Would You Use a Course Workload Calculator?
Maha Bali recently shared a link to RICE Univeristiy’s Course Workload Calculator. It includes inputs for reading, writing, exams, other assignment, and course info. In the post, Maha reflects on words about Rigor by Sean Michael Morris and others, and mentions cross class analysis of workload. When I see a tool like this calculator, rigor…
What is this thing we call instructional design?
The other day, I saw a post on LinkedIn from Whitney Kilgore about iDesigns new LXPathways program. Most of the courses offered are a small cost, and are intended to fill a gap in continuing ed for folks in learning and development (if I recall, it’s framed as instructional tech and learning architecture). There was…
SAMR for Digital Teaching?
Tony Bates is updating Teaching in a Digital Age and plans on including a chapter on SAMR. Although I was in teacher’s college when SAMR first appeared (2006), I believe I first encountered it in 2012 or 2013. If I recall correctly, it was at a summer institute and one of our presenters was discussing…
ABC Learning Design, ABC to VLE
I am pretty sure that a couple of years ago I was at some other conference and had heard about this ABC method of designing courses. I have to say I was quite pleased with how the workshop went and that this might be the single biggest take-away for me from EDEN19. At least 80…
Role-Based Design: A Contemporary Perspective for Innovation in Instructional Design
Last week opened a whole can of worms regarding what those who currently work in instructional design might call themselves. I think I have a few blogpost drafts started with half-baked ideas from when many in the ID blog-sphere were arguing for the shift from instructional designer to learning designer. In brief, I’m not really…
Attack of the Learning Engineers
Not my own original title this week, but I just read Attack of the Learning Engineers by Martin Weller, and was about to comment when I thought, ‘hey, I can just blog a quick reflection and hopefully it’ll ping back’. This turned into a longer post, and I forgot to change the title before publishing.…
My first open textbook adoption
Well I guess it’s actually the second. As some readers here might know, in 2015 I worked on a project with Olds College funded by the Alberta OER initiative. Myself, along with another curriculum designer, two SMEs, and some folks internal to the college, worked to develop the Professional Communications Open Curriculum. It was an…
Dear Instructional Designer Interview
I’ve been listening to the Dear ID podcast for a little over 2 years now. If you’re an instructional designer, either in higher ed, elearning, freelancing, or other, you should listen to this podcast. I’ve listened to a number of ID podcasts, and this is the one that has stuck with me the longest. This…
Quick Reflection – Breaking Things
[quote]Up here in space I’m looking down on you My lasers trace Everything you do You think you’ve private lives Think nothing of the kind There is no true escape I’m watching all the time – Electric Eye, Judas Priest, Screaming for Vengeance (1982)[/quote] Not my 9x9x25 post this week, but I just read Breaking…
Beyond Post Once Reply Twice
An instructor I worked with and I came up with a format that seems to generate more action in the discussion forum than the lame old “post once reply twice” format. She dubbed it the chain reaction. This week, we will use the “chain reaction” format. First, I will ask a question. The next person…