Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed

Instructional Designer & Consultant

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Terminology Tuesday: Vlogs

I’ve been watching a lot of YouTubers lately. It’s one of my favourite ways to take time out and get my head out of work mode. One of my favourite video styles to watch are vlogs, because they give you a glimpse into the lives of others. Now, I know that sounds creepy, but sometimes it’s just refreshing to get out of your own head.

What is a Vlog?

A vlog is a video-blog. Instead of blogging traditionally, as I’m doing now, the user video-blogs or vlogs. These videos are often done in a day-in-the-life style, but can also be optimized for training and development, akin to webinars or screencasts.

Vlogging has a huge presence in the YouTube content creator community for obvious reasons, but there are many Instructional Designers and IDs who are creating similar content. One cool way that I can see a day-in-the-life style working might be to set up your camera behind you while you work to create some cool time-lapse demos.

Another approach could be similar to the beauty gurus you see on YouTube – these content creators often explain how to achieve different beauty looks. You can use this approach as an opportunity to create brief tidbits of instructor-led training.

When thinking about this post, I really just wanted to emphasize the importance of thinking outside of the box with regard to your training, and leveraging approaches that are working well in other contexts!

How to Build Your E-Learning Portfolio – Part 1

Portfolio

I’ve presented on How to Build Your E-Learning Portfolio several times over the past year, and it still amazes me how few e-learning portfolios I come across online. For this reason, I’ve decided to take a four-part approach to sharing what I know about building your e-learning portfolio.

The Importance of an E-Learning Portfolio

For e-learning professionals, and for many folks working in other ‘visual’ industries, a visual portfolio is essential. I said it. Essential. A portfolio will help you out if you eventually seek to change jobs, roles, or move into a freelance/contracting role, and it will quell the inevitable question from prospective employers/clients, “can we see some work samples and/or your portfolio?” Portfolios should be considered the cornerstone for every e-learning professional.

In my opinion, there are three main reasons why having a portfolio is important:

  1. It highlights your capabilities; specifically with visual technologies;
  2. It can act as a visual resume. Most Instructional Designers have had a Subject Matter Expert review their Word storyboard only to say “but, I just can’t visualize it.” As an ID, you know that the next phase is developing the content and media assets, but the SME just can’t get past the storyboard phase. This problem is similar to one that prospective clients have when trying to visualize how you and your abilities could work for them and their needs; and
  3. It can lead to an increase in job offers. Once prospective clients can see what you’re capable of doing, their confidence in your abilities will increase, which can help you reduce the amount of hustling you have to do.

My portfolio started out with just a few items, but once it went live, I saw a dramatic increase in the amount of prospective client inquiries I had. You will never stop playing the sales person as a small-business owner, but you can significantly reduce the amount of hustling you do, and will likely be able to enjoy the luxury of being able to choose who you want to work with.

Since tossing my portfolio online, I’ve been able to focus on working with clients I’m passionate about doing work with instead of scooping up anything and everything. It’s also allowed me to funnel work into the hands of other hustling independents to keep their revenue streams open when mine is at capacity.

With all of that being said, I would consider investing time into building my portfolio to be a direct correlation with an increase in my quality of work life and overall job satisfaction!

Terminology Tuesday: Reusability

First off, I have to address something I didn’t pick up on until this morning – last week was one year of Terminology Tuesday posts. Sure, I didn’t hit every single Tuesday as I had intended, but there have been 52 terms discussed (53 today), and that’s just bananas!

This week, I wanted to talk a bit about the concept of reusability in e-learning, and perhaps veer from the traditional concept discussion that’s often related to SCORM.

Reusability in E-Learning

When I think about reusability in e-learning, I think about objects and content that can be reused in a variety of contexts. Developers often run into this when working on large projects or in industries that involve trade-specific courseware development. My first experience with reusable assets was working with clients in the Defence sector. Often times we were working on projects for the same aircraft (although perhaps several years between projects), and it became quickly beneficial. For instance, one client had provided us with a 3D model of the aircraft, whereas another client several years later did not have access to this same model. We were able to reuse the initial model to suit the needs of the new project. Reusability also came in handy when developing component installation courses and then removal courses (we simply had to reverse the interaction, but could use the same objects).

Being mindful of reusability is critical as it can save you time and money in the long run. Reusing previously established assets (for the same client, of course – in the Defence sector example, the end client was the same, whereas the contractor may have been different, so the end client ‘owned’ all of the assets) will reduce the amount of development various departments and/or individuals have to spend.

