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What e-Learning and Elmo Lewis Have In Common

If I can get your attention, make you interested in my product/service, create an incredible desire in you to use my product, and propel you into action by getting you to buy my product, would that be of interest to you? From an Instructional Designer’s perspective,this may sound a lot like something you would hear [...]

Do Cows Really Drink Milk and Other Musings from Brad Barton and Thiagi Thiagarajan

This past week I attended the ASTD Cascadia Chapter’s Regional Conference in Salem, Oregon. If you didn’t make it, you should have! With two great keynote speakers (Brad Barton and Dr. Sivasailam “Thiagi” Thiagarajan) and numerous breakout sessions, opportunities were plentiful to expand your comfort zone. I thought I would share a quick summary of [...]

The Top 10 “Top 10″ Lists

Here are the top ten “Top 10″ lists regarding learning and development topics. Enjoy! The Top 10 things you should not do when designing e-learning The Top 10 tips for new trainers/ teachers The Top 10 qualities of the ideal instructional designer The Top 10 e-learning trends for 2010 The Top 10 steps for boosting [...]

In Search of Color and Inspiration?

Hey everyone! During every learning project, there comes a time that you will need to pick your colors. Here are a few tools I use daily to assist me in finding the right ones! To convert RGB to HEX or HEX to RGB, I use the following online site JavaScripter.Net: For finding the right color [...]

Graphic File Formats for Instructional Designers

Instructional Designers create and use graphics extensively in the PowerPoint slides they create for instructor-led training courses and for their e-learning courses. The question is, should you use a JPEG, a GIF, a TIFF, or a PNG file the next time you insert a graphic? We’ll, wonder no more! It starts with understanding compression and [...]

Color and Culture, Improving Audio, and Capturing Attention in E-Learning

3 articles you should read this week: Article #1: As Instructional Designers, we have learned about the impact of using color in our training content. With so many companies moving into the global arena, I did a little research to find out how color is interpreted in other cultures. Did you know that Orange means [...]

Learning and Development Project Management

Are you someone that works in the learning and development industry? If so, I would appreciate your comments and insights into the following questions. 1. How do you feel learning and development projects differ from traditional projects? 2. What tools(s) do you use to manage your learning and development projects? 3. What would you say [...]

Measuring Success: Who Needs Business Results Anyway?

In their 9/3/2010 report “Getting Started in e-Learning: Measuring Success,” the eLearning Guild provides the following key findings: Only 2% of respondents said they don’t bother to measure the success of their efforts. Of those who measure using Kirkpatrick’s four levels: Most tracked students completion of a course More than 1/2 tracked learner satisfaction Most [...]

Basic Competencies for Instructional Designers

As the field of instructional design continues to evolve, we will constantly be challenged in a variety of ways. With that in mind, I’m interested in hearing from you on what you think are the most basic competencies for a new and/or existing Instructional Designer to develop.  Will the IDs of the future need to improve [...]