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Connect with us
If you are interested in current positions with iDesign, please visit Careers
Before founding iDesign, our leaders worked in early iterations of the online program management (OPM) space. Think OPM 1.0. From their experience working with institutions of all sizes and shapes, they realized the need to evolve the service model and offer greater transparency and flexibility. That’s when the lightbulb moment for Paxton Riter, Ned Stone, and Whitney Kilgore occurred. They made it their mission to create a company that provided more candor and autonomy. On the partner side, they wanted to take a faculty-centric approach focusing on quality course delivery and student learning outcomes. In less than 10 years, we are considered the leader of the OPM 2.0 movement. Each iDesign team member’s goal is to be seen as a colleague by the end of every project. Every time we hear “you’re not a vendor, you’re a partner,” we know we’re on the right track.
At iDesign, we champion a human-centered culture, placing immense value on each iDesigner and their contribution to our success. Our commitment is evident in how we keep our people at the forefront of our decision-making and foster a positive and supportive work environment. We firmly believe in balancing work and personal development, recognizing the crucial role our people’s well-being plays in the organization’s overall success. Our culture celebrates achievements, encourages a collaborative approach to challenges, and embeds trust and empathy in our interactions. Central to our beliefs is a commitment to continuous learning, creating a feedback-driven, transparent environment. Expressing gratitude and recognizing our team’s efforts, this holistic approach propels dedication and performance, benefiting partners and students and contributing to the overall success of our organization.
Team iDesignHonesty is the best policy in our book. We are forthcoming internally with our colleagues and externally with our partners. Even if being transparent makes us and others feel vulnerable, it comes from a desire to do the right thing.
We want to be thought partners, not simply vendors. With every project, we embrace shared ownership and consider our partners’ success our success and vice versa. From our perspective, success is measured not only by financial growth but also by stakeholder satisfaction and learner experience quality.
With our best-in-class instructional design and marketing expertise, we push multiple projects forward quickly. Our experts have seen every online challenge imaginable and reprioritize tasks without sacrificing quality or service.
While the higher education landscape continues to evolve, we pause and listen to understand our partners. We do not jump into offering every service. We work with a narrow focus and refine and scale together as we grow.
In a world where higher education is often the second largest investment that someone will ever make (behind buying a house), we strive to be good stewards of the higher education dollar. This belief is grounded in iDesign’s daily work whether we’re unbundling solutions or committing to “Scholarship, Not Swag” at academic conferences. We recognize that budget spend comes from enrollment revenue and donor philanthropy, so we aim to build customized solutions for each organization, no matter the size.
Years ago, our Co-Founder and Chief Academic Officer took to Twitter to ask her colleagues what they wished they were given for swag at conferences. During that conversation, someone said, “I wish companies were doing something to promote teaching and learning and scholarship.” From that moment on, our team decided to pay for educational opportunities, not simply t-shirts or pens. We haven’t looked back, and we haven’t slapped our logo on any consumer goods. Instead, we have funded student research, provided professional development stipends to support travel and conference participation by our partners, and devoted our time and effort to foster the adoption of research-based effective practices for humanizing design.
As a one-stop resource for research-supported instructional design, the iDesign Educational Assets (iDEA) Book supports faculty, instructional designers, and learning architects as they move through the course design process. Each page in the iDEA Book contains a brief description of the featured design concept, downloadable tip sheets, and other relevant web resources that iDesign has curated and vetted. As an open educational resource, citations are provided on curated materials. The goal of the iDEA Book is to improve the course design process for educators everywhere. Since it is a living document, users are encouraged to nominate additional resources and propose improvements as they digest the information.
If instructional technologists and learning architects are new to the field with 0-3 years of experience, they can enroll in competency-based, just-in-time courses. This self-paced pathway allows entry-level practitioners to receive stackable credentials and stand out to employers in whichever setting they choose. Alternatively, more established LX professionals with 2-5 years can sign up for the portfolio experience. This pathway helps mid-level practitioners push for a promotion or advancement by developing a professional portfolio. Through one-on-one contact with mentors, they learn about the trends and receive practical advice.
