Instructional Design Leadership Academy

The academy offers a guided path for leaders to refine their organizational structures—optimizing institutional capacity, clarifying governance, and ensuring that digital learning is a permanent, integrated pillar of the institution’s pedagogical legacy. It provides the architectural work needed to transform your digital offerings into a permanent, cost-effective platform for high-quality theological education, supporting your school’s long-term mission.
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provided by the PATHWAYS FOR TOMORROW COORDINATION PROGRAM through a grant from the lilly endowment inc.

Program Dates

The academy begins Monday, August 24, 2026, with asynchronous materials and ends on September 18, 2026.

Structure

A four-week leadership academy that combines high-level conceptual asynchronous training with synchronous hands-on "sprints." 

"Sprint" Sessions

Live working sessions or "sprints" will occur each Wednesday from 11-12:30pm EST. 

Cost

For eligible ATS member schools with active Pathways for Tomorrow grants, the cost of this Academy is fully provided.

Theological education is entering a critical period of institutional maturation. While the initial expansion of online initiatives was marked by remarkable ingenuity and rapid adaptation, many schools are now discovering that the systems that facilitated their early growth are increasingly misaligned with their long-term operational needs. The challenge has shifted from establishing a digital presence to ensuring that your online infrastructure is as disciplined, governed, and sustainable as your traditional residential programs.

True institutional excellence requires moving beyond the "emergency-response" architecture of the past toward a high-fidelity, mission-aligned foundation. The Instructional Design Leadership Academy offers a guided path for leaders in theological education to refine their organizational structures—optimizing institutional capacity, clarifying governance, and ensuring that digital learning is a permanent, integrated pillar of the institution’s pedagogical legacy.

Without intentional governance and a clear staffing blueprint, online programs often become "islands" of innovation, leading to faculty burnout and unnecessary administrative costs. This academy provides the guided architectural work needed to transform your digital offerings into a permanent, cost-effective platform for high-quality theological education, supporting your school’s long-term mission.

Who should enroll?

  • Academic Deans
  • Associate Deans of Digital Learning
  • Associate Deans of Lifelong Learning
  • Provosts
  • Directors of Distance Education

General

This academy is designed for the decision-makers who hold the keys to the infrastructure, funding, and hiring for online learning. This is not a technical "how-to" for course builders; it is a strategic "how-to" for administrators.

Ideal

The ideal participants are Academic Deans, Associate Deans of Digital Learning, Provosts, and Directors of Distance Education - specifically, those institutional leaders tasked with ensuring online programs are scalable, mission-centric, and sustainable.

Meet the consultant

Rev. Dr. Lindsay Andreolli-Comstock

Lindsay Andreolli-Comstock (she, her, hers) is co-founder and managing director of Tumbuh Global. She also serves as the president and principal consultant for The School of Global Citizenry, a program of Tumbuh.

Lindsay is a senior instructional designer, e-learning developer, LXD consultant, ordained clergy person, international immersion guide, small business owner, and published author with more than 24 years of nonprofit and B Corp-spirited for-profit experience.
Patrick Jones - Course author