Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed

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