Because research has shown that many individuals within higher education do not seem to understand the field of instructional design or what instructional designers can contribute to an online course development project, this study was conducted to give instructional designers the opportunity to describe their experiences working with faculty subject matter experts (SMEs) to develop courses for online higher education institutions. This study also offered a description of how these experiences affect the quality of online courses and the successful strategies instructional designers use to strengthen their working relationships with faculty SMEs during online course development projects. High-quality, engaging, and informative online higher education courses are developed when a strong working relationship exists in which instructional designers and faculty SMEs respect one another's opinions and expertise. This study provided a look inside such a working relationship from the point of view of higher education instructional designers and offered suggestions that will help similar course-writing teams improve their working relationships. A basic qualitative study design was used for this study with purposive sampling. The sample consisted of 12 fully online higher education instructional designers who met the requirements for participating in this study. Data were collected in this study using semi-structured interviews and artifacts provided by instructional designers that offered insight on the processes they follow when working with faculty SMEs. Analysis of the data found in this study was based on the following themes: collaboration, teamwork, and conflict management. The findings from this study have indicated that the development of a high-quality online course for the higher education format depends on both instructional designers and faculty SMEs taking the time to understand the expertise that each of them brings to a course development project and developing a healthy respect for one another's time and talents. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]