ID

Instructional Design

My Learning Journey

28Apr22 Microlearning Conference. 7taps

Mohamed Reda. Learning architect, founder of the Catalyst. Nudge Me! 

27Apr22  Instructional Approaches 

Examples of instructional approaches or activities are "lectures, slide shows, and readings. I do, you do, we do,  Problem-based learning, Scenario-based learning, Simulations, or Serious games" (Eduflow Academy).


Learning Objectives

Don't forget we want the learners to be able to do something by the end of the course and the verb should be measurable.  

Dr. Luke Hobson's Introduction script

18Apr22 Working with SMEs

Instructional designers do not have to know all about the content they are building a course for. The subject matter expert (SME) works with the ID to provide the content knowledge. When beginning to work with a SME you can research their background to help build the relationship. Check out their LinkedIn, personal website, articles they've written, etc. Next, demo a course for the SME so she'll know what it will look like and see herself creating a course. 

13Apr22 Instructional Design Principles for Course Creation 

An interesting takeaway from my reading today is from the blog, Action mapping: A visual approach to training design. Action mapping is a process used to design training. The point that resonated with me was, "When training is necessary, create realistic practice activities, not information presentations." I'm so hung up on creating information presentations when I want and my students need me to be creating practice activities and scenarios. Now, how to make the switch?

12 Apr 22 Instructional Design Principles for Course Creation 

I have signed up for yet another course in my attempt to better understand instructional design and how I can have a career as an instructional designer.  This is a three-week free course and I expect there will be more opportunities to learn from the organization, Eduflow. 

I have been struggling with a form of anxiety I have just learned is called analysis paralysis. When faced with decision-making, I struggle to move forward with fear I will make the wrong decision. Robert Taibbi suggested taking baby steps when making a decision, making smaller decisions towards your goal will keep you moving forward.  James Chen (2021) recommended, "First define your goals and then narrow your options to include only those few that best match it. Compare their advantages and disadvantages. Then pick one." 

9 Feb 22 Creating eLearning Outlines 

I am struggling to conceptualize creating an eLearning training. I spoke with Simone Arthur yesterday and she suggested my first problem is I'm not planning out the eLearning with an outline and storyboard. I mentally slap my forehead as I think, "Of course! This is the same thing I tell my students to do before writing their stories." PLANNING! Ugh. How did I not transfer this idea?? 

In his video, How to Create an eLearning Course Outline, Tim Slade (2021) gave a clear and concise overview of outlining planning for eLearning. He shared his way to have a development ready storyboard is to create an action map, which he explained shows what the learners will do during the course, not what they will know.  Tim went on to share four steps in creating the action map:

1st: Brainstorm all the topics without details, use sticky notes maybe. 

2nd: Next organize those topics and break into subtopics. 

3rd: Identify where to have interactivities such as branching scenarios and simulations.

4th: Pinpoint the flow of the course by simply drawing arrows among the ideas or sticky notes.

Finally, he recommended you may want to use an online mind mapping tools such as Mirror. Personally, I have recently started trying out Google's mind mapping extension and it seems ok so far. I included one I made below. As you can see, it's not the prettiest but it's effective. However, I'm just starting to learn the options so maybe there are options I am unaware of.

Slade, T. (2021). How to Create an eLearning Course Outline. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/hSL8QKftWYQ

7 Feb 22 What is e-learning? 

"A good, broad way to think about e-learning is the use of electronic devices (computers, tablets, or phones) to deliver educational or training content to learners," (E-Learning Heros, What is E-Learning?, 2022). E-learning can be more than slides with next and back buttons. It is valuable because it can be synchronous or asynchronous, can be used by people all around the world, can be used on mobile devices as well as computers, can be made available for training when it is needed, is efficient since you do not have to organize a meeting, reduces costs for the same reasons mentioned, and spreads a consistent message to all the learners. Successful e-learning needs to be user friendly and have sound instructional design (E-Learning Heros, What is E-Learning?, 2022).

Creating Self-Paced Learning

Including a course menu not only shows how to navigate the course but also gives learners a course outline. Creating micro-courses allows for the learner to complete a course in one sitting and not have an opportunity to forget where they were in the course. A refresher at the beginning of a course reminds the learners what they were learning about previously plus can set them up to know what they will learn next.  (E-Learning Heros, 3 Tips for Creating Self-Paced Learning, 2022).

Resources

E-Learning Heros. (2022). What is E-Learning? 

E-Learning Heros.  (2022). 3 Tips for Creating Self-Paced Learning.