A Concierge Model for Supporting Faculty in Online Course Design
Individualized approaches to online course design benefit faculty in numerous ways. Using a “concierge” model approach, this paper describes the working principles and steps used in course development. The general approach directly addresses many inherent problems with instructional design processes, which often highlight discrepancies in preparation and background between instructional designers and faculty as “subject matter” specialists. The concierge model outlined re-centers the course development process around the unique qualities of individual faculty, their academic and professional knowledge of the course “content”, and the body of skills and knowledge introduced by a partner instructional designer. All members of this partnership stand to gain in positive ways, as faculty can share their passion and depth of knowledge “translating” traditional course material to online teaching formats with the supportive skills and insights of the partner course designer. To guide this interaction, the paper provides “10 Concierge Keys of Supporting Individualized Online Course Development”. Together these offer a manifesto to guide academic instructional design support staff and units responsible for course development.
