[ARCHIVED] Instructional Design Budget

[amanda_taintor]

Although this is not directly related to Canvas, the group of instructional designer's  gathered here are always so helpful I thought I would start on this board.

Our college recently hired me as their instructional designer (like most in the field I began as a college instructor and evolved an interest in instructional design). Unfortunately a budget for this 1 person department was overlooked last year and I have scrounged for various items I have needed.   NOW I have the opportunity to submit a budget. The problem is I have NO IDEA what to ask for! I am staring from the ground up I have 1) a computer,2) a desk,3) a chair and 4) a webcam.... that's it

ANY budget suggestions for travel, material goods, print costs ect are GREATLY appreciated.

Amanda

[ajohnson]

1. Funds to go to 1-2 conferences (say, InstructureCon plus something like Madison WI's distance ed conference or Sloan-C's Orlando one [has a new name I forget what it is argh). Cost-wise, look up what they cost last year, add in current flight/drive/hotel cost. (Would they be willing to fund some faculty to attend, too? If so, ask for that!)
2. Technology budget: to get a new gadget each year. Back when I was at a campus, we would get things like iPods, smart pens, drawing tablets, etc. when they first came out and then we figured them out [or gave to a hand picked faculty to do so] and introduced them to the campus.
3. Money for a day long or half day showcase for campus (mainly for providing lunch, along with anything else the campus requires departments to pay for such as IT services, room reservations, or printing flyers).
4. Student assistant. At my first campus, people liked giving funding for hiring students, especially if it was for work study (since that cost a lot less).

[DrNufer]

The Sloan-C conference is now the Online Learning Consortium, and the conference is called OLC Accelerate (OLC Accelerate 2016 Orlando ).  Incidentally, I am just going to purchase my registration for that conference today, and I highly recommend it.  That and InstructureCon are my very favorite conferences, and they're actually the only ones that I ​actually look forward to attending.  Pearson Cite has improved also, but I don't know any details about 2017. 

[jjulius]

A couple more conferences/organizations to keep in mind as a California Community College (CCC) person:

• the Online Teaching Conference which is CCC-specific, always in June (this year in Anaheim) - and you might like to have some budget to support additional faculty to attend too.
• The Instructional Technology Council is a nationwide organization specific to supporting distance education in community colleges; they have an annual conference that is useful; membership is a few hundred dollars and gets you a discount on the conference as well as weekly email newsletters and monthly (now free) webinars that you can share with faculty.
• and I know you are aware 🙂 of DET/CHE (Directors of Educational Technology in California Higher Education) which is a broadly focused group with a great presence of CCC DE folks.

[tbunag]

DET/CHE is great!

[cholling]

The 2016 Teaching Professor Technology Conference | Magna Publications  is also a great one -- good mix of professors, technologists and instructional designers. I got more out of that conference than 3 others that I had attended previously.

[dhulsey]

Hi, Amanda! I would include some Software. What about Adobe Creative Cloud? Do you need some content development software like SoftChalk Cloud or Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline? Screencast software? I suggest Adobe Presenter or a pro account for Screencastomatic.com. To be an instructional designer, you have to have some design tools. The webcam should be good quality; it not, ask for another, and you might want to get a good quality mic as well as a nice headset for participating in Webinars and Canvas live events. An iPad  or other tablet is also a good tool for testing out how things look and behave in the Canvas app.

[DrNufer]

Just a couple of weeks ago we had a discussion somewhere here about SoftChalk vs. Storyline.  I strongly favor the latter, except it doesn't play well in Canvas yet.  With the improved SCORM capabilities nearing beta (i.e. being able to copy SCORM content from one course to another), Storyline will be a great option.  I would also consider iSpring Presenter, which renders ​very well​ within Canvas.

I second Dallas' recommendation of screencast-o-matic.  It is incredibly cheap, but very robust.  I use it very regularly as a professor.  I also have camtasia, which is a much more robust tool.  Our entire ID team has that.  You can create professional videos with that.

I want to add that HD cameras do not always have great mics.  Consider getting a standalone mic.  There is always a good one on sale at Amazon. 

