Transferable Best Practices and Mutual Learning Opportunities Between Instructional Design in Higher Education and the Corporate World

Shared Insights for Instructional Design in Academia and Business

Abstract

Instructional design facilitates effective learning in higher education and workplace training contexts. This paper examines the crossover between instructional design approaches in these settings. It identifies core transferable practices like defined objectives, assessment alignment, and active learning grounded in learning theories and research-based models. Differential practices suited to the unique contexts are also explored, including critical thinking in higher education and rapid iterative design in corporate learning. Finally, mutual learning opportunities are presented for how each domain can adapt select practices from the other to enhance their instructional design effectiveness, such as higher education integrating more experiential learning and corporate training focusing more on critical thinking development.