Instructional Design

I’m always in the market for a good book, so they’re usually my number one request for the holiday season. Here is a list of books that I would recommend for any Instructional Designer or E-Learning Developer:

• Accidental Instructional Designer: Learning Design for the Digital Age by Cammy Bean 
• Design for How People Learn (2nd Edition) (Voices That Matter) by Julie Dirksen
• How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why it Happens by Benedict Carey
• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip and Dan Heath
• Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel 
• The Art and Science of Training by Elaine Biech
• The Essentials of Instructional Design by Brown and Green
• ISD From the Ground Up: A No-Nonsense Approach to Instructional Design by Chuck Hodell
• The E-Learning Designer’s Handbook: A Practical Guide to the E-Learning Development Process for New E-Learning Designers
• Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte
• Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences by Nancy Duarte
• Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols by Nancy Duarte and Patti Sanchez

Hopefully these book recommendations help you out in your search for good Instructional Design or E-Learning Development reading materials – Happy reading!

It’s that time of year where gift-giving is upon us, and if you have an Instructional Designer or E-Learning Developer in your life, I have a great list of prospective gifts that you can give!

Tech Gifts

Bose QuietComfort Noise Cancelling Headphones – These are my number one gift suggestion for any Instructional Designer or E-Learning Developer. Whether they work from home, from a cubicle farm, or just like zoning out to music/podcasts while they work, these are an amazing gift! I purchased a pair of these earlier in the year and I will never return to another type of headphone. NEVER. Bose, I’m a customer for life now. Yes; they are expensive, but are they worth it? 150%! As someone who travels frequently, these headphones have also saved my butt more than once when I’ve had to fall asleep on a noisy redeye after an excruciatingly long week of conference travel/participation, and work wonders for those who are anxious flyers.

Storage – You can never have enough Storage. I like my storage in the form of the Apple Time Capsule (which has been discontinued….wah!), external hard drives, and cloud based storage through Dropbox and Google Drive. There is no shortage of options, and there are some pretty good deals kicking around on Amazon this time of year.

Sonos Beam – The Sonos Beam is on my wishlist this year, and it’s mostly because I enjoy working from my sofa at times, and while doing so I like to have background noise. Then, when I actually want to watch TV, I’d like to feel like I’m in the show I’m watching. Basically, this is just something I would like to have in my life!

Things to Make Work Easier

Things that make my work-life easier include the following (outside of the headphones and storage previously mentioned):

• Articulate 360 Subscription
• Creative Market Credits
• Dongles for my Apple Devices – This one is great!
• An unlimited supply of lined post-it notes
• A spacious desk – I purchased this one earlier in the year after drooling over my husband’s, and it is amazing (AND, no allen keys required)
• Wireless Charging Pad
• A Good Microphone – this is necessary for anyone who records video or audio narration.

Coffee or Tea

Most Instructional Designers, E-Learning Developers, or humans I know consume some form of caffeine, and most often it’s in the form of tea or coffee.

Last year I sprung for the Nespresso Vertuoline with frother because I was spending way too much money on lattes at a local cafe (annually). I chose the Vertuoline because they have a fantastic recycling program for their pods (the entire pod gets recycled and coffee composted), are very fairly priced per cup, and their coffee is pretty tasty.

Before purchasing the Nespresso, I had a little Cuisinart that did the trick, and I would purchase coffee subscriptions so I could get a variety of beans. My favourite subscriptions were:

• Craft Coffee
• Blue Bottle Coffee

On the tea front, I am very firmly planted in the Davids Tea camp. Davids has an amazing selection of tea, and some of my favourites are: S’Mores Chai, and Movie Night. However, if you’re unsure what to choose, I would recommend the following gift packages:

• Fan Favourites Sachet Tea Wheel
• Gift of Wellness
• Gift of Sleep

I’ve been working as an Instructional Designer for over a decade now, and within that capacity, most of my roles have required e-learning development. It wasn’t until I took on my first role in higher education, where e-learning development was not a thing I got to do, that I began to really long for the days I once lamented…working on an e-learning project for hours, weeks, or months. It was then that I realized that while I love all of the other phases of Instructional Design, I have a particular fondness for the development phase. Here are a few reasons why:

1.Flexing My Creative Muscles

Until I discovered Instructional Design, I had never been a particularly creative or art-sy person. I always wanted to be, but it was just never in the cards. I did much better with written activities, or things that required my imagination…I always dreaded the ‘creative cat’ category in Cranium. But once I began developing e-learning and seeing how I could craft really cool learning experiences, and make learning suck less for the target audience, I became passionate about that element of Instructional Design.

2. Working with Cool Technology

Within my first Instructional Design role, we worked in a ton of different technologies. We created a lot of cool learning experiences, from traditional Instructor-Led Training (ILT) to gesture-based training to Augmented Reality (AR). In creating these learning experiences, I was able to work across a broad range of technologies. This is where my love affair with Articulate products began. I became especially excited about Articulate products after having worked in so many other products that were a lot more confusing to use. In working with Articulate products, I was able to discover the E-Learning Heroes Community.

