A new year brings new opportunities. These new opportunities provide us with second chances to start over or to circle back to projects we did not complete or habits we did not adopt or refine the year before. However, a new year also brings encounters with change. Some changes we are prepared for while others come out of left field and knock the wind out of us. Greek philosopher Heraclitus is attributed with the saying, “The only constant in life is change.” Change is ever present in eLearning and instructional design. In our first blogpost of the year, we’ll start by exploring upcoming trends in eLearning and instructional design and how we can embrace change.
Continue reading “Embracing Change in eLearning and Instructional Design”Author: Ann Broda, Instructional Designer, PhD
Ann teaches speech online at Olivet Nazarene University in addition to working as an Instructional Designer. In her free time she enjoys spending time with family and friends, participating in theatre, drinking coffee, biking, traveling, and reading.
The AI Revolution is Here! What this means for Educators, Students, and the Learning Environment
If you’ve followed our blog for a while, you’ll recall several of our posts have explored the future and possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI) in education, eLearning, and instructional design. The release of Generative AI (Nvidia) and OpenAI programs (ChatGPT and GPT-4) in the past year has accelerated the AI Revolution in all aspects of life, including education.
Continue reading “The AI Revolution is Here! What this means for Educators, Students, and the Learning Environment”Instructional Design for Mental Health
When instructional designers or subject matter experts (SMEs) design a course, students’ mental health often unintentionally gets overlooked. Courses that overlook students’ mental health, even unintentionally, show a lack of empathy and understanding on our part.
Continue reading “Instructional Design for Mental Health”Reimagining Higher Education: The Sequel
In summer 2020, I reflected on reimagining higher education in light of Smith and Felch’s (2016) book, Teaching and Christian Imagination. Today, I want to build on that blog post by reflecting on another book, Wendell Berry and Higher Education: Cultivating Virtues of Place (Baker & Bilbro, 2017).
Continue reading “Reimagining Higher Education: The Sequel”Why Storytelling Matters in Teaching and Instructional Design
I love stories and believe in their power and ability to change people’s lives by calling them to action. Littlejohn, Foss, and Oetzel (2017) concur, asserting that “storytelling is a universal function, a natural human capacity that crosses time and culture; humans comprehend their actions and those of others in the form of stories” (p. 348). Recently I’ve been pondering the importance of incorporating the art of storytelling into teaching and instructional design.
Continue reading “Why Storytelling Matters in Teaching and Instructional Design”Alternative Ideas for Discussion Boards: Reinventing a Classic Online Class Activity
If you’ve been around higher education for very long as a professor, instructional designer, or student, you know there’s one activity you can never seem to get away from in an online course: Discussion Boards.
Continue reading “Alternative Ideas for Discussion Boards: Reinventing a Classic Online Class Activity”eLearning Past, Present, and Future (2011-2021): A Conversation about Trends in eLearning, Instructional Design, and Online Learning
In May 2011, I graduated from high school. In June, before I started college, I walked into my first group interview. While I had never heard of eLearning or instructional design, I was still intrigued. Dave Goodrich, one of my high school science teachers, now worked at Spring Arbor University (SAU) as an instructional designer. He believed in my potential and said this student worker job could last throughout my undergraduate career if I wanted.
I met Dave, Tara McCoy , and a couple others from what was formerly the Office of Academic Technology (OAT) outside a coffee shop. When I was hired on the spot, I had no idea what I was getting into or how this field and career would help me as a student and as a professor.
Continue reading “eLearning Past, Present, and Future (2011-2021): A Conversation about Trends in eLearning, Instructional Design, and Online Learning”New Year, New Start: The Importance of Faculty Training
When the calendar turned to January 1, 2021, many experienced a collective sigh of relief. A new year brings expectancy, excitement, hope, and the promise of a new beginning. While 2020 was a challenging, uncertain, and crazy year, we learned so much through it in many aspects of life, including in the fields of Education, eLearning, and Instructional Design.
Continue reading “New Year, New Start: The Importance of Faculty Training”Preparing for Fall 2020: Reimagining Higher Education
I am currently in a summer book study with fellow faculty discussing Teaching and Christian Imagination by David Smith and Susan M. Felch. Through my personal reading as well as group discussions, I’ve realized we need a significant reimagining in the way faculty and instructional designers view teaching and curriculum design in higher education.
Instead of providing a cookie-cutter process of how to teach and design curriculum, Smith and Felch invite readers to reimagine higher education through three metaphors: a pilgrimage, a garden, and a cathedral. In the wake of the many changes and uncertainties of COVID-19, I want to invite you to reimagine higher education through sharing some of the things I am learning from these metaphors and encourage you to begin taking steps toward making your reimagining a reality.
Continue reading “Preparing for Fall 2020: Reimagining Higher Education”Self-Care for Essential Designers
I don’t know about you, but these past few months have been crazy for me. The week before the coronavirus (COVID-19) started picking up in my hometown, I was out of the office focusing on my first residency for my doctoral program. When I returned, my inbox was full of emails about projects that were already in progress before I left as well as emails from instructors asking me to help them transfer their face-to-face courses to online using web conferencing and our university’s LMS, Blackboard. So, March 2020 was pretty much a blur.
Once I began working from home, I discovered it was more difficult to maintain a balance between my work and personal life. My daily schedule and routine remained the same, but it was all within the comfort of my home. Throughout March when people asked me how I was doing, the analogy that I liked to use was I felt like a steam engine or a bullet train and I wasn’t slowing down. Herein lies my problem:
I wasn’t slowing down.
Continue reading “Self-Care for Essential Designers”
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