As I venture into the world of instructional design, I find
it especially important to tap into different “pools” of knowledge to gain a
global perspective on current trends and methodologies. A great resource is the
blogging world, which provides for a more informal approach to collaboration
and learning. Although I follow many blogs, I have never been a blogger myself.
This initial journey into blogging has led me to several different sites that I
hope to learn from moving forward. Here are a few of my favorites:
This blog is particularly geared towards instructional
designers. It explores different technologies and analyzes current trends.
You’ll find reviews on software, books, articles, and industry vendors as well.
The site includes many poignant entries on the presentation of instructional
content, interesting infographics with a specific focus on e-learning. I find
this to be especially relevant towards my career since I am a virtual teacher
and “accidental” instructional designer for my company. The information
presented in the entries helps me to think outside the box and provides me with
many ideas on different learning approaches.
The knowledge project is the creation of Ms. Dianna Hope.
She has a passion for finding different ways to help people acquire knowledge.
Once again, her focus is on e-learning which is especially pertinent
considering that is where the future is headed. The digital learning age has
arrived and innovations in e-learning will continue to help enable individuals
to learn at any time and any place. Her blog includes many tutorials and ideas
on creating effective and engaging story lines, tips to increase work flow, and
reflections on learning theories. I am especially attracted to her videos that
breakdown step by step the instructional design process for sample projects she
has created. It allows me to see the thought process behind the finished
product. I will definitely be referring back to this page for some innovative
ideas.
The goal of
Cathy Moore is to save the world from boring instruction. As such, she uses her
extensive knowledge and experiences as a trainer and designer to provide others
with ideas on how to create lively training. This is especially applicable to
me because part of my duties with my company is to train all our new teachers
nationally. Just as with virtual teaching my younger students, training adults
on an e-learning platform can at times be challenging. One of my favorite
entries, includes a discussion about responding to learning style believers.
You can find it here.
Considering the discussion that was had this past week on learning theories and
the criticism due to lack of evidence supporting learning styles, I appreciated
her insightful outlook on the matter. The entry included additional cross
postings that further serves to debunk the theory of learning styles. Although
I still appreciate how learning about different learning styles has enabled me
to be thoughtful about creating different activities and thinking outside the
box, I now see that content doesn’t have to appeal to every learner’s preferred
method, but instead the style in which it’s presented should be the most
effective to relay the content. I look forward to reading more of Cathy’s
entries and exploring her page for more training ideas.
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