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How Reflection Can Help Develop Empathetic Instructional Designers

Mar 29, 2019
3 min

How Reflection Can Help Develop Empathetic Instructional Designers

Recently, I became aware of the idea of empathy in instructional design. Upon further research, I saw that there seems to be a lot of discussion regarding this topic (especially from the past few years or so). For examples, check out the links below: 5 Steps Towards Empathetic Instructional Design In Online Training A Guide to Empathetic Design Empathy As Your Starting Point for Great eLearning Design Empathy Framework Overview So, what does empathy in instructional design

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Online Teaching Tools: Camtasia

Feb 1, 2019
2 min

Online Teaching Tools: Camtasia

Camtasia is one of the most user-friendly screen recorder and video editor that I have ever used. While it is not free – there is a free trial and a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. I know I was extremely impressed with the tool and have it as one of my most used tools in my ID toolkit. I use Camtasia at least once a week (if not more). Camtasia is so flexible for use in a wide-variety of environments. Let’s take a minute and discuss how it can be used. Online Learning: I u

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Free Online Teaching Tools: EdPuzzle

Nov 30, 2018
2 min

Free Online Teaching Tools: EdPuzzle

EDPuzzle is an easy-to-use video platform that helps instructors boost student learning through video lessons. It collects learner data and can be used in a variety of learning environments. EDPuzzle allows for instructors or learners to create customized videos specific to a particular topic. For example, if there is an important video you would like for your learners to watch, an instructor can create an EDPuzzle video that tracks who watched the video and set up quizzes

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How to Use Varied Feedback

Nov 16, 2018
3 min

How to Use Varied Feedback

Later today, I have a meeting with one of our instructors. This individual did not develop the course he taught nor does he have extensive experience teaching online. Our meeting is to discuss how the course was developed, designed, and how it runs. This meeting had me thinking about how feedback can come from a lot of different sources - instructors, students, other designers, etc. While I look for different feedback sources when looking at the design of the course - it ma

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Do 'Typical' Lessons Work in Online Learning?

Nov 9, 2018
3 min

Do 'Typical' Lessons Work in Online Learning?

Recently, I read a post about there being a gap in standard lesson plans. To Learn, Students Need to DO Something by Jennifer Gonzalez. The blog focused on the absence of doing 'activities' in the classroom. In the blog, they laid out the typical lesson plan format as such: Anticipatory set: This is where we get learners interested in the lesson and set objectives for the day. Direct instruction: Facts, concepts, and skills are delivered via lecture, video, reading—some way

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The Age-Old Debate: Theory vs. Tools

Nov 2, 2018
3 min

The Age-Old Debate: Theory vs. Tools

Every now and then, I end up in a conversation with a faculty member, co-worker, or employee about what I consider the age-old debate: Should instructional designers learn tools or theories? While I find it important to know both - eventually - initially, the theory should come first. At least that is my thought process and I wanted to blog today about why. This week, I had a student come to ask advice on interviewing as he has a job interview in the field of ID. As this i

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Making the Most out of Conferences

Sep 24, 2018
3 min

Making the Most out of Conferences

As many people do, I'll be attending a conference soon. In instructional design or really any field, conferences can be a nice place to share your research, your work, or learn from your peers, and build your professional network. However, if your new to attending conferences or just need to revamp the way you view conferences, this post is here to help you! Session Selection & Reflection Your first conference can be a bit overwhelming. There are so many different topics a

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Student devices in online environments

Sep 21, 2018
2 min

Student devices in online environments

As part of the ID2ID Program, we are required to attend professional development events in order to keep up with current events. Today, we were presented with a webinar titled Student Device Preferences for Online Course Access and Multimedia Learning, presented by researchers at Oregon State. This presentation opened my eyes to the idea and actual usage of mobile devices in online education. Based on conversations with individuals in the field - I thought the direction of

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Learning New Tools: Poll Everwhere

Sep 7, 2018
5 min

Learning New Tools: Poll Everwhere

This week, I'm focusing on the use of polls to increase student engagement in different learning environments. The tool I examined this week was Poll Everywhere. Poll Everywhere is essentially an online voting tool that can help an instructor or trainer elicit responses in real time. As technology grows, so does the need for learners to develop and acquire 21st century skills. Poll Everywhere allows learners to respond to questions in real time – letting the instructor or

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It is not all rainbows and sunshine...

