Instructional Design
What is instructional design?
Instructional Designers collaborate with faculty to incorporate active learning strategies, utilize evidence-based approaches for course development and delivery, promote inclusive teaching methods, and effectively integrate educational technologies.
We serve as a resource to assist you in reimagining, creating, or updating your courses to align with student needs and your course or program goals.
What do instructional designers do?
Course Design & Teaching Practices
Collaborate on course (re)design, including syllabus development, active learning strategies, accessible and inclusive teaching practices, and equitable grading approaches.
Canvas & Visual Design
Offer guidance on creating a cohesive, visually appealing Canvas course that enhances navigation and supports student success.
Innovative Pedagogy
Explore new teaching methods and strategies to increase student engagement, promote regular and substantive interaction, and align with your instructional goals.
Educational Technology Integration
Support the effective use of educational technologies tailored to your course content, student cohort, and individual teaching style.
Multimedia & Content Design
Provide input on multimedia use and content design principles to enhance student learning, accessibility, and overall engagement.
Who are your instructional designers at the SDCCD?
At Online Learning Pathways (OLP), we serve as the District instructional designers. Please note that your institution may have its own instructional designer! Please reach out to Liesl Boswell if you need assistance identifying your college instructional designer.
Maddie Button
Madeline Button serves as the Instructional Design Coordinator at San Diego Community College District, working under Online Learning Pathways (OLP). Button earned her B.S. in Human Development from the University of California, San Diego and has been working in education since 2014. She was brought on as an OER Analyst in 2022, working with faculty across SDCCD, supporting their adoption or creation of Open Education Resources in an effort to lower student costs, ensure accessibility in online courses, and increase student engagement. She brings her passion for inclusive education to the Online Learning Pathways team, providing professional learning and instructional design across the district. In her non-working hours, she does ceramics, bakes, and is active in local community efforts across San Diego.
Chris Rodgers
Chris Rodgers serves as the Instructional Design Coordinator at the San Diego Community College District, working under Online Learning Pathways (OLP). Rodgers empowers faculty to excel in online education and innovate their teaching approaches. Since 2018, he has driven the district’s online initiatives, including leading the transition from Blackboard to Canvas and certifying more than 1,500 faculty members through the Online Faculty Certification Program during the pandemic. His expertise in instructional design and technology began in 2007 when he worked as an Instructional Design Technology Specialist at Grossmont Community College, where he taught faculty instructional design principles, provided Blackboard training, and played a lead role in the college’s transition to Canvas. This experience was essential in guiding SDCCD’s successful migration from Blackboard to Canvas and in providing expert, districtwide faculty support. His current work at SDCCD includes developing distance education professional development workshops, exploring the impact of artificial intelligence on online learning, and learning no-code automation tools to increase efficiency. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Interactive Design and, outside of work, he has a strong passion for photography and is actively developing his digital writing skills.
Liesl Boswell
Liesl Boswell, M.Ed. in Learning Design and Technology, has led faculty and staff professional development focused on effective and accessible course design, enabling students with disabilities to independently navigate instructional content, and promoting equitable teaching practices.
Since 2013, Boswell has been at the forefront of advancing accessibility, educational technology, and equity across higher education. Her work spans California’s major college systems, including the California Community Colleges (CCC), California State University (CSU), and independent private institutions.
Boswell played key roles in two major grant-funded initiatives—the California Virtual Campus–Online Education Initiative and the California Community College Accessibility Center—where she designed scalable, just-in-time, self-paced resources supporting course design, accessibility, and instructional development for faculty and staff.
With an academic background in Cell and Molecular Biology and a minor in Chemistry, Liesl has partnered closely with STEM faculty to design effective hybrid learning experiences. She is particularly passionate about integrating OER into course design to improve affordability and expand equitable access to education. Among her notable projects, she collaborated with Rice University, librarians, and instructional designers to develop more than 30 Canvas course templates embedded with Open Educational Resources (OER), made freely available to faculty through Canvas Commons.
Instructional Designers are available for
- 1:1 or small group consultations
- Workshops
- Support in course multimedia and interactive design production