Refining Our Focus: A Design Team’s Journey
The spring semester is underway, and it finally feels like we’ve settled into the new year. It’s time to dust off the blogging routine after a year of reconnecting with our purpose. It’s a familiar routine: creating a content schedule with deadlines and potential topics; brainstorming new ideas; outlining drafts of posts; and iterating through the…
2025: Reconnecting With Purpose
In Michigan, December began under a blanket of snow. As I type, it’s falling in big, swirling flakes which remind me of playing outside as a child bundled against the cold. Soon, we’ll celebrate the holiday season with Christmas before welcoming the new year. We’ll gather with family and friends to eat delicious food, exchange…
Designing Courses with Faculty Cognitive Loads in Mind
In previous posts, our team has discussed the importance of designing courses with the students in mind. However, instructional designers should also consider the needs of the faculty while designing courses, especially their cognitive load. Developed by John Sweller in 1988, cognitive load theory notes that each of us has a mental schema (i.e., knowledge…
2024: The Ends and Beginnings of Change
Christmas brings a season of light, hope, and transformation culminating in the celebration of our Savior’s birth. As winter’s approach shortens the days and the year comes to an end, the twinkle of Christmas lights (and promise of delicious treats) brings the joy of good tidings to the long, cold nights in Michigan and the…
The (Lego) Building Blocks of Instructional Design
Our team has been quite busy with several high-priority projects around a new LMS and academic calendar—all due in July. So, when former team member Dave Zokvic (see Model eLearning contributions) offered to write a guest post for Model eLearning, I jumped on the chance to work with him once more. When I was a kid, I loved…
Finding the Middle Ground: Connecting the Dots between Learner Needs and Learning Theory
This post was co-wrote by Ann Broda and Jess Pierce . A course’s design includes many dynamics which can alter how it’s implemented. In addition, the instruction process may provide different results when it comes to meeting objectives, therefore the success of a course and its impact on student learning varies greatly. With these differences…
Creating eLearning Solutions Using OBS Studio
eLearning problems; eLearning solutions This blog post is written in collaboration with Kyle, Instructional Media Support. Last Fall, Kyle and I tested five different instructional technology tools, and we have been eager to use these technologies to assist with eLearning team projects. In January, Tara, Lead Instructional Designer and assistant professor at Spring Arbor University (SAU), asked for help clarifying expectations…
Embracing Change in eLearning and Instructional Design
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…
Meaningful Traditions: Reflecting on 2023
Christmas traditions vary from family to family and person to person. But whether it’s decorating with lights to brighten the long winter nights, hanging stockings on the mantel, or placing a manger in a prominent location for all to see, these traditions seek to fill the season with significance and cheer. Each December, our team…
Instructional Technologies for Presentation and Organization: A Technical and Pedagogical Perspective
This blog post is written in collaboration with Kyle, Instructional Media Support. In this post, we’re excited to introduce and discuss four instructional technologies useful in eLearning environments: Descript, OBS, Coda, and H5P! Originally, we began exploring these technologies from a purely technological perspective. Tara asked Kyle to review the tools to understand them from a technical point…
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