2-3Team Roles and Responsibilities

Selecting members for the team is a critical part of the instructional design process. Assembling the team of people to be involved in the development process involves both Chinese and Canadian Program Coordinators. The Canadian team will usually be led by a subject matter expert and an instructional designer. The Chinese team will include instructional designers, producers, subject matter experts and practicing teachers. The Program Coordinators will agree on criteria for Chinese team members, and the Chinese coordinator must work with NCET, PCETs’ and CBEs’ to choose appropriate participants.

The main purpose of the instructional designer is to be "an advocate" for the learner. This means following a systematic design process where the learner is always at the center of the decision making process. Instructional designers work very closely with all members of the design team, providing leadership around how materials should be designed to meet the needs of the learners.

While the composition of an instructional design team may vary between organizations, a distance education design team will usually includes the following positions:

Job Title / Roles and Responsibilities
Program Coordinators (Project Manager and NCET delegate) /
  • Identifies other members of the course or resource development team (a course writer, content expert, and master teacher)
  • Work with the DE Specialist and Instructional Designer to ensure content developed adheres to DE Guidelines identified for the project.
  • Works with the Instructional Designer(s) to ensure the course and activities are appropriate for the project’s context (e.g. gender, minority issues in Western China, Chinese MoE standards, etc.)
  • Ensures times lines and work schedules are met

Distance Education (DE) Specialist /
  • Assumes leadership for the completion of Planning Document Template and Content Outline Template
  • Determines content outline is consistent with the scope and sequence of the overall project (annual work plan and specific terms of reference)
  • Provides guidance to team
  • Liaison between the program coordinator and the team
  • Provides expertise on current DE strategies and implementations
  • Ensures that the project goals and guidelines have been met.

Instructional Designers /
  • Manages the design process and leads the design team
  • Assumes leadership for the completion of Planning Document Template and Content Outline Template
  • Reviews and provides feedback on design drafts
  • Conducts final editing and circulation of design documents
  • Collaborates with the team members to determine the content of the course
  • Coordinates resource allocation to the project
  • Supports the completion of the ID Storyboard Template
  • Supports the completion of the Production Plan Template
  • Selects and integrates appropriate media resources
  • Conducts alpha and beta testing

Master Teacher(s) /
  • Ensures that the course/resource is practical and applicable to practitioners
  • Ensures that the activities are consistent with best practice in the field and can be easily undertaken by learners in project regions
  • Ensures that the content is written and structured so that it is easily accessed, used and understood by learners
  • Ensures relevancy of the content
  • Provides overall field application expertise to the Design Team

Subject Matter Expert(s) /
  • Ensures that the course content is accurate and has an appropriate level of rigor
  • Ensures that content conforms to project standards (SCI, National Curriculum, New Learning Environments)
  • Provides input into the type of activities and resources to be included in the course and suggests how these could best be structured
  • Ensures that content related activities are appropriate to the Chinese context
  • Provides overall content expertise to the Design Team

Producers /
  • Develop online components for the course
  • Prepares original graphics for course materials within given parameters
  • Locates graphics for course materials

Additional roles which may or may not involve full-time personnel include:

Job Title / Roles and Responsibilities
Editor /
  • Copyright clearance
  • Check that material sources are properly referenced
  • Copy edit completed draft of all content components (on-line and print)

External reviewer /
  • Ensure proposed instructional design plan and first drafts of all content will appropriately meet the curriculum and the learner needs

All members of the design team must understand and commit to the DE Guidelines and the project goals.

It is important to note that there are clear lines of accountability within NCET, PCETs and CBE’s for project DE activities. This involves:

Clearly defined roles and responsibilities

Communication systems between organizations

Mechanisms for dealing with issues/problems within and between organizations in a timely fashion