Digging Up: A Five-Year Journey to Instructional-Design Stability in a Postsecondary Distance Education Unit

Abstract

This report of practice describes a five-year process to establish and implement quality standards for a substantial portfolio of distancedelivered courses at the Centre for Continuing and Distance Education, University of Saskatchewan. The report describes an analysis of the issues and the solutions found that led to our current curriculum design standards and procedures, the implementation of learning technologies, and the identification of issues and solutions regarding copyright law. Lastly, the future prospects of these distance-delivered postsecondary courses are considered. Focusing on the issues and solutions for each category of challenges, this report describes the five-year journey of a small instructional-design team that faced roadblocks and barriers common to many postsecondary continuing and distance education units.