Aug 22, 2018
3 min

It is not all rainbows and sunshine...

Lately, I've been in a "creative rut" where I am just not motivated to do much of anything. It is not that I'm not getting work done or not working on projects - it mostly has to do with being passionate about what I'm working on. Below is a recent situation that I have been in and wanted to share with the group. One of the courses I was designing really had me amp'd up and excited about what I was designing. I had the storyboards. I had the course map all created and read

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Getting out of the online assignment rut...

Jul 23, 2018
4 min

Getting out of the online assignment rut...

Lately, I've been working on a few course developments and a full program evaluation. What I have started to notice was the trend or reuse of assignments across different courses. I've realized that many instructors find a teaching assignment or teaching style that works for them and then they try to make that style or assignment work for all online courses. While if tweaked properly this may be effective, it could also affect the students in a number of ways. 1) Not all

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Can design alone result in an excellent online course?

Jul 19, 2018
2 min

Can design alone result in an excellent online course?

I've attended a few professional development and general meetings on the topic of course design and how to effectively design for online courses. While these meetings were interesting in the fact that they showed and explained course design elements (think of the Quality Matters rubric), it is fair to say that without appropriate student-to-student or instructor-to-student interaction that an excellent course design could result in poor evaluation scores. There must be a mix

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Realm of Rubrics.

Jul 11, 2018
3 min

Realm of Rubrics.

When preparing to be an instructional designer, I considered all of the glorious elearning content, online courses, and training opportunities that I would be able to develop and implement. It was so exciting to think about all of these different areas and how I would be in a career where I am always able to learn and improve my skills as technology advances and improves. In these deep thoughts, I did not think about all of the little 'things' that I would need to focus on.

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Consistency vs. Creativity

Jun 25, 2018
3 min

Consistency vs. Creativity

Over the past few months, there has been a lot of discussion between some of my faculty regarding the concept of being consistent in our online courses. The debate stems from a discussion rubric that is used in all of our courses. Over time each course and instructor has revamped their discussion rubric to include and align with specific course requirements. These revamps in the rubric has now caused some confusion among students as they progress through our program and di

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Overview of ID Models

Jun 4, 2018
4 min

Overview of ID Models

Recently, I ran into a Linked In conversation where people were asking about Instructional Design (ID) models - some individuals were new to ID, some have been in the ID world for a while, and some were just there to add to the conversation. However, it made me realize that maybe there is a need for a blog post that discusses the different ID models I work with (especially in the higher education setting). First, let's discuss what exactly an ID model is. Long story short -

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Finding middle ground...

May 29, 2018
3 min

Finding middle ground...

Recently, I had some major changes outside of my ID world. With any change, comes some sort of anxiety (at least for me). However, in reflecting on these changes I've realized how important the role of compromise is. While you may know what is best for you, depending on your situation it may not be what's best for the bigger group. In order to meet the needs of everyone, you may need to find some middle ground. While in the past, I've discussed the best way to reach out t

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Evaluations. The good, the bad and the ugly.

Apr 3, 2018
4 min

Evaluations. The good, the bad and the ugly.

Earlier this week, I received our midterm evaluation survey results. While discussing with a co-worker (we'll call her Lisa from now on), it was brought up how an instructor she works with was having a difficult time handling the news that the instructor's class had bad reviews. My initial response was, "What did the students report as not going well?" Lisa responded and said that students reported that the discussions were not helping them to learn. Often times in online

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