Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed

Terminology Tuesday: Hustle

February 3, 2015

This week’s term isn’t really specifically related to Instructional Design; it’s a little more broad, and can be applied to any profession. It was inspired by a recent conversation in the E-Learning Heroes Community, and is a term I always find myself using when talking to aspiring freelancers.

Hustle

In my opinion, the hustle is anything you do to generate new leads for business. In the freelance (or independent or contracting…whatever you prefer) world, you really can’t afford to turn your inner salesperson off. Eventually, you might be able to reduce the amount of hustling you do, but that’s a luxury a lot of folks just can’t afford.

Hustling can take many forms. For example, cold-calling/emailing, promoting your portfolio, creating social media profiles, participating actively in community and social media discussions, or applying directly to job prospects.

The phrase “Everyday I’m hustling'” is an accurate one!

Resources

I really don’t have resources for this week’s term; however, feel free to inquire with me in the comments, and I’ll offer my best stab at advice. Don’t let the idea of hustling stand in the way of your dream. Create your own freedom!

E-Learning Challenge #4 – Flatten Up Your Course Design Skills

January 29, 2015

Earlier this week, I asked David to challenge roulette me some challenges to work on next (because I need peer pressure), and he gave me some suggestions for the more popular challenges, and then some recommendations for ones that need a little bit of love. This challenge was one of the first challenges, and it needed a little love, so love I gave it.

The Concept

Create a flat course design template, using at least three slides, and showing how the flat design concept will move throughout the course. The slides could be static or entirely built-out interactions.

The Method

Initially, I was going to include a progress meter, but figured I would save that effort for the progress meter challenge….so I did. Instead, I used Tint UI to create my palette for the sample slides, added some key elements (e.g. header, navigation buttons), and then changed up a few different screen styles. I made use of some free flat icons I acquired from somewhere on Creative Market or Smashing Magazine (I’m sorry…I can’t remember!), and then made final modifications to the player settings before publishing.

The Result

Click Here to see the Full Demo.

E-Learning Challenge #41 – Low-Tech, High-Speed Course Design

January 26, 2015

Tonight I was sifting through the previous ELH challenges, and decided to take my artistic abilities to the next level (in my opinion), so I settled in for a doozy of a challenge!

The Concept

Get back to basics and create an emergency response course using pen and paper. Now, I’ll humour David here, but if I was presented with this ‘interaction’ when I was in school, I would have dropped out immediately. This task required us to take a news story or disaster event and help learners navigate the event.

The Method

Inspired by the giant winter storm that is making its way up the eastern seaboard this evening, I was reminded of White Juan. White Juan was a giant snowstorm that brought our city to a standstill mere months after Hurricane Juan decimated much of our coastal areas. There was so much snow that folks had to wait for their neighbours to somehow magically get out of their homes to shovel them (the other un-freed neighbours) out. I believe my folks were stuck inside for two or three days because they couldn’t open their windows/doors. Bananas, right?

I grabbed my mousepad (which is also a giant post-it note/memo pad), ripped off a couple of sheets and got to work. I added a header and a prompt (which you can’t read very well in the example, but I’ll transcribe – don’t worry), drew an emergency kit (or a child’s backpack – same difference), and went to work drawing items that might be in the kit.

All of the items were drawn on itty bitty post it notes, which I then affixed to the main content ‘slide’. I imagined a drag and drop interaction where users would drag the items to the emergency kit.

Taking a second sheet of memo pad, I re-drew the emergency kit, added the header and prompt, did some research over at the Red Cross’ website and added the correct responses (post-it notes), and then added a little note.

I then took photos, with my iPhone, of both ‘slides’. Ta-da!

The Result

Here is an image of the main content slide. The transcription is as follows:

Header: “SNOWSTORM 2015”

Prompt: “CHOOSE ITEMS TO FILL YOUR EMERGENCY KIT! (CHOOSE WISELY)

Here is the correct feedback slide. The transcript is as follows:

Header: “SNOWSTORM 2015”

Prompt: “IF YOU CHOSE THE FOLLOWING ITEMS, YOU CHOSE WISELY (ACCORDING TO THE RED CROSS)”

Note: “PLEASE NOTE: WHILE THEY MAY SEEM IMPORTANT, THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ARE CONSIDERED NON-ESSENTIAL IN THE EVENT OF A SNOWSTORM (ACCORDING TO THE RED CROSS): CAKE, NETFLIX, ALCOHOL, BEAGLE, SNOWMEN. STAY SAFE!”

