7 Questions You Need To Answer Before Becoming A Full Time eLearning Freelancer - eLearning Industry
Things to consider for those wanting to make the leap to freelance work
This Week’s Learning Hero is Christy Tucker! | Growth Engineering
A very flattering article about me and my work
10 Great Jobs Where You Can Work Completely from Home - Business Insider
Curriculum developer, online teacher, and SME are on their list. If we're designing learning that can be delivered virtually, there's no reason that we shouldn't be working virtually too. I wish more companies would see the benefit of this and allow more WFH.
elearn Magazine: Storytelling in eLearning: The why and how
Basics on elements of stories for those having trouble getting started
Storyboarding Branched Scenarios - ThinkingKap
This is something I've struggled with--a good method for storyboarding branching scenarios. I've used several different Word and PowerPoint templates in the past, none of which have quite worked the way I wanted. I can write the branching in a linear document without much trouble (I once drafted one longhand in a notebook), but it makes my SMEs brains explode to try to follow them. I've seen recommendations for Twine in the past, and this explains in more detail how it works as a storyboarding tool.
Writing better e learning scripts
Presentation by Cammy Bean on writing better e-learning scripts
3 Ways to Take Your Freelance Instructional Design Full-Time – Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed
Tips from an ID two months after moving to full time as a freelancer. I do think a portfolio is critical, especially for those just starting in the field or changing from another career. Having an active online presence and continuous learning are also great tips.
How to Prepare Subject Matter Experts to Review Content
This is quite similar to my own approach. I don't have as much trouble with SMEs noting grammatical errors as this author, but setting expectations like this does help get more substantive and helpful feedback.
Freelance Advice Round-Up #1 – Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed
Brian’s Must-Read Books | Train Like A Champion
Books on e-learning, visual design, training evaluation, learning research, presentation skills and change management. A brief summary is included for each book listed.
3 quick tips for strong scenarios
Tips from Cathy Moore on writing scenarios:
- Put dialog in quotation marks.
- Ask, "Why aren't they doing it?"
- Branching? Start with the end in mind.
Update: Where to Find Freelance Instructional Design Gigs - Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed
Ashley explains how her methods for finding clients have changed now that she's been freelancing longer.
12 ID Books
Connie Malamed's list of books, with everything from quick reads to graduate level textbooks. Several of these books are new to me.
Nuts and Bolts: Read Up! by Jane Bozarth : Learning Solutions Magazine
Even if you don't have a degree in instructional design (and maybe especially if you don't), you can improve your skills by reading deeply in more academic literature. Jane Bozarth shares some recommendations for authors to start with and strategies for finding sources.
You may find something that surprises or unsettles
you. Or you may find something that confirms what you believe with data and not
just some anecdotes or gut feelings. Some time spent here will help you move
past “I think” or “it feels right” to “evidence shows.”
Tips from L&D pro Jane Bozarth
Lots of gems from Jane Bozarth here about elearning, instructional design, meaningful interactivity and engagement, social learning, PLNs, and more. This is a very quotable interview.
To “get” from a PLN you need to “give.”
I think that we are getting the idea of more interactivity, of more engaging real stuff, not just making it spin and zoom and move. And I think the authoring tools that have made that easier have certainly helped people understand that learners need to actually get their hands on the content in some way.
<p>You do not blame the hammer because the house fell down. It’s the person using the tool. It’s really about effective design. You can do fabulous stuff with PowerPoint. You can do dreadful stuff with PowerPoint. You can do dreadful stuff no matter the tool.</p>
<p>In PowerPoint you can actually build nice little branching scenarios and reveals. You can make choices. You can do interactivity. There’s a lot of stuff that I think people just don’t take the time to learn.</p>
Secrets of Star Training Consultants | Training Magazine
Preliminary findings from Saul Carliner and John Murray's research and interviews with "star consultants" in the field of learning
<p>Participants also indicated the types of assignment they feel are inappropriate for them. Most of the assignments refused could be characterized as “conventional.” Several participants specifically mentioned that they distance themselves from training about products and software to focus on more strategic projects.</p>
<p>One participant avoids “order-taker projects.” </p>
52 eLearning Experts Share their Best Tip for Creating Engaging eLearning
My tip plus 51 others on creating engaging eLearning
Instead of only typical multiple choice questions, try mini-scenarios. Write a few sentences to set a scenario with a problem. A customer voices an objection, software displays an error message, or an employee asks a manager for help. Next, ask learners which action or response they would choose. Now you have a one-question decision-making scenario rather than just an abstract comprehension question. You can do this with any tool, and it creates a more interesting practice or assessment to engage learners.
Instructional Design Portfolios – 23 Well-Built Samples
Examples of portfolios and what this author likes about each one, along with general tips for creating a good portfolio. If you want some inspiration, check this out. (Yes, my portfolio is on the list.)
The Light Bulb Model | Explainer Academy
From the Common Craft Explainer Academy, a 7 minute video on the "Light Bulb Model" for explaining concepts. This would work for short videos and microlearning. It's not a technical explanation, so you could share this with SMEs and have them understand it.
The 60-minute masters | Onlignment
This was created in 2007 as a quick course in designing e-learning for SMEs. While the fully developed versions of the course seem to no longer be available, the scripts are here so you could create your own version. New instructional designers may benefit from reading the scripts and envisioning how they could create a course.
What to Charge as an e-Learning Freelancer (and How to Compete with Discounters who Undercharge)
This is less about the specifics of what to charge for freelance services and more about how to charge a reasonable rate for decent quality work. Part of a series on elearning freelance work.
Stephen's Web ~ Managing the Complexity of Branching Scenarios ~ Stephen Downes
Stephen Downes comments in response to my post on managing the complexity of scenarios that merging paths makes it "more like a narration and less like a game." Is it bad for stories for learning and with specific learning objectives to be a bit more like a narration? Perhaps that's a feature, not a bug. Also, most video games do this to some extent. Mass Effect does not have 27 different endings, for example.
Twine (and similar systems) allow paths to merge, reducing the number of possibilities, but at the cost of making the scenario more like a narration and less like a game.
100 e-Learning Books Every Instructional Designer Should Read
A large collection of books on instructional design, elearning, teaching, training, blended learning, scenario-based learning, etc.
Survival Tips for Learning Professionals | LinkedIn
5 tips from Alexander Salas for how to get a job as an instructional designer or elearning developer (although these apply to other fields too):
- Have a website
- Continuously develop new skills
- Have daily social media presence
- Develop work samples
- Keep up with your industry
Go Design Something: Building Your Job-Winning Portfolio
Kristin Anthony's free course on building an instructional design portfolio
Scenario-Based Training for Workforce L&D
How scenario-based training reduces the time required to develop expertise, plus links to other articles and resources (including my blog posts)
LearnletsSolutions for Tight Cycles of Assessment - Learnlets
Mini-scenarios and branching scenarios provide better assessment than traditional multiple choice, but this provides some other options for deeper assessment that can still be scored by a computer.
Think Like a Programmer, Act Like a Designer!
Zsolt Olah shares the mindset programmers use that IDs can benefit from (not just technical skills): flexibility, conditional logic, troubleshooting, commenting so others understand, etc. There's a nice mention of one of my blog posts from 2007 (complete with dated technology references).
Clive on Learning: Gender equality and the design dilemma
Do you think about gender representation when selecting images for elearning? This post doesn't mention other forms of representation, but I think the discussion of organizational culture applies to other dimensions of inclusion too.
Inclusive and Universal Design Resources for Accessibility in eLearning
An extensive collection of resources and archived presentations by Brian Dusablon regarding accessibility for elearning