Saul Carliner

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Saul Carliner
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Born
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
CitizenshipAmerican, Canadian
OccupationAcademic, professor, consultant
Known forResearch on instructional and informational materials, educational technology, and professional practice
Parent(s)Louis Elliott Carliner
Jodean Carliner Rubin
Academic background
EducationPikesville High School
Academic work
DisciplineEducational technology
InstitutionsConcordia University

Saul Carliner is an American Canadian academic, currently working as a professor of Educational Technology at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada..[1] As a professional in the field of educational technology, he is known for his research on the design of instructional and informational materials; the management of groups that produce these materials; and related issues of professionalism and policy.

Outside of his work as a professor and as a consultant, Carliner is an active member of his community.

Education

Carliner was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the second of three children of attorney Louis Elliott Carliner and educator Jodean Carliner Rubin (nee Askin).He has an older sister and younger brother.He attended Pikesville High School in suburban Baltimore.

Carliner earned a BA in Economics, Professional Writing and Public Policy and Management with a minor in Administration and Management Science from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, United States of America. He later earned an MAg in Technical Communication from the University of Minnesota--Twin Cities and a PhD in Instructional Technology from Georgia State University.[2] He is also qualified as a Certified Training and Development Professional (CTDP) as well as a Certified Facilitator of Training (CFT).[3]

Career

Industry

Carliner began his career as an information developer (technical writer) at IBM Corporation in Rochester, Minnesota in 1980. For the first four years, he worked in the research and development, and wrote, among other publications, the trouble-shooting guide, The System/38 Problem Determination Guide. He later moved into manufacturing training, which began his second career as an instructional designer. After completing the coursework for his master’s degree part-time, he transferred to IBM’s training facility in Atlanta in 1986, where he was part of the team that developed the first comprehensive online training for the IBM PC and its successor, PS/2, then moved into a third career as a marketing communicator, where he oversaw all marketing communications for IBM’s then newly formed Customer Education Business Unit. He began his PhD studies while in this position and left IBM for an independent career after entering candidacy for his PhD in 1992. His dissertation explored design for informal learning in the permanent exhibitions of science, technology, and history museums. His first book, Techniques for Technical Communicators, co-written with Carol Barnum, was published the day after he left IBM. After working solo for several years, Carliner returned to Minnesota and joined Minneapolis-based Fredrickson Communications (now Fredrickson Learning) as an Executive Vice-President in 1995 after completing his doctorate.

Academia

From 1992 until 1996, Carliner was an Assistant Professor of Technical Communication in the Department of Humanities and Technical Communication at Kennesaw State University (formerly Southern Polytechnic State University) working part-time until 1995, when he briefly joined the faculty full-time. Carliner left full-time work in industry for good in 1998, when he became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Rhetoric at the University of Minnesota, coordinating a four-campus program in technical communication with campuses in Crookston, Morris, and Rochester, Minnesota. He was recruited into a tenure track position in the business communication program in the Department of English (now its own Department of Information Design and Corporate Communication) at Bentley College from 1999 until 2002. From 2001 to 2003, Carliner was a visiting Assistant Professor at City University of Hong Kong in the Department of English and Communication. He joined the faculty at Concordia University in July 2003 as an Assistant Professor, receiving tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 2007 and becoming full Professor in 2016. At Concordia, he has also held several administrative roles including Director of the Education Doctoral Program (2011-2016), Provost’s Fellow for e-Learning (2012-2016), Interim Chair of the Department of Education (2017-2018), Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology and of the Graduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher and Continuing Education (2018-2022) and Department Chair (2022-2025).[4] He was also an instructor at the International Summer School of Beijing’s University of International Business and Economics from 2016 to 2019, where he taught courses on corporate communication.

Research

Carliner’s research topics include the design of instructional and informational content, the management of groups that produce this content, and related issues of policy and professionalism. He primarily focuses on the design of instructional and informational content in the workplace but also works with teaching and, learning in higher education.[5]

Design of instructional and informational content for the workplace

Carliner’s work in this area has focused on online learning, a comprehensive view of technical communication, informal learning, and the roles of designers in various work situations.

