• Individuals considering a career in instructional design
• Anyone who wants to leverage instructional design principles to design an effective digital learning experience to meet professional or personal goals.
• Anyone who wants to learn how to apply multimedia skills (graphic design, video production, web design, or others) to develop digital training and learning solutions and open the door to new career opportunities.
• Instructional design applies to a broad range of fields and industries, such as healthcare, education, technology – any field or industry where internal or external training is needed or provided.

Course format — The Instructional Design Certificate consists of three fully self-paced, on-demand courses delivered online through Canvas, the University of Delaware’s learning management system. Students may work through materials at their own pace and on their own schedule.

Time to completion — Students have 3 months to complete each course. Upon successfully completing a course, students will receive a Welcome Email for the next course in the series along with access to that course in Canvas.

Design portfolio - Students who wish to build a professional instructional design portfolio will find that the projects and assignments completed in this program provide strong material for that purpose.

Facilitator availability — Facilitators are available throughout the program to provide assignment feedback and answer questions. Please note the following periods when facilitators will be unavailable:

• Thanksgiving week
• The last two weeks of December through New Year’s Day (University Holiday Break)
• University of Delaware Spring Break

Students enrolling in late October or early November should plan their coursework with this in mind, as facilitator availability will be limited shortly after the program begins.

Spring Break enrollment note — Students who register during the University of Delaware’s Spring Break week will be added to their course the following week, once normal operations resume.

The following learning objectives describe the learning objectives of the Instructional Design Certificate 3-course series:

• Describe common development models for instructional design.
• Describe major learning theory principles applicable to instructional design.
• Demonstrate application of graphic and multimedia design principles for e-learning.
• Evaluate application of universal design for learning principles to support accessibility.
• Identify an authoring tool for instructional design projects.
• Click here for detailed description of course objectives applicable for each course in the series.

Aviva Heyn is the program director and instructor for the University of Delaware Division of Professional and Continuing Studies (UD PCS) Instructional Design Certificate program’s three courses. Heyn, who serves as director of digital services at UD, has worked as both an individual contributor and manager of instructional design teams, contributing to the design and development of a wide variety of digital courses for industry, government and higher education. Her favorite aspect of the instructional design profession is the endless opportunity for continuous learning. 

Heyn earned her doctor of education in educational leadership at the University of Delaware. She also holds an M.A. in social anthropology and an undergraduate degree in art history, sociology and anthropology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel.  

• No prior knowledge of or experience with instructional design is required.
• Multimedia design skills (graphic design, audio/video, web design, and others) are a plus, but not required.
• Experience with teaching or training is a plus, but not required.
• Completion of some undergraduate coursework is recommended.
• Basic computer skills are required.

• Technology requirements: A laptop or desktop computer (PC or Mac) is required, and a reliable internet connection.