Instructional Creative Services
It was interesting that after writing and thinking about the effectiveness of Distance Education, and some of the key factors in making it such, I had the opportunity to help draft a new mission statement for the team with which I work. I work as part of Design/Video team at Utah Valley University in a role that primarily consists of supporting Distance Education.
To be more specific, our team prides itself on creativity and innovation when producing any form of educational media. We work directly with Instructional Designers and Course Developers who are known as Instructional Design Services or IDS. Though we’ve been known primarily (and somewhat casually as the “Design Center”) our official name is now, Instructional Creative Services or ICS. Basically, we needed to explain in a concise way, what exactly we do and the absolute and fundamental value of it.
Here’s a draft of the new mission statement:
Instructional Creative Services (ICS) is dedicated to serving faculty and Instructional Design Services (IDS) through the development and implementation of innovative online and other course learning experiences. Our goal is to enhance educational content through the creative and integrated use of audio, video, and graphic communications, while adhering to university branding guidelines.
What’s the relevance of all this? Primarily that, in my opinion, the creative use of media is paramount to the future of quality online and blended courses. I think a lot of people tend to gloss over this possibility (or need) saying that you can still teach the same things without what might be considered “bells and whistles.” Yes, you can… but not as effectively and by providing the student a less enjoyable experience/opportunity. Engaging learning experiences are the goal here and I feel it to be a disservice to the learners to dismiss aural and visual learning possibilities at the expense of a “good enough” mentality.
I understand that budgets and schedules also factor into the reality of production, but there is a wonderful balance which in most instances can and should be attained (as I’ve learned from recent experience).
