Instructional design
has changed directions in the past few years.
When I was in school we used a chalkboard, film projector and took
typing. Teachers taught from a textbook,
we wrote notes in a paper notebook and took tests on paper. Research was done in the Encyclopedia
Britannica and in the library. Over 30
years later not much has changed in school instruction. Students now take keyboarding instead of
typing, use DVDs instead of film and do research online using the
internet. Much of teaching is still done
by textbooks and taking notes. It’s not
because of the lack of available technology but because of a severe lack of
applying available technology to the classroom.
The same applies to the corporate classroom. We have added PowerPoint presentations and
some of the slides even have animation.
Students need to work hard at paying attention to the material being
presented so learning is difficult. Much
more is needed to keep student interest and to help them learn. These instructional design blogs will help me
develop material that will hold their attention and help them learn the
technical material being presented.
The first of these blogs is called
Upside Learning and the url is https://www.upsidelearning.com/blog/index.php/2010/05/20/30-top-online-resources-for-instructional-designers-to-keep-up/. This site boasts “30
Top Online Resources For Instructional Designers To Keep Up With” and offers
a wealth of valuable information on different aspects of instructional
design. The individual sites range from
technology to K-12 classroom help to corporate help. I highly recommend this site as a starting
point for instructional designers. The
layout is easy to follow. Across the top
you can choose from the following: Home eLearning
(184) Learning Management (3) Mobile Learning (177) All Categories. The 30 online resources are displayed in a
vertical list structure so you can scroll down and pick the link to the ones
that interest you. The blog offers
bloggers to input information on helpful sites that may be added to the list. The author, Amit Garg, includes his blog as
one of the top choices, which was a nice humorous touch. With so many resources in one location, this
is a site I will visit often.
The second site I found is Christy
Tucker’s blog called Building
Engaging Learning Experiences through Instructional Design and E-Learning. The url is https://christytucker.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/instructional-design-and-e-learning-blogs/. The site begins with a list of instructional
designer sites. These vary from sites
specializing in elearning through games, corporate strategies, virtual learning
and more. Following the list of
instructional designers is a list of elearning sites that contain much the same
information as the previous list. There
are sites for elearning involving technology, virtual reality and several on
how-to incorporate elearning into training environments. Last on the list is a section called Workplace
Learning which includes elearning applications in the corporate arena. The site is like similar to my first choice
in that it is laid out well and easy to navigate. One of the things I found interesting about
this site is the “Hire Me” link. Nice
plug. Like my first choice, this site
has many resources in one location.
My
third choice is a blog by Shanthi Priya Marla called Top 5 Blogs on the Best Practices in
Instructional Design. The url is http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning-design/best-blogs-on-instructional-design-practices. The five blogs are each presented with an
introduction followed by a link to learn more.
The blog ends with an endorsement on the five blogs by the author and
asks for feedback. I come from a
background of using Powerpoint presentations to teach subjects. One of the links I found interesting was
written by Phani Madhav.
It was on using elearning instead of animated Powerpoints to teach. Ironic.
As I move from Powerpoint presentations towards the elearning world, this
site will be helpful.
Overall, I found these sites interesting and
educational. The blogs are in an easy to
navigate format, which is always helpful to those of us who are old school in
computer savviness. I hope you will
check them out.
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