#IDIODC Instructional Designers In Offices Drinking Coffee

Engaging Learners in learning content is every instructional designer's goal.  Why is it so hard to do? Why do so many instructional designers struggle to make engaging learning experiences? Karl Kapp joins us to share his wisdom about learner engagement.  It turns out that engaging learners is not as mysterious as we thought.  Karl is the author, and host, of ten LinkedIn Learning courses includi...

Systems Thinking is the skill or ability to solve problems in complex systems.  Hey! That sounds like a lot of the work done by instructional designers!  Sometimes, yes. But not always.  In many cases we learn about the learners by building personas, and we learn about the content from subject matter experts and the actual tasks of the job.  But what about all the other elements that are a part of...

Storyboarding is a basic skillset often overlooked by instructional designers and project managers.  For many developers the storyboarding process is bypassed in favor of building an eLearning "proof of concept".  This is great for developers given the storyboarding task, and for one-person ID teams to optimize their project processes. However, storyboarding is a valuable skill for everyone to lea...

Question: IDIODC stands for Instructional Designers in Offices Drinking Coffee Please select the best answer below. - True - False - None of the above "Multiple-choice questions are hard to write well. Too many multiple-choice questions measure recall of course content rather than achievement of (well-written) learning objectives! Poorly chosen and written multiple-choice questions damage assessme...

Many training teams are already deploying DE&I courses.  Is yours? Are you building your own courses or buying off-the-shelf curricula, or maybe even both?  What if there was more to it than that? It's not an easy decision to make, and in some cases, it's a difficult conversation to have within your team, organization, and/or company. On this episode, Liza Wisner joined us to talk about DE&I and s...

Learning is often seen as a solo endeavor. But in reality our learning requires input from others.  Sometimes that input comes from an instructor, and sometimes from your peers.  However, input and engagement from management during training sessions, and as part of the overall learning process, is often overlooked, or viewed as not necessary. Managers want their employees trained but are often und...

If there were design principles that significantly improved the accessibility of your eLearning courses would use it? Universal Design for Learning might be new to you, and your instructional designers. But accessibility is something we are all familiar with and should be working towards improving.  With today's authoring tools, like dominKnow, you can easily implement accessible learning content...

So you want to be a CLO? Are you sure? Do you really know what it means to be a CLO? According to Wikipedia: "A chief learning officer (CLO) is the highest-ranking corporate officer in charge of learning management. CLOs may be experts in corporate or personal training, with degrees in education, instructional design, business or similar fields. Qualified CLOs should be able to drive the corporate...

Have you ever done an Escape Room?  There are real world versions as well as virtual versions.  They started as a fun group activity and now instructional designers are learning about eLearning engagement from Escape Rooms. Alexander Salas is back to guide us through his Escape Room design process.   In this session you'll create a short backstory where learners are trapped and the only way to esc...

Meeting your learners where they're at means delivering learning content outside of the traditional learning management system. And giving your users just the right information at just the right time in just the right amount is also a challenge. This challenge only increases as your audience grows to hundreds or thousands spread across the globe. Enter the chatbot. Now that the world of work has b...

I think it's safe to say that over the last 18 months the #1 concern for training professionals has been moving live face-to-face classroom courses to online virtual classrooms. Many of us are still redesigning those courses, improving and adapting them to the new world of work. DEI initiatives are at an all time high with L&D departments challenged to re-train employee populations. And with disru...

We do a lot of drawing with Kevin.  In this episode we're looking at taking those drawing skills and adding them to instructional videos. There are a lot of methods for adding graphical elements to videos and we'll talk about a few techniques and concepts that can be very useful for instructional videos.  Kevin will be sharing some advanced video methods like converting your videos to animated gif...

The term Gamification is often used, and over-used, in our industry.  But any time I hear about measurable results I am immediately interested.   In this episode we're talking with Jeanne Bakker, founder of Brain Bakery.  You may have seen her YouTube videos or attended one of her many keynotes around the world.  She also hosts the podcast No More Boring Learning, but it's not in English so I have...

Classroom training is still the most common method of delivering courses. Even after 2 decades of internet disruption and new technologies. It's not only time to change but we're way past it being the right time to change. It's important to remember that training is an event while learning is a long-term process.  Simple enough, right?  Once you understand this simple truth you begin to realize ho...

Making learning and development (L&D) content inclusive and accessible for everyone is not only a good thing to do, it's the right thing to do. Designing Accessible Learning Content provides evidence-based advice on designing digital learning content that ensures all learners are included and are therefore able to perform to their full potential. Join us for a conversation with Susi Miller, author...

Why do I need to know digital design if I'm already an instructional designer? Opinions vary on the answer to this question but the average instructional design is often also responsible for creating the final eLearning product that is loaded into the LMS.   So while ID is critical for the training organization you can level up your career quickly by upskilling with some digital design skills. Mar...

Just because you have an instructional design degree doesn't mean you're limited to only working in training teams.  The growing number of Software as a Service companies in recent years has placed Customer Experience teams above the standard training department.  You might ask, but how could any department be more important than the training department?  It's a long story, but here's the short ve...

There was once a day that instructional designers only selected ONE method of content delivery.  Those days are long gone.  With today's technology there are many, many, more options.  As new technologies came along the industry began to call it blended learning solutions. But how do we decide which elements to choose? This is where The Periodic Table of eLearning Elements can help. "Brian Washbur...

Just when I thought TikTok was ONLY for teenagers and the shuffle dance, I see one of our own corporate L&D colleagues, Mike Tholfsen, CRUSHING IT on TikTok with microlearning tutorials. Who knew? So, of course, I had to invite him on the show to talk about how he does it.  And why! Check out this "microtip" for excel:  https://www.tiktok.com/@mtholfsen/video/6966327280356379909?lang=en&is_copy_ur...

Kevin Thorn joins us for another "drink'n'draw" episode to help you find your creative inner voice. Everyone can be creative. Like everything else you do as an instructional designer, it just takes practice.  Kevin helps ID professionals all over the globe learn simple step by step processes for being a better instructional designer, storyboard creator, sketcher, and learning game designer.  Kevin...

Very few instructors can successfully teach online...alone. The last year of lockdowns and mandatory zoom training have exposed this weakness to the world.  The best online training courses are co-produced with a super hero behind the curtain: The Producer. Having a producer does not guarantee a great instructional experience. However, it does give you a superior advantage.   In this episode, Kass...

Understanding the basics of xAPI is a hurdle most instructional designers have already crossed over the last few years. We've all been waiting to see xAPI in action. Theory is great but seeing what new innovations can do changes minds and gets projects approved. If you've still been waiting to SEE it before you can believe it then this episode is the day we make that happen for you.   Duncan Welde...

Karl Kapp, Deb Thomas, and Kevin Thorn are heavy hitters in our industry and specifically in learning game design.  More specifically they are skilled at teaching others how to design games for learning. And that's why they started their event Stepaway.design.  The pandemic shutdown of 2020 forced event producers to pivot towards virtual events and so they did the same. At the beginning of 2021 th...

As we begin to see a light at the end of the pandemic shutdown tunnel, let's talk about what we learned about working from home. And also what's next.  Many companies have made bold moves, like announcing continued teleworking options for employees. But those are general announcements for the entire company. In this episode of IDIODC we wanted to talk with the community specifically about how goin...

Everyone needs inspiration for their elearning designs. The best way to find that inspiration is to see what other developers are doing, and learning how they do it. Tim Slade is one of the best and he has the awards to prove it. Join us for an engaging and educational conversation with Tim Slade.   Become virtual friends with the IDIODC gang on Twitter. Remember you can always stay in the loop by...