical day as an instructional designer at Michener.
Andrea: I work with the full-time programs. I have some large projects going on right now for CVP, Respiratory Therapy and Nuclear Medicine, so I have regular check-ins with faculty since these courses take a long time to develop. I also help with curriculum consultation, course outlines and competency mapping, which means identifying the skills and expertise needed for a particular role. In Michener’s case, this would be preparing students for a job in healthcare.
Emily: I work with CE and special projects. My work involves a lot of prototyping, meaning the first instance that a student experiences specific course material, like with the Rural Practice Program or the CAMLPR project for Med Lab. Right now, I’m looking at competency profiles for these projects, so we can understand what skills and knowledge students need to succeed in the programs.
Jen: As manager, I’m here to support my team. Whenever they need me to be present, I’m here. All instructional design requests flow through me and I work with the team members to help launch these projects.
Michener: Tell me about your professional background and what led you to Michener?
Emily: I’m a registered dietician, and I worked in long-term care during the COVID-19 pandemic. I was always interested in electronic medical records and data management, and I eventually did a master’s degree focusing on strategic digital management. I also love working with people, so when I found instructional design, I thought it would be the perfect role to make complex problems easier for people to understand.
Andrea: I’m a registered dental hygienist and I have a master’s degree in education. In my career, I saw that education content was rarely presented properly, and I was interested in finding ways to change that. I love my role at Michener because we’re part of the healthcare system, so my background is a good fit and I can support better education content.
Jen: I come from the primary teaching and early childhood education world. I did my master’s degree in digital technology. I had experience with pedagogy, I understood learning theories and my master’s pulled it all together. The day I presented my master’s dissertation was the day I applied for my job at Michener. When I got the job 13 years ago, I was the only instructional designer at Michener at the time.
Michener: What kind of problems do you solve for your stakeholders?
Andrea: One point I try to communicate is that our learning management system isn’t a repository of course material — it’s a tool to deliver material to students in an accessible and clear way. Our students’ expectations are very high, and we want to help faculty showcase their work and bring the subjects they teach to the next level.
Emily: I agree with Andrea about students’ expectations, and faculty have expectations of their own. They want their students to have the best course outcomes, and it’s our job to bridge the gaps and bring student and instructor expectations together.
Jen: I think it’s important to understand that our role isn’t to pretty-up PowerPoint presentations. We’re also not tech support. As user experience architects, we advise faculty on course functionality and the best way to deliver and organize course material. We all have the same goal at Michener — to give students the best learning experience possible.
Michener: What do you want our community to know about your work and how you support teaching and learning at Michener?
Andrea: There’s so much more to course material than PowerPoint presentations and multiple-choice exams. Faculty should reach out to us to learn how they can elevate their teaching and their material. Students can’t log into MichBrite only to find a Word document. We can help instructors modernize their courses.
Emily: Courses can’t start at point Z. We need the necessary scaffolding to take students through a learning journey where they can grasp concepts that fit together and build on one another.
Jen: Instructors don’t need to struggle through this. It’s our job to help with course design and we encourage instructors to reach out to us.
Faculty and staff can connect with Michener’s instructional designers through the MichBrite Faculty Lounge, or email the instructional designers at:
Jen Levine: jlevine@michener.ca
Emily Paige Mork (CE and special projects): EMork@michener.ca
Andrea Dyack (full-time programs): ADyack@michener.ca
Michener would also like to welcome Renyuan Zhang and Michelle Mouton to the instructional design team!