Volunteering: ID Experience Through Non-profits
Most people trying to break into the field of Instructional Design know that having a portfolio is essential. A portfolio helps you showcase your design skills, how you put together a learning solution and, if you have a good case study, it can help you demonstrate how you solve problems.
However, building a portfolio without an actual client is challenging. In her blog post, Kristi Oliva talks about how she built a portfolio without an actual client, and members of the IDOL course Academy are urged to get a volunteer client as part of the DoItMessy Challenge. If you don’t know where to start, you can get some ideas from this video on how to get a volunteer client for your portfolio projects.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t get a volunteer client. That’s mainly because I’m from an older cohort where this idea wasn’t pushed yet. Instead, I focused on perfecting my portfolio only to realise that it wasn’t enough for the hiring...
PEP TALK: Failing Forward to Help Achieve Your IDOL Dreams
Trying to take a drink from a fire hose.
That is how I felt when I first joined the IDOL courses Academy.
The content was coming at me so fast and furious, it was hard to keep up. But if there is one thing I have learned over the last three cohorts of being an IDOL, the only way to learn is to dig in just like learning anything else.
After spending years in public education, I find myself having to practice what I preached. I used to encourage the #doitmessy way before I knew it as a hashtag. When I coached student reporters on how to write journalistically, I would encourage them to write down whatever was going through their minds and accept that it would be their worst version. Because the beauty of learning isn’t in the first draft, it is in all the editing and iterations that follow.
FEEDBACK FEELS LIKE AN F-WORD
Although I have experience encouraging learners through their worst versions of their work, it doesn’t stop my...
ID Meets UX and Has a Baby: LXD
Hi! I’m Learning Experience Design, but you can call me LxD for short. A lot of people ask me where I’m from because I’m kind of the new kid on the block. Some people even have the nerve to ask if I’m just a teacher dressed in sheep’s clothing. To which I say: yes! I’m a teacher, a graphic designer, an information architect, a data analyst, an interface ninja, and more! That’s just the upper fold of my Tinder profile.
But anyway, I get it. There are so many acronyms floating around LinkedIn nowadays that it’s starting to look a lot like alphabet soup. So, I guess the best way to tell you about who I am - or in other words, “what LxD is” - is to tell you the story of how my parents met.
My mom (ID) grew up in a family of proud third-generation instructional designers. All were summa cum laude graduates of the IDOL courses Academy. My mom was raised on a steady diet of educational pedagogy, neuroscience, and...
Practical Ways to Build Your Confidence: No Need to Fake It!
Whether you are seeking a major career shift or looking to grow your existing Instructional Design career, your confidence will deeply impact the journey.
I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. When I got the keys to my first classroom and began preparing for my first year with students, I was ecstatic. I was sure...
ID Podcasts: Master Your Skills While Shopping, Running, or Cooking
Podcasts are awesome
- They’re free.
- They’re light and portable. You only need a phone and your earphones, which I would not leave the house without anyway.
- They can be downloaded. Therefore you don’t rely on your internet connection and your phone plan.
- They’re hand-free. So you could just put an episode on and carry on washing the dishes, painting the guest room or changing a nappy.
- If you subscribe, the new episodes are automatically marked in your app. No need to look for new content.
- You can find a podcast on any topic. ...
Working Full Time and Managing the IDOL courses Academy
My goal is to share the lessons I learned during the 8-week cohort and how I managed my time while working a full-time job along with several side jobs and a family. It’s not a one size fits all approach by any means.
- Prioritize your time and figure out your WHY.
I knew when I signed up for the IDOL courses Academy, the 8-week cohort would fly by quickly. But I didn’t realize how much I needed to prioritize my time in the Academy. My schedule was already jammed packed before I started the cohort, and trying to figure out how to fit it all in was a challenge.
I needed to focus on WHY I joined the ...
Spill The Tax Tea To New ID Contractors & Freelancers
Currently, it’s Tax Season 2021. During this time of the year, some are ecstatic to anticipate a nice tax refund, while others dread paying a balance due to the IRS. Nonetheless, most people will prepare and file their annual income tax returns by the traditional due date of April 15. However, if you are new to instructional design (ID) and you are an independent contractor or freelancer, there are several important things you must consider when filing your income tax this year. Let me “spill some tax tea'' to you.
As previously shared on this Become an IDOL podcast, during my transitional period of becoming an IDOL, I worked as a tax professional for one of the major tax prep companies (and I still do as a side hustle...shhhhh!). When I filed my tax return recently, even with the increased earned income thanks to my current ID contractual job I gained...
Maximize Failure
Why do people always say you should bounce back from failure?
Get back up on the horse.
Get back on track.
Get back in the game.
But I disagree. After defeat, we need to sit in our failure and soak in the growth and learning that can come from it. Otherwise the same failures will repeat. Your failure should reap a reward that helps you grow stronger and better.
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”
- Robert F. Kennedy
However, it is important to remember that failure is not final. While we may experience frustrating failure at regular intervals, failure does not mean the end of the road. In fact, it usually means you are at the beginning of something new.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
- Winston Churchill
Failure is, in fact, good for us and our personal and professional growth. It means you are pushing yourself to...
ESL to Instructional Design: It’s Closer Than You Think
We Have the Technology Skills
Setting up assignments and grading papers online felt like more of a chore than anything else back when I was teaching. ...
