On the ride home, I had an epiphany about one of my Storyline assets. I began working as soon as I got there. I don’t even know if I ate or how long I was working. I just remember I eventually hit a roadblock and reached out to my mentor. 

And she didn’t respond. 

Individuals in trauma experience time differently because they’re in constant fight or flight. Additionally, as a neurodivergent individual, I struggle with abrupt stops like this, which explains why I spiraled into a panic attack. My vision narrowed. My...

When I was interviewing for my first Instructional Designer job, I was asked many times about what I thought were the three most important things that made an eLearning course good. There’s really a lot that I could have listed. However, I always mentioned good visual design as one of the crucial things to get right. And they agreed.

For several reasons. I am only going to focus on two.

We know that first impressions matter. Besides, many times our learners are not really excited about taking the course, even if it’s not compliance training. So we don’t want to make a bad impression and possibly alienate them. They say “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but when we are browsing for a book, a film, or even a new beverage, we form an opinion based on the visuals. Have you ever decided against watching a film just because the graphics looked off? We need to gain the learners’ interest, not put them off. 

The other reason is that...

This is the time most people set goals or resolutions for the next 365 days. I started this year by talking about kicking self-doubt to the curb. I know it is not always easy to overcome your self-doubt or imposter syndrome. Sadly, to say, many of us create self-doubt in our heads, negatively affecting how we perceive ourselves. The Women Talking About Learning Podcast ended the year with an episode on imposter syndrome. Twenty-five industry women talk about imposter syndrome, what it means, the effects, and overcoming it. This was one of my favorite podcasts this year because it shows others ….. guess what, you aren’t alone in your self-doubt. The question is,...

You are starting on a new instructional design project and just read the project outline. You are half-excited and half-worried that you may not meet expectations. You decide to silence that voice first. You get into your design space, and you start thinking: Okay, I got the learning outcomes, and the intended business goals but:

• I should probably follow what's on the books this time.
• "A" from ADDIE. That's my lifesaver.
• Let me google first what others might have done. It isn’t cheating because I am just looking for some inspiration. ;)

Let's face it. If you have done your instructional design homework, you have probably concluded there are a LOT of ID frameworks out there.  As part of the IDOL courses Academy, I got to take a dive into the 7 most commonly used instructional design models.

I thought : "That's it! I got into the backstage, got the tricks of the trade now, let me start designing and developing." I quickly realized I should be very selective in how I...