Online learning: Carliner’s[6] early research was published in An Overview of Online Learning, a book, which was published during the dot-com boom and open access, introduced educators and trainers to online learning and training.[7] Later work focused on promoting effective design and facilitation of online materials in which design decisions were based both on evidence and the practical realities of the learning situation, including the affordances of the learning management systems used to support the learning activities.[9] The research highlights the managerial, design, and technical issues with online learning, including those related to project management. Carliner’s use of real world examples in the form of case studies helps educators with their understanding of the concepts and issues, as well as the rapidly changing role of online learning.[10] These approaches are reflected in his books Advanced Web-Based Training: Unlocking Instructionally Sound Online Learning (co-authored with Margaret Driscoll)[8] and The e-Learning Handbook: Past Promises, Present Challenges (co-edited with Patti Shank).[9] The latter also explored the disparity between the predicted and current scope of e-learning, which resulted from technological, theoretical and economic issues affecting e-learning. Carliner explained that the main issues with e-learning are the lack of understanding of how people learn and the use of e-learning products and services that are unable to meet the needs of organizations and their learners.[10] Carliner and his co-authors posit that online learning environments were designed with an inadequate pedagogical model of e-learning in which the practices of traditional classes were transferred to the e-learning environment with limited success. Given this information, instructional designers can evaluate the effectiveness traditional instructional design models which form the framework for online learning environments and use the strategies offered by Carliner to enhance the effectiveness of e-learning. In the 2020s, Carliner has collaborated with his Concordia colleague Giuliana Cucinelli to organize a series of symposia on the impact of AI on the design of instructional and informational content [11].

Comprehensive view of technical communication: Techniques for Technical Communicators,[12],which he co-edited with Carol Barnum, brought together various strands of discussions in technical communication, including an orientation towards readers, communicating in clear and relatable ways [19] in text and visuals; several levels of editing, the realities of working within budgets, schedules, and quality goals, and interacting effectively with subject matter experts. In the early 2000s, he published Physical, Cognitive, and Affective: A Three-Part Framework for Information Design [13] and Modelling Information for Three-Dimensional Space,[14] which applied insights learned from his dissertation study of the design of museum exhibits to the design of information content presented online. His later research focused on emerging microgenres of communication,[15] work on which he collaborated with Tim Boswood and that was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Hong Kong University Grants Council, and various techniques for evaluating technical communication products, including theoretical frameworks from which to consider evaluation[16] and a proposed model for evaluating work in the field, a four level framework that adapts the Katzell-Kirkpatrick Model used in training to measure the effectiveness of technical communication products.[17]

Informal learning: Carliner began researching how museums facilitate informal learning (now known as free-choice learning) for his doctoral dissertation.[18] Later publications, including his 2012 book Informal Learning Basics[19] focused on applications of informal learning in the workplace and the use of online learning to facilitate this type of learning He posits that access to traditional formal training programs is not always possible, but, through informal learning, workers can still receive on the-job-training and developmental experiences to become more effective in their roles. This research explains that executives and managers can develop structures and develop resources within organizations that support informal learning.[22] He received a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Council (SSHRC) of Canada for further study of the subject.

Roles of designers in various work situations: Additional research by Carliner and his PhD student Yuan Chen evaluated the relationship between instructional designers and educators in higher education. They explain that instructional designers fulfill many roles in the online learning environment including faculty advisors, project managers and workshop facilitators.[13] Chen and Carliner suggest that the relationship is multifaceted, and can be described as consultative.[14] His research reveals that there is a power struggle between these cohorts of professionals because faculty members, who are often untrained in education, usually outrank instructional designers in significant decision making. This imbalance affects the working relationship between the parties, but can be effectively navigated to strengthen instructional designers’ partnerships with educators and subject matter experts.[15] Other factors affecting the relationship between faculty and instructional designers in higher education include the absence of clearly defined roles, educators' concern for autonomy, poor communication, and the overlap of roles between faculty and instructional designers.[16]

