Instructional Design: A Collaboration or A Consultation?

Abstract

Although 29 studies of the relationship between instructional designers and faculty in higher education characterized it as collaborative, none defined collaboration (Chen and Carliner, 2021). That’s where this position paper begins, addressing these questions: What is collaboration in an educational services context? and To what extent does “collaboration” effectively characterize the relationship between instructional designers and faculty in a higher education context? This paper starts by defining collaboration in the context of educational support services. Then it describes the services offered by instructional designers in higher education and makes the case, at a conceptual level, that collaboration does not fully characterize the nature of the relationship between most instructional designers and instructors, and suggests, instead, the term "consultative" better characterizes this relationship. Next this paper summarizes evidence from an empirical study of three different instructional design services, which supports the concept. This paper closes by suggesting implications to practice, teaching, and research and theory.