“It’s like I’ve landed on the moon and you’re asking where I want to go next,” I said to my manager. It was the first month into my first remote ID role, and she wanted to know my career goals. Several cohorts later, I now have hired mentees reaching out to ask me for help with the same thing. “How the heck am I supposed to develop my annual goals or write a professional development plan!? I know what I want to do. But no idea how to make it ‘corporate enough.’” For all those on the Moon, here’s what I have figured out so far (plus some resources).

That First Career Performance Plan 

“It’s like I’ve landed on the moon and you’re asking where I want to go next,” I said to my manager. It was the first month into my first remote ID role, and she wanted to know my career goals. “Truthfully, I have so much healing to do. I want this first year to be all about renewing my relationship with...

Guest: Murray Gray, Co-Founder Xperiencify 

In this episode, I'm chatting with Murray Gray, who is a Co-Founder of a new platform called Xperiencify. It is a learning management system where you can sell digital course products with gamification to motivate learners for completion. He shares his joy of creating software solutions to help business owners get more out of their businesses and help more people. If you want to leverage your time and expertise with building a course this podcast is a must listen!  

Listen to this episode below: 

 Subscribe to Become an IDOL Podcast: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast

 Let me tell you a little bit about Murray Gray:

He is guy that loves building software platforms that makes life easier for marketers and entrepreneurs. It's all I do. He is a self-taught marketer and entrepreneur. He loves to learn new things, languages and skills.  He is the co founder of the company...

I already identified as a quiet quitter. When I took a break from IDOL, was I also quitting on myself?

When I started the IDOL journey, I thought “I’ve got so many transferable skills. I’m already qualified for many of these jobs!”  I dutifully created a website, crafted an ID resume, and refreshed my LinkedIn profile. I knew I faced hard work to upskill and learn about the ID field, but I had time to invest and a big IDOL goal that seemed reasonable to me. But five months later, no job offers. Not even a single interview! “What gives?” I wondered. I already identified as a quiet quitter from my day job - that’s why I became an IDOL! Was I now also quitting on my career transition? 

Sometime in 2019, my long-time enthusiasm for teaching began wearing thin. Twenty years of teaching freshman composition will do that to you, I reasoned. So I jumped into innovative teaching practices in an effort to continue learning and challenge...

Guest: Rebecca Hogue, Demystifying Instructional Design

In this episode, I'm chatting with Rebecca Hogue a professor of Instructional Design at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She hosts her own podcast, Demystifying Instructional Design. Her varied experience, knowledge of the field and love for students 'aha' moments  makes this such a good listen.

Listen to this episode below: 

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Let me tell you a little bit about Rebecca: 

Rebecca works as a teacher for the Instructional Design program at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.  She has a varied background in the field of Instructional Design. With first beginning in a small family own consulting business. Then moving towards training, high tech, corporate and higher education. She also hosts her own podcast Demystifying Instructional Design. 

Connect with Rebecca:  LinkedIn

...

As a career changer, it can be difficult to showcase your instructional design (ID) skills when you haven’t had a chance to use them full-time. Standard resume advice is to write accomplishment statements for your work history. There is value in including transferable skills alongside accomplishments when they relate to your desired role. If you have a strong employment section but are not getting traction in your job search, strengthen your resume by adding a project section.

As a career coach for technical boot camps, I became familiar with project sections. I encouraged my students to showcase their best projects near the top of their resumes, even though they included the same information in their portfolios and GitHub pages. Students who showcased two to three of their best projects throughout their materials would gain traction in their job search. When they made it to the first recruiter call, we knew their resume was working. 

When it came time for...

Guest: Jennifer Berman,  Instructional Designer

In this episode, I will be chatting with Jennifer Berman, an IDOL course Academy member who transitioned into an Instructional Designer in just 14 weeks. She worked for 17 years in Elementary Education when becoming the primary virtual teacher inspired a love for online learning. She tells how IDOL gave her the skills, feedback and goal setting that she needed to make such a quick transition. Listen in to hear how her corporate role compares to teaching! 

Listen to this episode below:

Subscribe to Become an IDOL Podcast: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast

Let me tell you a little bit about Jennifer:

Jennifer taught elementary school for 17 years and obtained her Masters degree in Education, Curriculum and Instruction. At first she thought about a career in Administration. During the pandemic after virtual teaching decided on a different route. IDOL courses Academy gave her just...

It’s now becoming common knowledge that humans have a wide range of cognitive differences, in addition to the physical ones that are more readily apparent. However, we’re still just scratching the surface with our understanding of conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder. With that emerging comprehension comes persistent stigmas. I’ve experienced them in my own family and encountered them in the learning and development field.

In fact, what spurred me to write this was getting blocked by a doctor who has an active social media and podcast presence because I asked her to consider not using background music that contained vocals, as the vocals competed with what she said aloud. That doctor also is a professor at a state university, which made me wonder if she provides accommodations for her neurodivergent students. (Learning differences don’t go away when a person enters medical school, after all.)

This reminded me that we still have a...

Guest: Barbara Taylor,  Manager of Training for Talent Acquisition

In this episode, I will be chatting with Barbara Taylor, IDOL alumni from cohort 3. She was able to transform her role within a fortune 100 company through her passion for Learning and Development with the implementation from IDOL courses Academy. She now serves as the training manager for 180 recruiters. Listen in now to hear more details on Barbara’s internal promotional journey.

Listen to this episode below: 

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Let me tell you a little bit about Barbara: 

Barbara has always had an affinity for instructional design and online learning and aspired to succeed in this type of position.  She began working toward her dream of landing a position in the Learning & Development field.  The journey was lengthy, and after receiving her master’s degree...

Shouldn’t it be the adult learners’ responsibility to handle their mental health needs so they can access learning? Why should an ID even take mental health into consideration? Alumni, Mandy Brown, shares her answer.

The Need for Trauma-informed Instructional Design

When you design for learners, how often do you consider burnout? How often do you consider trauma? What about your learners’ survival responses? These are all questions I had to consider on a daily basis when I worked for a restorative justice center. 

I tend to use “trauma,” “burnout,” and the “survival response” interchangeably when I speak with mentees at IDOL courses Academy. And while there is a Venn diagram of the three, some quick definitions might help. 

The survival response (also called the stress response) is that deeply rooted instinct when one responds to danger, the fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses. We...

Guest: David James, Chief Learning Officer 

In this episode of Become an IDOL, I’ll be chatting with David James, Chief Learning Officer at 360 Learning. David has a wealth of information about our industry and he shares tips for creating digital learning that makes an impact. 

Listen to this episode below:

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Let me tell you a little bit about David:

David is Chief Learning Officer at 360Learning (formerly at Looop) and has been a People Development professional for more than 20 years, most notably as Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East & Africa.

David is host of The Learning & Development Podcast, a prominent writer and a conference speaker on topics around modern and digital L&D.

Connect with David: LinkedIn  | Website | Twitter | Podcast

Enjoy the Episode...