Best practices for reusability might include creating your own content repository and defining a file naming convention that will make it easy for you to find what you’re looking for. If you’re extra savvy, you can create a coded database, but that might require a lot more effort than you have time for.

If you work in a specific authoring tool, it may save you time on a new project to have a repository of developed themes and/or interactions; this can help shave time off in the initial prototyping phase, and provides you with an arsenal of ideas for what you might be able to do from a design perspective, and can prove invaluable if design is not your forte.

E-Learning Challenge #78 – E-Learning Icons (FREE DOWNLOAD)

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve shared anything e-learning challenge related, but I really enjoy using icons, so I whipped up a quick Storyline file with some themed icons.

The Challenge

This week’s challenge was to create a set of icons, buttons, or stickers to share with the e-learning heroes community.

The Method

I decided to keep the concept fairly simple, use a standard shape with a drop shadow and then add icons from The Noun Project. I’ve long been a fan of The Noun Project, and if you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, click the link and go check them out!

I decided on several themes: Space, Animals, Office, Transportation, and Food, and sourced icons for all of these themes. Once sourced, I added the icon to the shape, grouped the shape and icon together for all icons, and then added a ‘show layer’ trigger to all of the buttons. Prior to publish, I added credits under the Resource tab for all icons used.

The Result

Screen Shot 2015-04-15 at 10.51.30 AM

Check out a quick demo by clicking here.

Download the Storyline file to snag all of these icons by clicking here.

Terminology Tuesday: Environmental Scans

Yesterday I had a discussion with the university about something I’m very excited about. It’s really the potential that I’m excited about, because it’s too early to tell whether anything will come of it or not. As part of my take away, I will be conducing a needs assessment, and as part of that needs assessment, I will need to conduct an environmental scan.

Environmental Scans

Environmental scans are a means of data collection aimed at gathering information on internal and external factors related to whatever it is that you’re researching. Environmental scans allow you to compare what other organizations/institutions, etc. are doing and where they’re doing it. Are they doing something comparable to what you want to do? If so, what is their target audience? Will their program deter individuals from participating in your program? How much competition is there? What does the target audience want?

These questions can easily be answered by conducting a thorough environmental scan. These scans will help you determine whether there are any needs or gaps and how you can meet those needs or fill those gaps. Furthermore, an environmental scan may help you prioritize. For example, if I wanted to create a new program on How to Bathe a Cat, I would look at what others are doing, how they’re doing it, and whether their audience or instructors are experiencing any gaps. My priority would be to address any gaps identified in the environmental scan within my program to ensure that I maintained a competitive advantage.

Resources

Environmental Scanning – What it is and how to do it by Thinking Futures

Environmental Scanning by James L. Morrison

What’s the purpose of the environmental scan and how do we get this? By Nonprofit Answer Guide

Letting Go of Fear

When I was drafting my presentation for Learning Solutions 2015, I added a section that I think is of relevance to most people, and if not…stay gold, pony boy.  Anyhow, this section was related to letting go of fear, and I thought it might be appropriate to share my insight on this topic with a broader audience.

Fear will only hold you back, and you really need to just let it go. I know that’s easier to say than do, but it’s true! What do you have to lose? If you would have told me three years ago that I would be speaking in front of large audiences, many individuals of whom I respect and idolize, I would have told you that you were out of your friggin’ mind! I was the university student who would take zeroes whenever and oral presentation was required, but I’m slowly conquering that fear. People who know me are often surprised to find out I have a fear of public speaking, but it’s a fear that held me back when I was trying to grow my business.

My rationalization for being afraid of public speaking was that I was sharing my thoughts with a jury of my peers, and all I could think about was how judgmental they would be. This fear kept me from engaging in communities and from sharing my work, because what authority was I to be subjecting folks to my garbage? But that’s just it. My thoughts, and ideas, and samples, and interactions aren’t garbage. Sure, they might not always be the best, but someone will find the information of value. And really, you’re your own worst critic.

Once I began to let go of this fear, I was able to speak somewhat intelligently to individuals on topics I’m passionate about, and I was able to share my work, grow my portfolio, and grow as an e-learning professional.

Without being able to let go of fear, I would never have previously considered sharing silly glimpses into my ridiculous mind. You need to let go of fear to grow as an individual, and don’t sell your ridiculousness short – someone will appreciate it. I promise. It’s okay to open up feelings of vulnerability. We’re all vulnerable. But you don’t need to let that hold you back!