Disclaimer: If we get nearly as much of a blizzard as Environment Canada is calling for, I will be sitting on my couch, with my beagle, watching Netflix (providing the power does not go out), eating cake, and drinking wine…I may have a burst of energy, and will use that to build a snowman.

3 Ways to Improve Your Workflow

January 25, 2015

Any small business owner (and I would hazard to say employee) wants to be efficient in what they do; dragging tasks out is no fun, and our to do lists will thank us if we take steps to improve our workflow. Here are three suggestions:

1. Streamline

Some people call this using shortcuts or cutting corners, and that’s not right. Your goal is to streamline your workflow and make it more efficient. Not to cut out key steps. In any event, you can easily streamline your workflow by using to do list applications (or writing them out on paper), prioritizing these items, and focusing on the task at hand. If you work within software for much of your day, learn the shortkeys and use them whenever you’re using the product – trust me, it will save you so much time. Those seconds add up! Use a project management tool – believe me, it will save you SO MUCH administrative time (because I know I don’t like being stuck in the administrative trenches).

2. Remove Distractions

This might seem obvious, but a lot of people can take a quick break that turns into a 45 minute rabbity hole into the Internet. Pause your inbox, close all irrelevant (to work) browser windows, or even turn off your wifi access! You’d be surprised how effective removing distractions can help when trying to focus and cross items off your to do list. If you have a beagle, don’t schedule important conference calls on garbage day. If you have a beagle, maybe you just need to work at a cafe. Regardless of your beagle status, you should ensure you have a dedicated and quiet workspace.

3. Create a Calm Workspace

I’m guilty of not doing this 100% of the time, but I do find myself to be a lot more productive when I’m feeling relaxed. Ensure you start your day with a clean and (somewhat) organized workspace. At home, I like to brew a pot of herbal tea, use dim lighting (I have a table lamp with 40 watt bulb), and light a scented candle. I tend to vary between Mellow playlists on Songza and ambient sounds as background noise, but I do whatever I can to just zone out and feel inner calm. You already have deadlines, your workspace doesn’t need to be a stressor!

E-Learning Challenge #67 – How Do Instructional Designers Work?

January 23, 2015

Alright folks – I’m riding on a high over here because my VERY FIRST BOOK (!!!!) just became available for pre-order (GET ON THAT!) – EEEE! You’ll have to be patient with me and not judget the abundance of exclamation points. Some buzz on Twitter had me worried for this challenge, but then when I found out it was a podcast challenge, I WAS SO EXCITED!!! I love the podcast challenges. It makes me feel so much closer to my friends (aka the e-learning community).

The Challenge

This week’s challenge was to record answers to the following questions:

What’s your job title? What title do you think really captures your roles and responsibilities?
What software tools do you love?
What’s your workspace setup like?
What is your creative or design philosophy?
How do you stay fresh and keep building your skills?
How do you avoid burnout?
How do you save time and boost your efficiency day-to-day?
How do you manage your workflow? Do you have a project management tool you love?
What books or blogs have been influential to you?
What kinds of tasks do you love to do? What gets you excited to sit down at your desk?
What do you like to do least? How do you keep yourself motivated to do that stuff?

The Method

I wrote out all of my responses in notepad because I’m not great at winging it, and then I recorded and edited each response in Camtasia, exported, and uploaded to Sound Cloud – EASY PEASY!

The Result

E-Learning Challenge #66 – Creative Invoice Designs for Course Designers

January 21, 2015

This week’s challenge entry is probably my least imaginative, but I’m not feeling 100% and I gave it a go anyhow. For 2015, I’ve resolved to try to be less hard on myself.

The Concept

This week we were tasked with sharing a creative example of an invoice or invoice template. Invoices – exciting! No, but really…if you’re doing any sort of independent work, you need to have some sort of invoice or else you run the risk of not getting paid (or having a harder time getting your ducks in a row come tax time).

The Method

I developed two examples, one of which only involved modifying the information on my current invoice template for my own small business. The other was modified based on a word invoice template I found awhile back. Neither are particularly wow-ing, but they get the job done, and I can tell you first-hand that my first example gets me paid. Effective? I’d say so!

Both invoices were created in Microsoft Word and then saved as a PDF format.

The Result