TLDCast Podcast

Confessions of an Instructional Design Hiring Manager. Cara North was an excellent guest in this conversation where she shared some of her more recent experiences reviewing candidates and hiring as a Training Manager. Nearly half of the live attendees in this episode were unemployed and a third of them were currently interviewing for ID jobs. So if you're in a similar situation, and even if you're...

In this episode, we were privileged to have Alan Natachu, Learning Experience Designer. Alan has been a long time supporter and Member of The Training, Learning, and Development Community and so many of us have learned from his expertise in media technology, software, and virtual reality. You'll want to be sure to connect with Alan - when it comes to learning technology, his knowledge is vast ---...

Recently in our Slack group at tldchat.us, Rubina Halwani suggested bringing on some guests willing to talk about the LMSs they use or support, and what their experiences are like. Excellent idea! So in this episode, we talk with Quetzalcoatl Cortes about his experience as an LMS Admin. Quetzal is an instructional designer with a penchant for being resourceful --- pretty an ideal combination for b...

Call centers, food service, retail sales, catering - all places our community has picked up skills that have helped lead them to instructional design, skills that are sometimes called upon to do their jobs in L&D. Quite a few guests with host Kristen Hayden Safdie in this one - including a live chicken. So give this episode a listen and you'll surely reflect on your own helpful "non instructio...

It was a great pleasure to talk with Vanessa Alzate in our latest Member Showcase! As the President and CEO of Anchored Training, this showcase shows you why Vanessa and her company are heading for great things. The passion and enthusiasm for what she does is evident throughout the conversation and she's only just getting started. Check out her YouTube channel and be sure to connect with Vanessa!...

n this Member Showcase episode, we feature Tom McDowall, Chief Learning Geek at Evolve Learning Design, based in the UK. Passionate about his craft, it's easy to see why he hosts The iDeas podcast and is constantly working to improve professionally and continue to help others reach their potential. Tom is someone you'll want to get to know. If you're interested in instructional design, elearning,...

Crafting experiences, Engaging Learners, building scenarios, enabling teamwork and strategic thinking - are we talking about instructional designers or dungeon masters here? In this episode, Christy Tucker, Matt Pierce, Jonathan Rock and host Luis Malbas, gathered to talk about the similarities between role playing games and instructional design. There's a good amount of overlap and it's no surpri...

In many ways, the journey of the instructional designer is still very undefined. Put five IDs in a room and there's a good chance no two came about their careers in the same way. And so it is with L&D Job Titles. Rubina Halwani and Toddi Norum go through a great list of L&D Job Titles that Rubina compiled. Rubina has a particular passion for helping L&D job seekers, so this resource of...

Mentorship in L&D is a recurring topic at TLDC. But one aspect of mentorship that we rarely discuss is the question of style. Is Mentorship different in higher ed than it is in corporate settings? How about in military or government settings? Non-profits? So in this episode, we have Randy Rebman and Toddi Norum discussing mentoring and coaching. Both of them have backgrounds where they've expe...

There's a lot to like in this case study featuring Joe Pulichino of T-Mobile and host Kristen Hayden Safdie. Like Joe says in this episode, his team was able to take compliance training from a "snore to a score" - and as many of you know, this is no easy feat. Give this one a listen and check out the YouTube video or the original recording if you'd like to see some of the screen sharing (linked be...

In this Community Discussion, we talked about the differences between Instructional Designers and Teachers. This topic has gained relevance because here in The Training, Learning, and Development Community, the audience of teachers turning IDs has grown. So more activity in the form of questions about coaching, migrating to online instruction, and other topics that overlap both professions have be...

In this Member Showcase episode, meet Kristin Villanueva Torrence. With a background in psychology and a passion for cognitive studies, Kristin offers a unique set of skills as a learning experience designer. Her journey as an educator has had her crossing the country a few times, and her experience is vast. You'll enjoy this conversation with Kristin; she's a lifelong learner that exudes optimism...

