SME — What Does That Mean?

Acronyms are pretty prevalent across the synod and our campus. LES? Lutheran Elementary School. ALHS? Area Lutheran High School. BIC? Bible Information Class. DP? District President.

As we build our CBE (competency-based education) programming at MLC (Martin Luther College), we are adding a few new acronyms to our WELS (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) vocabulary.

You may have heard our instructional designer or director refer to SME. What is SME?

SME, pronounced “smee,” is not just the loveable pirate sidekick in Peter Pan. SME, as an acronym, stands for Subject Matter Expert.

A SME has a blend of knowledge and experiences based on the courses that they are working to design. At MLC, they must meet the same qualifications established by our accrediting body, The Higher Learning Commission, for instructional faculty. That is, they must demonstrate the achievement of academic credentials, progress toward academic credentials, equivalent experience, or some combination thereof in the course they are helping us design. Many of the SME’s for the CBE programming are either currently teaching or have taught at MLC, so they have academic credentials, professional experience, and college teaching experience.

Each course design project relies on one or more SMEs to curate and create the course content, activities, and assessments. SMEs are not tasked with creating something entirely separate from our existing academic programming. Their content must all map to course competencies, program outcomes, and signature assessments established by MLC department chairs and faculty. However, how that content is delivered and assessed often looks very different in a digital learning environment.

The best course design really relies on collaboration. There must be a partnership between the SME and the instructional designer. The instructional designer has the technological expertise and the pedagogical practices to help create the content in our online learning environment. The conversations between the SME and the instructional designer explore how technology can be leveraged to create a rich and rigorous learning experience that is aligned with the academic goals of our on-campus offerings.