Author: Jessica Bishop, Instructional Designer

Jessica is a designer and writer focused on learnability, storytelling, sensemaking, wayfinding, and removing barriers to learning. A Michigan native, she likes crafting, reading, walking, and spending way too much time in the distant corners of the internet. You can also find her at JessicaMBishop.com.

2018: Reflecting on a Year of Growth

We’ve reached the end of 2018—and what a year it’s been! From increasing the number of posts on the blog to presenting at conferences, it’s been a busy year for our team.

When we started Model eLearning, we decided to share content every other week. This year, we challenged ourselves to double that (yeah, we might have been a little crazy).

Your enthusiasm for the extra content lets us know we’re on the right track, though, so thank you for that! Over the year, we’ve met great people online and in person, and those conversations helped shape the topics and tone of Model eLearning. 

Let’s look at a few highlights from 2018.

Continue reading “2018: Reflecting on a Year of Growth”

Review: UX + LX App (And a Look at the Future of Learning Design)

Disclaimer: I’ve downloaded the UX + LX mobile app to my devices for personal use. I didn’t receive compensation for this review.

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UX + LX mobile app (FREE, available for iOS and Android devices)

According to Pew Research Center, more people own smartphones than computers. When people don’t have anything to do, we pull out our ubiquitous devices. Imagine if we had as many learning apps as games and other apps—every moment would be an opportunity to learn (personalized learning, here we come!).

As Tara share in her post about universal design for learning, mobile learning, or mLearning, looms before us. Yet we still design learning within the confines of a learning management system (LMS) accessed by a computer. 

UX + LX takes us outside of the traditional LMS and into a true mobile learning experience.

Continue reading “Review: UX + LX App (And a Look at the Future of Learning Design)”

Remove Barriers to Learning with Design and Plain Writing

Over the summer, we updated our online general education syllabus template using learning theory, universal design for learning (UDL), plain writing, and accessibility principles. Recently, Dave, Tara, and I presented this process at Continue reading “Remove Barriers to Learning with Design and Plain Writing”

Happy Thanksgiving!

Around Thanksgiving, it’s nice to pause in our busy schedules to consider what we’re thankful for.

Over the past year, our team had incredible opportunities to connect with others—on Model eLearning, Twitter, at conferences, and of course, on our own campus. Everyone we’ve talked to shares a drive to improve the learning experience for all learners. Whether you’ve followed from the beginning or just popped in to read a recent post, we’re thankful for what you bring to the conversation.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving—we hope you have great food, good conversations, and return ready to finish 2018. We’ll see you next week with new content.

Symposium on Universal Design for Instruction and Learning

While we planned to have content for you this week, we’ve spent most of our time preparing to present at IUPUC’s Symposium on Universal Design for Instruction and Learning. In our session, we’ll discuss “Why, What, & How: Using UDL in Course Materials to Enhance Learner Experience.” Don’t worry, we’ll share our research on the blog!

Since next week is Thanksgiving, we’ll be back with new content in two weeks.

Are you going to be at the Symposium? Stop by to see us!

Review: Tim Slade’s “The eLearning Designer’s Handbook”

***Model eLearning has no affiliation with Tim Slade. We purchased the book on our own, and we’ve provided an honest review based on our opinions.***

It’s often said that instructional designers (ID) fall into the field of eLearning. Some, like Michelle, have a whole career of experience before making their way into it. Others find their skill-sets and interests draw them into the field. Elearning designer Tim Slade had a similar experience, and that led him to write, design, and self-publish The eLearning Designer’s Handbook: A Practical Guide to the eLearning Development Process for New eLearning Designers. Continue reading “Review: Tim Slade’s “The eLearning Designer’s Handbook””

Quick Tips to Help Your SME Curate eLearning Content

It’s a given that subject matter experts (SME) are, well, experts. SMEs understand the ins-and-outs of their subject, the nuances of how similar topics relate to it, and Continue reading “Quick Tips to Help Your SME Curate eLearning Content”

Northlake Professional Group, LLC Podcast and Free Conference

Podcast page

We’re excited to announce that Michelle and Gwen had the opportunity to share their stories on a podcast hosted by Brianne Thomas of Northlake Professional Group, LLC. Continue reading “Northlake Professional Group, LLC Podcast and Free Conference”

Communicating “What You Do” to eLearning Stakeholders

Sometimes, the technical and skilled nature of instructional design makes it difficult to explain our work to key stakeholders. Shakespeare might have said a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but the collective (mis)understanding of words can sometimes muddy how our external audience sees our work.

Recently, our eLearning team found a simple change of terminology helped our stakeholders grasp one of our fundamental tasks: Continue reading “Communicating “What You Do” to eLearning Stakeholders”

Finding your OER Champions

Throughout our OER series, we’ve explored the value open educational resources bring to students, instructors, and institutions as well as where to begin with OER. Last week, we discussed using a model to bring open educational resources (OER) to your institution by building relationships with key influencers and OER champions.

Whether you’re aware of it or not, your institution probably has OER champions already.

Typically, OER are first adopted by the hard sciences. But you likely have another partner: Continue reading “Finding your OER Champions”