I am new to instructional design. There is no getting around that. I am excited, nervous and a little worried about my abilities as a blogger. I decided to jump online and find some articles and blogs that my ease my insecurities and help me formulate my thoughts and goals as an instructional designer. What I found after reviewing these blogs and articles is a new sense of myself confidence. I have over 12 years in higher education. I have worked for 7 different Universities, on over 3 different online learning platforms and I have assisted over 1,000 students achieve their goal of gaining their higher ed degree online. I got this….
The Upside Learning Blog
The Upside Learning Blog is comprised of blogs that range from topics on e-Learning, Learning management, and mobile learning. Amit Garg, an elearning blogger, writes 30 Top Online Resources for Instructional Designers To Keep Up With. He writes, “As an Instructional designer, you start by learning a whole lot of theories and models.” And I would agree with him 100% after this week’s discussion topic. Garg confirms that IDs will use multiple learning methods and as an ID grows and hones their skills, they will realize the it is more of an art form then pure science. Garg writes, “Not every qualified instructional designer is able to create great learning experiences.” Will I be able to create a great experience….only time will tell.
Garg also explains that domains are evolving. How we access the information and the tools that we use are rapidly changing. Instructional designers not only need to consider how the student will learn but also who will the engage? How will they access the information? “The very nature of the domain, evolution of technology, and changing role of instructional designers makes it difficult but essential to keep learning and quite simple, to keep up.
Here is a link to the blog where you’ll find 30 helpful Blogs and websites for IDs – https://www.upsidelearning.com/blog/index.php/2010/05/20/30-top-online-resources-for-instructional-designers-to-keep-up/
I think these 30 blogs and websites will be critical to my understanding of the ever-changing world of Instructional Design. The Upside Learning Blog will keep me current on what is happening in 2016.
Wake Up with Adventures
Adventures is critical in my line of work. It’s imperative that we stay on top of the latest ever changing world of higher education. Eduventure has a bog, the Wake Up Call, which provides weekly analysis of pressing higher ed topics.
Last month, Jeff Alderson, Principle Analyst, wrote The Changing Role of the Modern One-Stop-Shop Service Center. Adventures and Blackboard held a webinar earlier this year to discuss how data from the OSS can be used for retention and student services. “Through our research on the workflows and data sources that are integrated into the OSS model, we discovered many new and compelling ways that it is being used to promote enrollment, retention, and career placement initiatives” (Alderson). The next step in the OSS model is implementing tools and resources AFTER a student has completed the online program. See Seelio. Seelio is a tool for undergraduate students to create online portfolios.
The Changing Role of the Modern One-Stop Shop Service Center
elearning Industry
Shauna Vaughan blogs: 2016 Instructional Design Trends Compass: Experiences, Ecosystems, Evaluations. Oh My! Being new to ID, I thought I’d jump into what is happening today, 2016. Vaughan, picked 3 main topics to focus on which include, experiences, ecosystems, and evaluation. She believes that the three areas are critical to the success of the instructional designer.
- Experience – We know adult learners are going to use their own experiences to gage their current experiences with online learning and today, 2016, adult learners have experience and high expectations with online learning platforms. I can take my experience with multiple learning managements systems to help me determine what I’d like to keep and implement and what I’d like to stay away from. One example would be: I worked for a company, Wiley Publishing, that launched their own Engagement Model, called Engage (so clever). I was the first to implement Engage and I was responsible to train all new students on that platform. What I heard time and time again, was that students loved the chat feature. Not many LMS have an engaging, easy to use chat feature. Just one example.
- Ecosystem – This is a doozy. An ecosystem means EVERYTHING. Include it all! Vaughan writes, “So a learning ecosystem is the entire learning and training environment, which might include e-learning, instructor-led training (ILT), virtual instructor-led training (VILT), mobile learning, social learning, performance support, online and offline resources, and more.” MORE. MORE. MORE.
- Evaluation – Something that I have seen time and time again is that a company’ business goals do NOT align with learning solutions. In my experience, L&D is not a priority and if it is, they do not know how to evaluate or measure the importance. Vaughan explains that if learning outcomes align with business solutions, then every wins.
Learn. Build. Design. 