On July 1, 2025, I founded Futurescape Instructional Design, LLC. This was the day after I lost my job. I had wanted to create a consulting company after retirement, but the job loss jump-started this venture! This is my third company, so I’m not a novice. I collaborated with generative AI (GenAI) to come up with a name that reflected both my instructional design background and futures thinking training. I also relied on GenAI to help me write the outline for my business plan. I was thrilled with the outcome. This blog describes my new company.
Executive Summary
Futurescape Instructional Design, LLC, founded by Dr. Sandra Rogers, is dedicated to transforming teaching and learning to meet tomorrow’s needs. We offer comprehensive instructional design services and foresight-building workshops, informed by futures thinking strategies, for academic institutions, education nonprofits, educational technology corporations, and individual educators. Our dual-focus approach enables individuals and organizations to deliver high-quality learning experiences today while also anticipating and shaping the future of education.
Mission Statement
Our company’s mission is to support educators and institutions in their efforts to enhance teaching and learning practices and environments in the short term, ultimately improving students’ long-term learning outcomes through research-based instructional design and future-focused thinking.
Goals
- By improving their course designs, course material, and built-in learner support (e.g., orientation modules, learning strategy guides, help page), our instructional design services will positively impact our clients’ teaching methods and learning environments.
- By training them on futures thinking strategies and practices, our clients will become meta-aware of signals and drivers of possible futures. They will learn how to analyze, manipulate, prioritize, and act on them to prepare for digital transformations and related changes now and on the horizon.
Instructional Design Overview
Our instructional design services draw upon 30 years of educational experience, advanced academic credentials, and research-based best practices. We serve K-16 institutions, education nonprofits, education technology companies, and individual educators to help them build accessible, effective, inclusive, and engaging learning experiences. The service includes a client intake survey, a memorandum of understanding, timelines, a feedback process, and accessibility compliance guidelines.
Services Offered
The following services address the myriad of instructional design work. They can be provided singly or in combination. The client must complete an intake survey and provide sample content and syllabus before the initial meeting. For on-site work, the client will cover travel expenses and per diem.
- Prep Time – The designer’s review of content, context, and stakeholders’ needs takes place in advance of the initial meeting. It relies on information and material provided during the initial point of contact and via the Client Intake Survey.
- Course Design Consultations – One-on-one or whole group consultation for instructional design and related aspects to build high-quality, research-based courses. Guidance, per client request, could include structuring content, optimizing instructional strategies, integrating technology, creating a community of inquiry, designing for equity and inclusion, and aligning objectives with desired outcomes.
- Course Design and Development – First, the designers will consult with the client to understand desired outcomes for the course design. Course material will be collected; the syllabus will be used as a plan of action. Second, backwards mapping of course outcomes to assessments, content (including media plans), and strategies will be a collaborative process. Prototyping of a course module will be shared for feedback and approval before the actual course design begins. Course design generally takes six months because it involves work from both the instructor and the designer. Fast-track builds can be created in three months if the instructor has the time.
- Course Redesigns – Revitalize existing courses to improve access, engagement, equity, inclusion, learning outcomes, and relevance. The designer will meet with the client to understand project parameters and provide recommendations before starting the project. Course redesigns can include items listed separately in services offered (e.g., quality review, course remediation, or custom course document creation). Course redesigns can be accomplished in 1-3 months, depending on how much time the instructor has available.
- Quality Assurance Reviews – Clients will provide or otherwise select a rubric for quality assurance (QA) reviews. The review consists of a comprehensive course evaluation for instructional alignment, usability, inclusion, effectiveness, and compliance with accessibility standards. A QA review also checks to see if links are broken and whether the link title matches the linked content. Feedback is shared via a QA checklist. Items approved for revision or replacement are discussed.
- Content and Course Remediation for WCAG 2.1 AA Compliance – Ensure courses are accessible to learners and compliant by remediating course pages and materials to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standards per ADA Title II regulations. The new regulations require courses to be 100% accessible by April 2026. The designer can remediate content and share standards to avoid facing similar issues with new material or course designs. Content remediation is a lengthy process. For example, one PDF can take 10 minutes if it doesn’t include a lot of images. However, a PowerPoint with numerous images can take an hour.
- Job Aids – This service provides custom creations of course documents (e.g., guides, rubrics, syllabi) and/or ancillary videos (e.g., virtual tours, tutorials, explainers). Creating material requires a consultation with the client before production. Media production is a lengthy process. For example, a 3-minute video could take an hour to produce the final version. Clients will be invited to share feedback on document and video creation for guidance and approval.
To learn more, especially about the futures thinking workshops, visit my new company website. I’m happy to share that I have my first client and a few prospective ones. Reach out if you’re interested!