Balancing Structure and Creativity in Instructional Design: A Professional Development for All Program

The purpose of this study was to examine learner feedback for the Professional Development for All (PDFA) program to understand participant experiences and better identify opportunities for course improvement. As a modular, self-paced digital initiative at the University of Central Florida, the PDFA program was designed to expand access to professional learning for nontraditional learners facing severe financial, scheduling, and self-efficacy barriers. Utilizing the Kirkpatrick Model (1998) as a guiding framework, the study employed a convergent mixed-methods design to analyze survey feedback from a self-selected sample of participants (n = 214) drawn from 1,816 enrollments. During the study period, 1,609 learners earned digital badges, reflecting an 88.6% completion rate. Qualitative and quantitative analyses identified three primary themes: course modality, instructional delivery, and requested revisions. Quantitative data indicated high satisfaction, with 96.2% of respondents reporting positive overall sentiment. Qualitatively, participants expressed a strong preference for flexible, asynchronous pacing and relevant content while identifying critical needs for enhanced multimodal accessibility and interactive assessments. Implications suggest that modular, technology-enhanced instructional frameworks offer a scalable model for reaching underserved nontraditional populations, while feedback provides a clear roadmap for future course revisions.