Torey Quinn's List: Instructional Design

SUPPORTING A RANGE OF LEARNING STYLES USING A
TAXONOMY-BASED DESIGN FRAMEWORK APPROACH

Research Paper

Lynda.com course, requires subscription account.


"Have you ever wanted to write professionally? Perhaps you'd like to make some extra money writing articles for publication in your industry or taking on additional assignments to write for your company.

In this course, author Tom Geller explores the process of writing articles and publications for businesses large and small. The course begins with a look at the preparation you'll need to do, best ways to find assignments, and smart strategies for determining your article approach. Next, the course dives into techniques you can use to brainstorm angles, research, interview experts, finish a piece, and build your portfolio.
Topics include:
Adopting technical tools
Gathering reference materials
Defining an article
Finding assignments
Determining your approach
Conducting interviews
Managing revisions
Following up"

"It's an inside joke in the eLearning world. Getting content from your subject matter experts (SMEs) can be a bit of a nightmare. You ask the SME for information about the jigglyzazoo and she sends either 1) a PowerPoint presentation with minimal useful information or 2) a mountain of documents (which she now expects you to use, since she's taken the time to find them!).

This situation is a common one and it's a problem that has an obvious solution: Be much more specific about exactly what you need. It may take a little back and forth to help your SME get you what you're asking for, but in the long run this will reduce time and effort on both your parts and get you better content, faster."

When I look at objectives, I gain insight into what the program is all about. I notice that the program is making idiotic claims, or I am delighted to see realistic ones. Just by glancing at a few objectives, I can discern the instructional designer's grasp of audience, needs, culture, and concreteness. Is she tuned in-or is she promising perfunctory, murky, or overly ambitious outcomes? Am I looking at marketing pap masquerading as an instructional objective? Called upon to teach, coach, or judge, objectives help me get a handle on the designer and the work product.

"Quick! Design some elearning that has compelling activities and a real business impact!
How? Try action mapping.
I’ve been using a quick, visual process to design projects. I call it action mapping because it helps you change what people do, not just what they know. It helps you design action-packed materials that are 100% dedicated to improving business performance, and it can keep stakeholders from adding extraneous information."

"My answer: If you don’t identify what people actually do with the software and design your training around that, you could create an information dump that helps no one and can’t justify its own existence."

"Instructional System Design: The ADDIE Model
A Handbook for Practitioners
This ISD model is also known as ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implement, Evaluate) and SAT (System Approach to Training)."

"Design, like the world as a whole, is unpredictable and messy. If you think it boils down to "research," you're mistaken."

"Since it was first published almost twenty years ago, Developing Technical Training has been a reliable resource for both new and seasoned training specialists. The third edition of this classic book outlines a systematic approach called the Instructional Systems Design (ISD) process that shows how to teach technical content defined as facts, concepts, processes, procedures, and principles. Whether you teach “hard” or “soft” skills, or design lessons for workbooks or computers, you will find the best training methods in this book. Using these techniques, you can create learning environments that will lead to the most efficient and effective acquisition of new knowledge and skills. Throughout the book, Clark defines each content type and illustrates how to implement the best instructional methods for delivery in either print or e-learning media."

"High performing individuals, teams and organisations focus on exploiting development opportunities in the workplace because that’s where most of the learning happens."

"Most of us who have been trainers have tried one or more methods of action planning—hoping to get our learners to apply what they've learned back on the job. The most common form of action planning goes something like this (at the end of a training program): 
"Okay, take a look at this action-planning handout. Think of three things from the course you'd like to take away and apply back on the job. This is critically important. If you feel you've learned something you'd like to use, you won't get the results you want if you forget what your goals are. On the handout, you'll see space to write down your three goals. I'm going to give you 20 minutes to do this—because it's so important!" "

"Even as instructional designers are challenged to do more and more with less and less, organizations must still keep up with today’s rapid pace of change. And to help instructional designers become faster, leaner, and more effective, The eLearning Guild Academy is offering a live online AGILE Instructional Design course that begins in October 2013. Taught by Conrad Gottfredson, PhD, a performance support practitioner and industry thought leader, the AGILE Instructional Design course employs a groundbreaking approach to virtual instructor-led training (VILT) known as the GEAR methodology."

"In this article, the final one of the series, we’re going to switch gears and talk about eLearning standards. When working on a large project with multiple team members, it is common to have a set of organizational or project standards for eLearning courses. These standards make it easier for the team members to pick up each other’s work, based on availability."

"Smart businesspeople have long understood the value of competition as a motivator. Performance leaderboards hold a prominent place in sales offices, on factory floors, and in other business environments. Academic institutions use GPAs and class rankings to inspire a competitive edge. In a famous scene from David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, the managers of a fictional real estate company spiced up their monthly sales contest with a tough-love pep talk from Alec Baldwin [NSFW]."

"Top companies all over the world are adopting gamification into their core business strategies in order to drive engagement for employees, customers and partners. Through our experience working with some of the world’s largest brands, we have discovered some unexpected pitfalls along the way. The following is a list of what we consider the top five pitfalls that plague gamification programs today."

"Designing courses from a user perspective involves paying attention to details like how you frame the course material for the learner, the personality you lend to the course voice, the overall course look and feel, and creating content with which users pleasurably interact. Remember, if you do what’s right for the learner, then all else will follow.”"

"The fields of psychology and education were revolutionized 30 years ago when the now world-renowned psychologist Howard Gardner published his 1983 book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences,” which detailed a new model of human intelligence that went beyond the traditional view that there was a single kind that could be measured by standardized tests. (You can read his account of how he came up with the theory here.)"

"Developing a high degree of problem-solving skill appropriate to each career stage is an important function of military training from the recruit level onward. The ultimate goal of this training is agile, adaptive military professionals, particularly the leaders. This is more critical now than ever before."