Tag: education

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 enjoys the tradition to pause and reflect on the research and resources we share on the website. And we hope this tradition of reflection brings meaning to our Model eLearning community. With 2024 only a couple weeks away, it’s time to for the traditional review of the highlights of 2023.

Continue reading “Meaningful Traditions: Reflecting on 2023 “

Efficiency: The Trap of Modern Design

We live in a culture, and work in a field, that prizes and demands efficiency. A million things always need to be done immediately, and at least a thousand projects needed launch yesterday. We make endless to-do lists, debate time tracking and performance metrics, hire project managers by the truckload, and do everything in our power to wring every last drop of “efficiency” out of our daily lives.

And often, we’re making a mistake. Continue reading “Efficiency: The Trap of Modern Design”

Practical Tips for Staying Student-Centered

We use the term student-centered in instructional design all the time. And that’s good. We obviously want our eLearning to focus on the students and their needs. Sometimes, it can be tricky to do that though, particularly when Continue reading “Practical Tips for Staying Student-Centered”

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”

Make your eLearning More Authentic

Have you noticed that our culture is beginning to value authenticity over authority?

We’re tired of being told. We want to be asked.

We’re tired of overly-complicated wordsmithing. We want clear and concise information.

We’re tired of not knowing. We want to be kept in the loop.

Authenticity is what we all crave. Continue reading “Make your eLearning More Authentic”

4 Tips to Survive Rapid Course Development on a Deadline

We’ve all been there. The course launches in two days. Your SME just gave you another laundry list of ‘essential’ revisions, and entire sections of the course need to be added. So, other than starting an intravenous drip of caffeine, how do you tackle rapid development without going insane? Here are four tips and tricks to help you meet your course development deadline.

Plan

You’ve heard it a hundred times: “Plan the Work. Work the Plan.” When you’re in crunch mode, however, Continue reading “4 Tips to Survive Rapid Course Development on a Deadline”

You Gotta Believe Me

YGBM Technologies and Higher Education

Rainbows End is a brilliant 2006 science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge. In the book, he describes a world undergoing ever-increasing change after the technological singularity—a premise that the invention of artificial superintelligence will trigger Continue reading “You Gotta Believe Me”

Motivation in Education: Confidence

Throughout this series, we’ve explored the four components of Keller’s ARCS Model for Motivation: attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction.

In my last post, I discussed practical ways to motivate your students by making your course content relevant to them in and outside of the classroom.

Today we will look at ways you can motivate your students by boosting their confidence.

Continue reading “Motivation in Education: Confidence”

Who is Your Audience?

Instructional designers agree on one fundamental concept of course design: you must know your audience. This article focuses on an emerging audience and proposes a not-so-new strategy for designing eLearning that works for it. Continue reading “Who is Your Audience?”