Management of groups producing this content

Carliner has conducted a number of studies related to the management of groups, including the 2024 Canada’s L&D Industry Survey and a 2018 census (industry study) of technical communicators. These studies explored the types of content produced by these groups, the tools and resources used to do so, and related issues of professional development. Other work emphasizes the importance of adjusting designs for instructional and informational content to the number of individuals affected and the available resources, classifying content into three tiers: platinum (complex, requiring the most resources because they have a high impact on the organization and affect 1000 or more people); silver (less complex, with either a high impact or a high volume of learners to be trained but not both); and bronze (least complex with a low impact on organizations and less than 100 learners to train). Carliner explains that designers of training might be able to adjust their efforts to create silver and bronze programs without starting from scratch. Carliner has also proposed the business models used in learning and development,[20][21] and technical communication.[22]

Related Issues of Policy and Professionalism

Among Carliner’s most significant contributions in this area to educational technology was his work with Louise Grummit and Robin Martin on the 2010 and 2016 editions of Competencies for Learning and Development Professionals [23] for the Institute for Performance and Learning, which serves as the basis for its certification and continuing education programs and became a best-selling title on the 2011 Globe and Mail business books list. Among Carliner’s most significant contributions in this area to technical communication are a 2012 article on the nature of professionalization of people working in a field: formal professionalism, which views professionalization as a stepping stone to full occupational status; quasiprofessionalization, in which individuals participate in the activities of the occupational infrastructure but without the expectation of exclusive rights to perform the work and contraprofessionalization, which refers to initiatives that offer or promote professional services [24] and a 1995 article on the evolution of the field [25], into a potentially strategic partner. As Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, Carliner promoted the publication of systematic reviews of literatures and establishing guidelines for reporting different types of research, which have since been expanded and updated [26]

Community work

Throughout his career, Carliner has held a number of leadership positions in professional and community organizations. In professional organizations, he held a number of posts in the former Society for Technical Communication, including International President (1995-1996), program manager for the annual conference (1989, 2007), Associate Editor of its journal, Technical Communication, and chair of the Editorial Advisory Board for its magazine, Intercom. He also served as Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2011-2015); President of the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education (2020-2022); Chair of the Advisory Board of the Publications Center of Excellence for the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (since 2024), and Board Member (2008-2012) and Chair of the Certification Committee (2008-2012; 2014-2017) of the Canadian Society for Training and Development (now Institute for Performance and Learning). The book resulting from that work, Competencies for Training and Development Professionals, was one of the top 10 business books in Canada in 2012

In community organizations, he is a former president of Agence Ometz, a human services agency which provides services such as employment, education and social assistance to Montrealers.[27] He was also a member of the Community Planning and Allocations Cabinet of Federation CJA, an organization which, according to their motto, seeks to “preserve and strengthen the quality of Jewish life and engagement in Montreal, Israel, and the world”. [28] He also served as the Vice-Chair of the Brookline (Massachusetts) Commission for the Arts, Chair of the Friends of Fernbank (overseeing its transition from a separately incorporated advocacy organization to a member auxiliary of the Fernbank Museum and Science Center), board member of community theaters in Atlanta and Rochester, Minnesota, a regional vice-president of the Reconstructionist Jewish Federation, and was placed as a volunteer with the Pan African Institute for Development in Buea, Cameroon by the American Jewish World Service. He has also acted in several community theater programs and served on the boards of three community theaters.