3. The Community

As with the communities of Instructional Designers I’ve encountered, the communities of e-learning developers are a-plenty, and it makes me so happy and excited to see so many people doing such cool things. When I was first building out my portfolio, the Articulate E-Learning Heroes Community was my motivational launchpad. I truly appreciate a community of people who provide constructive feedback as it helps me grow as a Learning and Development Professional.

I have also learned so much from all of the people I have met through other communities on Reddit, LinkedIn, and Twitter. There is such a wealth of inspiration for e-learning development out there, and these communities have been instrumental in my growth within e-learning development.

The Backstory

If you haven’t read my Instructional Designer Origin Story, I’ll give you the brief rundown of how I got into Instructional Design:

• Graduated from university and was applying for graduate programs in Speech Language Pathology
• Didn’t know Instructional Design was a thing
• Had a friend who worked as an Instructional Designer, thought I was smart enough to do what she was doing, and got me an interview at her place of employment
• I got hired, worked there for nearly 6 years, and fell in love with Instructional Design

That’s the quick and dirty. Growing up, I never aspired to become a teacher or work in education, because I ignorantly assumed that working in education was synonymous with being a teacher. I hated public speaking, something that might surprise a lot of you, and the thought of standing in front of a room full of little judging people sounded horrifying.

Little did I know that there’s a whole world of ‘background educators’, many of whom are Instructional Designers. In university I did become interested in the concept of technical writing after a particularly challenging IKEA build. Working in a role that allowed me to structure content in a logical and meaningful way to my audience satisfied my original interest. It actually peaked my interest in a world I knew very little about. While in that role, I discovered my passion for Instructional Design, obtained my Masters of Education (Post-Secondary Studies), and discovered my career.

So, Why Do I Love Instructional Design?

1. I Get to Craft Learning Experiences!

Before working as an Instructional Designer, I had been involved in my fair share of horrible training sessions (face-to-face and online), and I took my reflection of those experiences personally. I wanted to make it my mission to make learning more engaging, effective, and meaningful. I wanted the audience to leave their learning experience feeling as though they actually learned something that they could apply, tangibly within their work and/or life.

I wanted to ensure that instruction was being designed in a very purposeful, process-driven manner, and that the instruction and all activities or assessments were being developed to align directly to defined learning objectives or outcomes. Instructional Design allows me to do that.

Being able to craft learning experiences allows me to put myself in the learners’ shoes, and make learning an enjoyable experience.

2. I Can Appreciate the Underlying Theories

There are a lot of cool educational theories that underlie and inform Instructional Design, and they allow me to customize learning experiences further by applying concepts from these theories in order to optimize overall effectiveness.

A lot of folks know about Bloom’s Taxonomy, but do they also know about Gagne’s 9 Events? Constructivism? Behaviorism? Cognitivism? Scaffolding? Chunking? Kirkpatrick’s levels? There are so many other theories! I appreciate them all, and enjoy considering them during the analysis, design, and development phases of any project.

3. The Community!

There are many communities of Instructional Designers and aspiring Instructional Designers that I participate in, and I enjoy learning new things from many of the folks that I follow.

I make it a point to attend and participate in Learning & Development conferences, where I can learn from industry professionals and put my ‘teacher’ cap on and deliver sessions of my own. There are also many online communities that exist and are a wealth of knowledge for any industry professional. Here are just a few:

1. Articulate E-Learning Heroes – The E-Learning Heroes Community has by and large been one of my greatest support systems, particularly when I was first starting out as an independent contractor. The weekly e-learning challenges have helped me grow my development skills and my portfolio, the community members have provided continual support – from reviewing my e-learning and providing feedback to helping me troubleshoot projects in a pinch, and I’ve met many of the Articulate folks at Community Roadshows and conferences – all of them are incredibly fantastic and supportive.
2. The Online Network of Independent Learning Professionals – Patti Bryant started this group on Linkedin, and members meet every Thursday (live and online!) to chat about pointed topics or have community hours. Usually, one member will present on a given topic, and then a panel will be available to answer community member questions. Each session is recorded, so if you can’t tune in live, you can watch/listen later! This group has such a wealth of knowledge and I would consider participating – even if it’s only passively listening to the sessions – to be essential for any learning and development professional.
3. The Instructional Design Sub-Reddit – This sub-reddit is a well-oiled machine, and there always seems to be readers kicking around asking questions, providing feedback, posting jobs, and offering support to folks new to the industry.

4. I Get To Share My Knowledge!

I love sharing all of my knowledge with my readers here on the blog, over on Twitter, or on LinkedIn. It makes me happy to be able to answer your Instructional Design questions, and if my knowledge helps you learn something new, that’s icing on the cake!

If you’re interested in learning more about Instructional Design, I have a 60+ lesson course, Essentials of Instructional Design that you can check out. Until November 28th, 2018, get $150 off all Sprout E-Learning courses using coupon code: bf150.

Check it out on Sprout E-Learning!

If you’re on the fence, be sure to check out the Course Outline and Course Brochure!