Introducing the Instructional Design team

Our Instructional Design team sits within the University’s IT Learning Centre.

These talented individuals have specialised skills for designing and delivering online training modules which can be completed by large numbers of participants. These courses could be about any topic such as new HR or finance systems, or more general things such as SharePoint Online, information security, or whatever you need. Commenting on a recent module developed by the Instructional Design team, one customer said:

The training is extremely well-balanced and easy to follow.

What are the benefits of learning online?

There is a trend towards e-learning for training at scale because of the benefits it offers, including: 

  • Bespoke training to suit your learners and training objectives 
  • A practical way to train large groups 
  • Easy to track uptake and completion of your training 
  • Flexibility to make modules, games, video playlists, in-system tutorials and more
  • Just-in-time and asynchronous – delegates can access training whenever they need to 
  • Cost effective - costs are upfront with significantly lower delivery costs

It is not a replacement for instructor-led or teacher-led training, but might be preferable depending on your needs. 

Can the team help units outside of UAS?

Cartoon image of a person and an MRI machine

Yes! The Instructional Design team has a wide remit and is also available to help departments, divisions and other units across the University – for instance they recently did some proof of concept work for Medical Sciences related to using MRI machines.

If you are implementing business change or new platforms at scale, their skills could be very useful to create specialised material just for you. Consultation is free to agree the scope of your project. The team will then provide a quote based on the IT Services recharge model, helping you to deliver consistent, high quality and easily accessed training at a relatively small operating cost.

Can I see examples of what the team has produced?

Of course! We are always happy to show you what can be achieved.  

We hope you have seen Oxford’s Information Security and Data Protection Awareness course. Working to a clear brief provided by colleagues in the Assurance Directorate, the team produced an online course to be completed by all University staff. The course presents a wide range of subjects from cyber threats to data breaches and much more. We asked the Assurance Directorate for feedback and they said:

The Instructional Design team worked really quickly to accommodate our tight deadline, they delivered the course to budget, communicating with them was easy, and they were always available to answer our questions…

The team has also designed and delivered many other training packages. They are currently working with several business units undergoing big changes and needing to deliver training to large groups. Do get in touch to discuss your requirements.

The future is now

Much more information about the Instructional Design team and how they can help you is on the IT Skills website. e-Learning is likely to become a much bigger part of how training is delivered in the future - meet the experts in making this happen, and get one step ahead of the trend.  

This small centre of excellence can achieve miraculous things - find out for yourself.