Category: eLearning

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”

Experts and eLearning Ecosystems

The term “elearning ecosystem” appears more and more frequently in eLearning writings. As a leader in eLearning, I like this metaphor—not because it’s scientifically-based and sounds cool (although it is and it does), but because I find the metaphor reflects some foundational changes influencing eLearning instructional design. Continue reading “Experts and eLearning Ecosystems”

3 Things I Learned Working with Subject Matter Experts in my First Year as an ID

In my first year as an instructional designer (ID), I worked with college faculty to develop the courses they had taught face-to-face into online courses. I was eager to dive into my new role, create successful courses, and stick to a 3-month timeline for each project.

A few key lessons that I encountered in those early days continue to guide my work. Continue reading “3 Things I Learned Working with Subject Matter Experts in my First Year as an ID”

The Building Blocks of OER

We’ve put together an infographic of OER data for you to share with your colleagues, department chairs, and administrators. Let’s build relationships and keep the conversation going to increase OER awareness and adoption on campuses across the world. Continue reading “The Building Blocks of OER”

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”

Tips for Bringing OER to Your University, Institution, or School

In our OER series, we’ve explored how cost-friendly open educational resources (OER) can replace the expense of traditional textbooks. We’ve looked at where to find OER as well as how to choose quality materials. By now, you’re probably wondering how to bring OER into your institution.

Continue reading “Tips for Bringing OER to Your University, Institution, or School”

Bringing Value to your Learners with OER

You walk into the campus student bookstore. Classes started last week, and you just got paid at your part-time, minimum wage student job. You nervously add the cost of the stack of textbooks in your head.

You don’t have enough cash. You never have enough cash.

What do you do? Put some books back? Continue reading “Bringing Value to your Learners with OER”

Formatting eLearning Documents: Back to the Basics

Elearning is a highly collaborative environment, with instructional designers (ID), subject matter experts (SME), instructors, and editors all working together to provide consistent content across multiple platforms. It’s one of the great strengths of eLearning.

It can also be a great weakness. Continue reading “Formatting eLearning Documents: Back to the Basics”

Student-Centered Faculty Training

A few years ago, a friend stopped by for a visit. When it was time for her to leave, I walked her to the front door where we chatted a bit. I slipped on a pair of black flats sitting in front of the door and continued talking. We exhausted our good-byes, and my friend grew silent.

Finally she said: “I’d leave if I could have my shoes!”

It turns out we had the very same shoes, and I had slipped HERS on by mistake! #embarrassing

A Mile in a Student’s Shoes Builds Empathy

In the context of teaching and learning online, Continue reading “Student-Centered Faculty Training”

Making your eLearning Assignments More Interactive

History is rich and vivid, and it shouldn’t be presented in a way that students see as dry.  As an adjunct history instructor, I am always looking for ways to motivate students to explore history and to look at it from different perspectives. I’ve discovered that infusing a scenario-based assignment engages learners and encourages them to think outside the box. Continue reading “Making your eLearning Assignments More Interactive”