In this episode, Toddi Norum hosts Holly Owens, Assistant Director of Instructional Design with Online Education at Touro College and University System. They discuss the role of instructional designers in a higher ed system, the value they bring, and how the pandemic has changed things for Instructional Designers in these academic roles. This was a great discussion and the audience chat was tremen...

In this Community Discussion, we went for a topic that's a little different than our typical TLDCasts. The challenges of the pandemic have people spending more time living their digital lives in front of screens. So it was worth scrutinizing what that means for our psychology, and specifically, the concepts of The Attention Economy and The Age of Distraction. These sound like rather "hefty" terms,...

In this latest Member Showcase conversation: Dorota Langner. Born and raised in Poland, then moving to France, then Ireland, and now living in Toronto - Dorota has had a fascinating journey thus far, and is about as passionate an instructional designer as you'll find out there. It's always a treat to talk to instructional designers from other parts of the world and Dorota is no exception. And best...

In this Community Discussion episode, we asked the question "Do Instructional Designers Need Coding Skills?" The short answer is No. But - there is also a very strong case to answer that question with "It depends". Ultimately, the question can only be answered by defining the kind of instructional designer you're going to be, for example, a free lancer or a single person on a small ID team that mi...

In this special episode, we have diversity, equity, and inclusion professional, Ankit Shah as a guest with host Cara North. The topic is How to Have Conversations About Race at Your Workplace. And Ankit offers an excellent foundation of how to start the conversations and hopefully, produce effective dialog that will help address what is at the forefront of most current discussion in our society -...

Meet Devlin Peck of Peck Consulting. Devlin joined us to discuss an article he wrote exactly about that: How to Become An Instructional Designer in 2020. As you might expect, there was a lot to go over, and we moved through the conversation at a quick pace. In fact, I can safely say this episode may have had more Q&A than any previous TLDCast we've done. We had over 200 people registered for t...

In this Community Showcase episode, we feature Gina Johnson, currently an adjunct professor of Communication at the college of Southern Maryland, and also a new instructional designer --- she just enrolled in a certification program that started a few days ago! You don't often meet a workplace professional with this much passion and energy. Gina has a variety of skill sets that seem to have led he...

In this Community Showcase episode, we feature Carin de Weme! Carin is a Senior Global L&D adviser based out of the Netherlands. She's a teacher turned instructional designer, very enthusiastic about her profession, and in this conversation, you'll find it obvious she loves her job and the creativity being an instructional designer offers. It's also nice to hear the perspectives of our Europea...

In this episode, Kristen Hayden Safdie hosts Nick Floro for a great case study on The DBQ Project, something that Nick and the Sealworks team helps to maintain and produce. DBQ means Document based questions, and The DBQ Project is a 6-Step Method that builds on students’ curiosity and increases motivation and confidence to answer a compelling, authentic question. This is a fascinating project tha...

In this episode, we talk with Margie Meacham, aka “The Brain Lady”, one of the foremost experts in educational neuroscience and artificial intelligence and a long time supporter of TLDC. We've spoken with Margie many times, but in this showcase, we learned so many new things about Margie that illuminates why she passionately pursues knowledge about neuroscience and learning. margie@learningtogo.in...

Hamideh is a data scientist researching the application of digital marketing tactics and analytics into L&D. Essentially, she's an outsider in this space, and with a background in systems analysis, engineering, IT management, and data science, she is able to articulate some obvious improvements training could use, but is often blind to. Take a listen to Hamideh's research results on applying d...

In this podcast episode, contributor Toddi Norum talks with beginning Instructional Designer, Christine Belzie. It's a fascinating time to get into the world of ID, and Christine is someone that Toddi has been particularly intrigued with on Linkedin. So what you have here is an informal discussion between veteran instructional designer and newbie. It's an interesting mix in that you can see the di...

This is episode 4, the final installment of Joseph Suarez's Job Seeker Series. And in this episode, he's discussing Interviews and the interview process. Joseph has done a particularly thorough job of researching this topic since he's currently searching for a job. And he shares what he's learned, including salary negotiation tactics, questions you should ask the person conducting the interview, a...