The Academic Lab

The Academic Lab provides services to enhance the online learning experience for both educators and students, delivering practical support and evidence-based design.

Whether you need a targeted audit or a full-scale redesign, you can review these specialized sub-services to find the right fit for your program.

THE LAB SERVICES

Explore The Lab and the specific diagnostic paths available.

Course Health
Assessment

Are your learning goals clear,
or lost in a broken course structure?

A comprehensive course review with
practical recommendations to strengthen
alignment, learning progression, and
sustainable course design.

Learner Engagement
Design

Is the course designed to support meaningful engagement and connections?

A comprehensive engagement review
with practical recommendations to
strengthen interaction, focus, and
connected learning experiences.

Responsive Instructional Solutions

What in my course design is creating barriers to learning, and how can I fix them?

Identify what is preventing
learning progress your course design by
classifying the root cause and applying
the instructional solutions required to fix it.

Course Health Assessment

Description

A structured review of your course that evaluates alignment, coherence, and workload balance to support a
stronger learner experience.

Every review begins with a brief consultation to understand your goals, context, and available materials. From there, your course is analyzed
to identify strengths, gaps, and opportunities for improvement.

Areas of Review

Alignment between and among course components

Clarity of learning progression and sequencing

Cognitive balance between course components

Workload capacity and instructional sustainability

Full Course Health Assessment includes:

Executive Brief
A high-level summary for leadership.

Course Health Report Card
An objective evaluation of course design.

Design Pivots
Actionable tips to improve your course
alignment and balance

————————————————

What You Receive

Or choose individual assessments:

— Vertical Alignment

— Cognitive Load

— Sustainability

See the quality for yourself. Download a full sample report (PDF) to review a prototype of our framework in action.

Download the Course Health Assessment to review the full scope of the online course diagnostic.

Contact me

——————————

Learner Engagement Design

A structured review of your course engagement that evaluates interaction design,
cognitive support, and social connection
to strengthen the learner experience.

Every review begins with a brief consultation to understand your goals, learner context, and available course materials.

From there, your course is analyzed
to identify engagement strengths, barriers,
and opportunities for improvement.

Description

Areas of Review

Engagement structure across
course activities and learner touchpoints

Balance between content complexity
and instructional support

Visibility of community-building and
social presence opportunities

Opportunities for sustained attention,
interaction, and learner connection

———————————

What You Receive

Full Learner Engagement Design includes:

Executive Brief
A high-level summary for leadership.

Engagement Design Blueprint
A clear grade on course design.

Design Pivots
Actionable tips to improve your student course
engagement design

Or choose individual reviews:

  • Engagement Baseline

  • Cognitive Engagement

  • Social Presence

Contact Me

Responsive Instructional Solutions

This service uses a structured diagnostic approach to identify why a course is underperforming and provides a clear design blueprint to improve alignment, learning flow, and student engagement.

Rather than applying a standard template, each engagement follows a targeted pathway based on the specific instructional issue present in the course.

  • A structured diagnostic service that identifies why a course is underperforming and provides a clear, actionable blueprint to pinpoint the root failures, repair the broken elements, and fully restore course performance.

    Each review begins with an assessment to locate where breakdowns in design, sequencing, workload, or engagement are occurring. From there, the course is mapped to a targeted design pathway and rebuilt for clarity, coherence, and sustainability.

  • Diagnose & Classify →
    Establish the primary issue affecting course performance

    Prescribe & Architect →
    Build instructional design solution

    Validate & Scale →
    Review workload, pacing, and instructional demand then scale across sections

  • The full Responsive Instruction Solutions service offers:

    Executive Brief
    A high-level summary for leadership.

    Modernization Blueprint
    A custom-engineered roadmap that outlines solutiosn

    Design Pivots
    Actionable tips to improve your learning environment

Contact Me

“Creative, collaborative, and genuinely cares about what she does.”

— Assistant Professor, referring to Dr. Ellen Cohn Bloomfield, Owner and CEO.