[tbunag]

What is your role as an instructional designer?  The things you need to do should guide your budget.  For example, if you are supporting faculty in your office, getting a big, second monitor may be more helpful than an improved webcam and microphone (and vice versa if you are supporting faculty online).

[amanda_taintor]

My role... hmm it's kind of a figure it out as I go type of role   I love my college for the flexibility they allow but with this also comes the flexibility in defining positions. I don't even have an official job description.  How I define my role is simply "help faculty teach better".  This encompass a lot as I am also the DE Coordinator for our campus... it's like a two for one deal.  

I was able to secure a second monitor, keyboard and mouse for my office. This set up has revolutionized the way I meet with faculty. I am able to duplicate my display and watch what they are doing and they can watch me without everyone craning their head to see one monitor.

[tbunag]

It sounds like you have an interesting opportunity to help define what you do.

With a somewhat ambiguous role, I suggest conducting a survey of the faculty to see what types of assistance your faculty want the most.  That might take too long for this year's budget, but it could help inform your direction and plan.  For example, our faculty wanted help with student video assignments, so we set up a one button studio, where students can simply plug in their USB drive and literally press one button to record their videos.  Our faculty also wanted help transitioning away from VHS, so we needed resources to set up VHS to DVD conversion.

[awilliams]

Hey  @amandataintor ​,

As a brand-new and solo instructional designer with the opportunity to propose a new budget, I think you should push very hard for CIDI Design Tools. Along with the other great suggestions above, this suite of tools will save you hours and hours of repetitive design work while also creating accessible, high-quality, consistent looking designs across all the courses you work on.

[sethgurell]

I would add to the other comments a Marketing budget to get your name out their (fliers, signage, etc.). This money may be paired in tandem with money towards assessing needs on campus (e.g. "Fill out this survey and get a free ____ from the campus Bookstore"). While you don't want to overplay your hand I think this moment is an important opportunity to let them know just how much could be invested in faculty development.

[cholling]

Can I mark this Helpful twice?

[DrNufer]

In addition to the other great suggestions here, I would consider requesting professional memberships.  You may want to join the Online Learning Consortium, subscribe to the Chronicle of Higher Education, and join the eLearning Guild.  I don't know which ones would best benefit you in your role, but there are many options out there. 

[aleverton]

In addition to these wonderful ideas, don't forget to ask for training on any new products you receive. Having all the great tools in the world is no good if it takes you a year to figure out how to get basic function out of it and never really figure out how to truly create masterpieces with it! You'll be much more productive with a few days of training on new software or tech toys than if you play around with them for months with no guidance.

Best of luck!

[DrNufer]

Speaking of training, there might also be value in platforms such as lynda.com or atomic learning.  Great resources that can be shared across departments. 

[gouldt]

We have three Instructional Designers in our department and we all use Lynda to learn new software frequently!

[amanda_taintor]

As part of the California Community College I am very blessed to have access to Lynda for free. Thankful I don't have to put that as part of my budget plans it is an awesome resource.

[Chris_Munzo]

I would also look through the ed tech products on the EduAppCenter.com site.  There are some good free apps there but also some fee-based products that you'll want.  Part of the advantage of Canvas is that they have a great software eco-system but it does require a budget.

[cadatko]

I definitely second Jim's recommendations about conferences -- DETCHE is a great conference to attend!

An easy authoring tool is a must, but you would need to make certain that you can support it. Also, as someone else recommended -- start with a Camtasia license or two. A good microphone helps as well -- the Blue Snowball ​is a great and affordable tool that gives you very good results.

One thing that colleges do is they go overboard on tools. Maybe getting your faculty/DE Committee together to brainstorm what the campus really needs? Can you all vet a few tools and decide what would work best (and be most easily supported) by your current staff?

Another thing would be potential faculty stipends for training (or PD credit if your campus/HR folks grant it). If faculty, for example, are going to have external training, how would the campus support that?

[amanda_taintor]

I had not heard of the Blue Snowball (I picked a different mic, but LOVE this one).  Do you recommend purchasing wireless mics as well to record live training sessions more easily?

[cadatko]

That's a great idea if you have the budget!

[tracy_stuntz]

I miss my snowball microphone 😞

[amanda_taintor]

I'm excited, I placed the order Monday!