The journey to creating online engineering courses for TecNM continues, and I’m thrilled to share how our team is progressing through Phase 1 – Curricular Design. This phase marks a significant step in bringing the vision for these programs to life, and we’ve had some exciting breakthroughs in terms of collaboration, adaptability, and refining our approach.
A collaborative team of Instructional Designers and experts
At TSJ en Línea, we are a small but mighty team, and our collaborative spirit has been the cornerstone of this phase. Our team of instructional designers—Alejandra Moya, Livier Chavez, Carol Fajardo, and myself, Marcela Torres—has worked closely with subject experts to guide us
reating content that is engaging, pedagogically sound, and aligned with TecNM’s vision. In this phase, our role as instructional designers is to support and lead experts as they design the content and activities for their respective topics.
Each of the five subjects we are developing involves 3-4 experts, with each expert focusing on a specific part of the curriculum. This division ensures that no one is overwhelmed, and everyone can focus on a manageable portion of the subject. It also allows us to keep the workload balanced across the team, making the entire process smoother and more effective.
Living documents: adapting to our specific needs and expertise
One of the highlights of this phase has been the evolution of our design template. The curricular design document has truly become a living document, adapting to the needs of the team as we receive feedback from experts and adjust the content structure.
For example, Livier, a true Google Sheets wizard, helped us leverage the tool to its full potential. We created a section in the template to track graphic resources for each topic. This includes a column that indicates exactly which graphic resources are needed, along with a link to the relevant template that each expert needs to use to develop that resource. This step was key because it ensured that experts didn’t just create resources in isolation, but with clear guidance on what was required and how to provide it.
This adaptation process was crucial for streamlining communication and maintaining organization as the document continuously evolved based on team and expert feedback. It allowed us to keep track of everything from resource distribution to feedback loops, ensuring that the content creation process was as smooth as possible.
Balancing workloads: managing topics with care
Given that some subjects had more topics than others, I took on the subject with the most and the least topics—General Physics and Electrical Principles and Digital Applications—to balance the workload. This approach was important because it helped spread the responsibilities evenly and ensured that no one team was overburdened. This way, the content creation process felt more manageable, and the project remained aligned with our collective capacities.
Progress and achivements: what we’ve done so far
Here’s a quick look at the work completed during this phase:
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Training in Phase 1 – Curricular Design: We began with extensive training for our instructional designers and experts to ensure we were all aligned on how to approach the curricular design process.
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Release of the curricular design templates: After gathering insights from the team, we created templates that guide the development of content, activities, and assessments. These templates were flexible, enabling us to adapt them as we moved forward.
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One-on-One sessions with experts: Each expert had one-on-one sessions with instructional designers to discuss their topics and get feedback on the design process. This allowed for in-depth conversations on how to structure the content and activities effectively.
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Completion of curricular design for Topic 1: We successfully closed out the design for Topic 1 in each of the five subjects, which is a major milestone. This progress has set the foundation for designing the remaining topics.
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Control documents for tracking progress: We worked on control documents to track both quantitative and qualitative progress. This allowed us to ensure that we were on track with deadlines and quality benchmarks while also providing a clear view of the status of each topic.
Feedback loops: why they matter
Throughout this phase, feedback from experts has been critical. It’s not just about having experts create content—it’s about making sure that content is pedagogically sound and serves the students’ learning needs. Our ongoing feedback loop ensures that:
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Experts are guided through the content creation process, with the right resources and templates at hand.
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We have a continuous exchange of ideas between experts and instructional designers, which helps us refine the activities and assessments.
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We address any pedagogical challenges early on, ensuring the learning experience is both engaging and effective.
The feedback from the experts has helped us adjust our approach in real-time, ensuring that the content reflects both the needs of the curriculum and the best practices in instructional design.
What’s next?
As we complete the curricular design for Topic 1, we are gearing up to tackle the remaining topics. Our next steps will involve refining the content, ensuring that the activities are progressing as planned, and continuing to adapt the curriculum as needed based on expert feedback.
Overall, we’re very pleased with the progress we’ve made so far. The collaboration within our team has been fantastic, and with the clear processes we’ve established, I’m confident that we’re on the right track to deliver high-quality online engineering programs that will have a lasting impact on our students.
Stay tuned for more updates as we continue this exciting journey of designing the future of online engineering education at TecNM!
I can’t share the living document, but let me share with you a screenshot! Just click here to know more about it.