Selected publications

Books

  • Carliner, S., Driscoll, M., & Thayer, Y. (2021). Career anxiety: Guidance for tough times. International Career Press.
  • Carliner, S., & Driscoll, M. (2019). An overview of training and development: Why training matters. Lakewood Media Group.
  • Carliner, S. (2015). Training design basics (2nd ed.). ASTD Press.
  • Carliner, S. (2012). Informal learning basics. ASTD Press.
  • Carliner, S., & Shank, P. (2008). The e-learning handbook: Past promises, present challenges. Pfeiffer.
  • Carliner, S., Ally, M., Zhao, N., Bairstow, L., Khoury, S., & Johnston, L. (2006). A review of the state of the field of workplace learning: What we know and what we need to know about competencies, diversity, e-learning, and human performance improvement. Canadian Society for Training and Development.
  • Driscoll, M., & Carliner, S. (2005). Advanced web-based training: Adapting real world strategies in your online learning. Pfeiffer.
  • Carliner, S. (2004). An overview of online learning. HRD Press.
  • Carliner, S. (2002). Designing e-learning. ASTD Press.
  • Barnum, C. M., & Carliner, S. (1993). Techniques for technical communicators. Macmillan.

Book chapters

  • Carliner, S. (2024). Informal learning. In R. A. Reiser, & A. Carr-Chelman (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design (pp. 283-303). Pearson.
  • Carliner, S. (2008). A holistic framework of instructional design for e-learning. In S. Carliner, & P. Shank (Eds.) The e-learning handbook: Past promises, present challenges (pp. 307-358). Pfeiffer.
  • Driscoll, M., & Carliner, S. (2007). Informal learning: A way to unleash new power from e-learning. In E. Biech (Ed.) The 2007 Pfeiffer annual training (pp. 197-208). Pfeiffer.

Peer-reviewed articles

  • Bekkouche, N., & Carliner, S. (2025). The academic preparation of transnational students: An analysis of curriculum and teaching methods from four international systems. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, 19394225251365338.
  • Carliner, S., & Chen, Y. (2024). Instructional design: A collaboration or a consultation? The Journal of Applied Instructional Design, 13(1), 63-77.
  • Carliner, S. (2023). From the standpoint of instructional designers: Critically investigating the coordination of ID contributions to collaborative online course development. New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Development, 35(3), 141–145. https://doi.org/10.1177/19394225231203652
  • Price, D. W., Carliner, S., & Lopez, M. (2023). Validating interactions: How learners, peers and policies explain teaching needs. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 36(2), 59–74. https://doi.org/10.56811/PIQ-20-0058
  • Chen, Y., & Carliner, S. (2021). A special SME: An integrative literature review of the relationship between instructional designers and faculty in the design of online courses for higher education. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 33(4), 471–495. https://doi.org/10.1002/piq.21339
  • Burton–MacLeod, N. E., & Carliner, S. (2020). Microlearning to support training transfer: A nursing professional development case study. Journal of Applied Instructional Design, 9(1), 65-79.
  • Carliner, S. (2003). Modeling information for three-dimensional space: Lessons learned from museum exhibit design. Technical Communication, 50(4), 554–570.
  • Carliner, S. (2001). Administering distance courses taught in partnership with other institutions. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 4(2), 1-12.
  • Carliner, S. (2000). Physical, cognitive, and affective: A three-part framework for information design. Technical Communication, 47(4), 561–576.

Awards

Carliner has earned several awards throughout his career.

  • 1995 - Doctoral Award from Georgia State University
  • 2000 - Fellow, Society for Technical Communication
  • 2000 & 2001 - Best of Show – Outstanding Article of the Year from the Frank R. Smith Technical Commication Outstanding Article Competition
  • 2009 - Award of Excellence from the International Technical Publications Competition for The e-Learning Handbook: Past Promises, Present Challenges
  • 2012 - Award of Distinguished Technical Communication from the Frank R. Smith Technical Communication Outstanding Article Competition
  • 2014 - Jay Gould Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Society for Technical Communication
  • 2014 – Alumni Teaching Award, Concordia University
  • 2014 – Kenneth Rainey Award for Excellence in Research from the Society for Technical Communication
  • 2015 - Fellow of the Institute for Performance and Learning
  • 2021 - Best Practices and Pedagogical Innovators Award from SALTISE
  • 2023. One of the top 100 influencers in eLearning from EduFlow.[29]
  • 2022 - Award of Excellence and Innovation in Instructional Design from the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education
  • 2025 – Cutting Edge Award (shared with Jae Young Lee), Academy of Human Resource Development
  • 2025 - Award of Merit: Instructional Design from the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education[30]

