In my doctoral courses these past few weeks, I've learned a few things in regards to terminology. For example, some common phrases that I'm used to saying are now considered 'wrong' or incorrect by academics in my field. I wanted to take this week's blog to focus on what I've learned and share with you all. Mostly a) to ensure my understanding is correct and b) to see if similar trends with these words are occurring in your environments. Student: A growing trend is to get

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

I'm starting this year with the hard hitting questions - Is instructional design a science? This question was posed to me in one of my doctoral program courses and I can't seem to shake it. So, I wanted to take some time this week to discuss and blog about the field and the practice of instructional design. In order to effectively discuss and answer the question for this week, let's 'chunk' the information. Let's first discuss what is instructional design. Instructional des

I can't believe I'm at the endpoint of my ID2ID experience already! We are wrapping up the "course" but I'm looking forward to some projects and experiences that are after the actual end of the program. We may be 'officially' done at the end of this month but we have a presentation in the STAR Symposium virtual conference in the beginning of February. As described in a previous post, I was accepted into a professional development program for instructional designers through

Right before the new year, I posted some ideas for 2019 and what to look ahead to. You can visit my end of year wrap-up to learn more. As I look ahead, here's what you can look forward to from me and my blog this year: A monthly post on a new technology tool More posts exploring ID related theories and design A larger focus on a practitioners' point of view (application of research into practice) More research focused topics (more on that below) This spring semester, I have

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

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

I can't believe I'm at the midpoint of my ID2ID experience already! At this point in the process, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on my experiences thus far and identify what my partner and I are doing well and what we need to work on as we move forward. As described in a previous post, I was accepted into a professional development program for instructional designers through Penn State University - the ID2ID Program. According to their website: "The ID2ID program provi

What is AIDA? "AIDA stands for attention, interest, desire, and action, and can be used to describe the sequence of events that goes into making someone want to buy your product or service" (Bean, 2014). While author Cammy Bean uses AIDA, a classic copywriting model, to e-learning - I think the same concept can be applied in a wide variety of online settings. But first, let's run though what goes into each step. Attention - "What is your hook? How do you pull the learner in

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

In late June, I was informed that I was accepted into a professional development program for instructional designers through Penn State University - the ID2ID Program. According to their website, "The ID2ID program provides a structure for instructional designers to share their areas of expertise with one another and allows them to focus on improving areas where they are less knowledgeable. The program is designed to increase communication among instructional designers outsid

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

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

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 -

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

I have been working on a blog post about the role of rubrics but have not finalized it yet to share with you all. Therefore, I apologize for not posting weekly as promised. However, I want to make sure what I put out for others to use is not only beneficial and makes sense for those who are new to using rubrics. Until that post is ready... let's talk about engaging in the bigger ID conversation! Sometimes we get caught up in the ID world we are involved in (higher education

Recently, I had a conversation with a faculty member about the role of research and the disconnect between what research finds and how the apply these findings into practice. For those who are familiar with academic writing, you can recall a section at the end of most articles called the implications section. This is the section where the author tries to explain how their research has implications for the field. However, how does this transition actually occur? Does it oc

As part of my job, I try to explore and test out new technologies for use in online classrooms. One of my previous blog post had focused on building your own community. I would like to take that topic a bit further and discuss the role of developing a community in your own online course. Building a community in your course can be done in a number of ways - personalized announcements, "getting to know each other or course bios," blogs, wikis, discussion boards. However, fo

As an instructor you look for variety in your teaching methods. The same is especially true when teaching an online course. However, learning new tools can sometimes be time-consuming and as we all know - online courses can move pretty quick! How do we keep our students engaged and connected to the content we are teaching in such a quick moving time frame? While there are many methods, research articles, and support groups out there to help online instructors with best pra

As an instructor, instructional designer, coach, consultant, etc. you may hear about setting effective goals. While we normally do this in the context of our learners, are we doing this for ourselves? While some individuals may be highly motivated to complete tasks on their own, others may need additional support or incentives to set and meet their own personal goals. I think we have all heard about setting goals that are SMART: S: Specific M: Measurable A: Attainable R: Rel