Translation Guide for Instructional Designers and SMEs
You’re working on a new project. There isn’t a lot of time left and you need answers to your questions soon. So, you type up an email and send it to the SME. Two days [...]
Course Material: Tackling It Like a Pro
A subject matter expert (SME) gives you hundreds of pages on a subject you know nothing about. So, how do you handle such a daunting task? Well, there are a few methods you can add [...]
The Most Important Thing I’ve Learned From Instructional Design
I’m not a “numbers person.” I never have been. Some people aren’t “words people.” And that’s okay. In college, I cringed on behalf of my science major friends when they told me about their multi-hour [...]
eLearning Glossary Part 2: More Commonly Used Terms
Previously we dug into the alphabet soup of eLearning terms and acronyms. But you weren’t full. You asked for seconds. So, here are some of the additional terms you wanted defined. ADDIE- The ADDIE model [...]
When Misused Buzzwords Attack
Interactive Immersive Innovative/ Creative/ Different Effective Fun All of the above These words get thrown around a lot. Frankly, it troubles me when they’re used incorrectly because it leads to misunderstandings. It’s important to realize [...]
7 Things About eLearning Your CEO/Executive Director Wants to Know
You've decided that it's time to move your courses online. Membership numbers seem stagnant and renewals are decreasing. As an Education Director, you see the writing on the wall, and have decided that eLearning is [...]
Learning Myths: Debunked
Perhaps the most pervasive myth about education is the ubiquitous "learning styles" myth. A quick Google search will bring up millions of hits. Many of those hits are, tellingly, for websites trying to sell you [...]
Education Programs Prepared With Purpose
Training can be used to help teach many different things including facts, step-by-step processes, and soft skills like team work. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that there are different ways to teach and assess [...]
Putting Members’ Needs First: Working with Subject Matter Experts
Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) may be from Mars, and Instructional Designers may be from Venus … but at the end of the day, your members are the actual center of the universe! The working relationship [...]
Bridging the Skills Gap: An Opportunity for Associations
There’s a huge skills gap problem facing our nation today, but this crisis represents an opportunity for associations to reinvent themselves and compete with traditional suppliers of higher education. I was recently asked to present [...]