Instructional Design in Human Resource Development Academic Programs in the USA

The purpose of this chapter is to identify the current status of instructional design courses in human resource development (HRD) graduate programs. The authors examined the curricular content of HRD academic programs in the USA and suggested critical considerations to improve instructional design practices in higher education settings. By reviewing information about 124 institutions with graduate HRD programs, they found that 27 of the institutions (21.8%) offer required and/or elective instructional design courses. In addition, the authors conducted an in-depth review of those 27 institutions to identify the affiliations and features of their HRD programs (college, school, department, program names, degrees, and the existence of online programs). To better understand the instructional design practices in higher education settings, they also discuss three instructional approaches for instructional design, consideration for using technology-mediated instructional design, and instructional design models for learning transfer. Finally, the authors present conclusions and recommendations for future research.