The purpose of this study is to identify the motivational elements of formal online instructional design processes that are being implemented at traditional institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the United States (U.S.). For this study, I conducted a comprehensive literature review identifying emerging issues of practice for instructional design partnerships between the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic during the spring of 2022 and the spring of 2023. This study was developed through the lens of Keller’s (2010) attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction, and volition (ARCS-V) model of motivation. An understanding of the elements of current processes that present as benefits and potential barriers to the motivation of participating course authors is vital to the research questions for this study. Keller’s (2010) ARCS-V model provides an industry recognized theoretical framework for interpreting participant responses with respect to motivation. This qualitative study was conducted using a modified Delphi method requiring two rounds of active participation from panelists through the completion of a questionnaire generated from existing literature on the topic, and a final member check. The modified structure is intended to respect the time limitations of course authors who have recently reported increasing difficulty with meeting the demands of the longer timelines favored for designing online courses (June, 2020; Nworie, 2021)