References

  1. ↑ "Saul Carliner - Concordia University".
  2. ↑ "Saul Carliner - Concordia University".
  3. ↑ "Saul Carliner".
  4. ↑ "Saul Carliner - Concordia University".
  5. ↑ https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/38163145400
  6. ↑ Carliner, S. (2004). An overview of online learning. HRD Press.
  7. ↑ Deaton, M (2005). "An overview of online learning [Review of An overview of online learning]". Technical Communication. 52 (2): 224–225.
  8. ↑ Driscoll, M.; Carliner, S. (2005). Advanced Web-Based Training: Unlocking Instructionally Sound Online Learning. Pfeiffer.
  9. ↑ Carliner, S.; Shank, P. (2008). The e-learning handbook: Past promises, present challenges. Pfeiffer.
  10. ↑ Carliner, S.; Shank, P. (2008). The e-learning handbook: Past promises, present challenges. Pfeiffer.
  11. ↑ "AI design experience for instructional & informational content (2025) | Department of Education - Concordia University".
  12. ↑ Barnum, C. M.; Carliner, S. (1993). Techniques for technical communicators. Macmillan.
  13. ↑ Carliner, S. (2000). "Physical, cognitive, and affective: A three-part framework for information design". Technical Communication. 47 (4): 561–576.
  14. ↑ Carliner, S. (2001). "Modeling information for three-dimensional space: Lessons learned from museum exhibit design". Technical Communication. 48 (4): 554–570.
  15. ↑ Carliner, S., &; Boswood, T. (2004). "Genre: A useful construct for researching online communication for the workplace". Information Design Journal. 12 (2): 124–136. doi:10.1075/idjdd.12.2.05car.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ Carliner, S. (2003). "Characteristic-based, task-based, and results-based: Three value systems for assessing professionally produced technical communication products". Technical Communication Quarterly. 12 (1): 83–100. doi:10.1207/s15427625tcq1201_6.
  17. ↑ Carliner, S. (1994). "Demonstrating effectiveness and value: A process for evaluating technical communication products and services". Technical Communication. 44 (3): 252–265.
  18. ↑ Carliner, S. (1995). Every object tells a story: A grounded model of design for object-based learning in museums. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Georgia State University.
  19. ↑ Carliner, S. (2012). Informal Learning Basics. ASTD Press.
  20. ↑ Carliner, S. (2004). "Business models for training and performance improvement departments". Human Resource Development Review. 13 (3): 275–293. doi:10.1177/1534484304267833.
  21. ↑ Carliner, S.; Driscol, M. (2019). An Overview of Training and Development: Why Training Matters. Lakewood Media.
  22. ↑ Carliner, S. (2012). "Using business models to describe technical communication groups". Technical Communication. 59 (2): 124–147.
  23. ↑ https://performanceandlearning.ca/page/I4PLCompetencies
  24. ↑ Carliner, S. (2012). "The three approaches to professionalization in technical communication". Technical Communication. 59 (1): 49–65.
  25. ↑ Carliner, S. (2012). "Evolution-revolution: Toward a strategic perception of technical communication". Technical Communication. 43 (3): 266–276.
  26. ↑ "Submitting a Manuscript - IEEE Professional Communication Society".
  27. ↑ https://ometz-news.ca/interactive_pdf/2021/AnnualReport/AR2021_EN_v15.pdf Template:Bare URL PDF
  28. ↑ "Annual Report 2009-2010".
  29. ↑ "Saul Carliner - Concordia University".
  30. ↑ "Saul Carliner - Concordia University".

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