That's so awful to hear. You can still make decent training with PowerPoint (better than nothing and the Articulate community posts free PPT templates) but maybe you can find something here:
https://alternativeto.net/software/articulate-storyline/?license=free
Publish to Web (not LMS or another format). You'll need to upload the whole folder of Storyline output.
Are you using Wordpress.com or a self-hosted Wordpress site?
If it's a free wordpress.com site, then /u/Thediciplematt's answer is good. You host it somewhere else and then link to the story.html file. (I use a screenshot and link from the image when I have done that.)
If it's a self-hosted Wordpress site, then /u/JuicyBoot's solution should work. I use the Filezilla method. You can put Storyline content in an iframe if you want to maintain your Wordpress navigation around it, but opening in a new window is easiest.
I am an IDOL courses Academy member. Why don't you look at my calendar, and I am more than willing to talk to you about it. The next cohort will be in September.
iSpring suite is a Powerpoint add-in that lets you create and export courses and quizzes.
https://www.ispringsolutions.com/ispring-suite
But it's a bit pricey, albeit less than Storyline.
Definitely use MS Office on a daily basis, but I've used Twine once to make a branching scenario: http://twinery.org//.
For Web Design, I'm starting to pick up Adobe Muse. By "starting to pick up" I mean I have it open on my desktop right now and I've watched a few tutorials. My dev swears by it though. He also loves using Adobe Edge.
Things that can die in a fire? I've never enjoyed using Lectora. I like using Storyline, I haven't dabbled much with Captivate - but Lectora has always been so frustrating and limiting for me. I'm not sure why it's as popular as it is (which isn't very anymore).
I would look at getting some experience with an LMS. Moodle is a good place to start, but I don't know how popular that is in The US (it's huge here in Europe.)
You might want to look into MOOCs as well (big, free online courses run by the likes of Coursera and Udacity.)
Other than that, one of the things I most want to improve are my general design skills. It's all well and good knowing how to use Photoshop / In Design etc, but I've found that I really wish I knew more about how to do a basic page layout. Too many of my pages look like a garish over-laden pizza! :) This is a course I'm thinking of taking soon (it's a MOOC on principles of Design :)
Good luck with the course. I'm sure you'll have lots of fun!
Have you checked out the work of Tim Slade? If your art skills translate to media, there's a lot of good that can be said for that. Tim is one of the most successful eLearning consultants I know, and he doesn't have formal ISD education experience.
There's a reason a bestselling book on ISD / eLearning is called "Designing Successful eLearning: Or Forget What You Know About Instructional Design and Make Something Interesting".
It's because the best instructional interventions have nary an instructional designer to be found among the people who made them. This is a damning indictment of the majority of instructional interventions.
Cammy Bean made a great book I recommend called The Accidental Instructional Designer. https://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Instructional-Designer-Learning-Digital/dp/1562869140
Performance Consulting may be a helpful read. It was useful to me in seeing the forest for the trees.
It's a confusing read at first, seems like you are reading a consultant focused book. When you get to the middle, things start to come together and you start seeing the book offers a roadmap to getting an L&D function running within an organization.
Your actions forward will work, seems like you're stumped on getting the data out of the course.
I would insert the form/survey as a web object in Articulate, then separately, use Zapier to automate what I want to do with the data.
here's something that i've been wishing for but realize that will not make a part of any commercial elearning platform (which is what it sounds like you are seeking to create): a storyboarding function, similar to the way that Celtx works (or used to work - it's a bit complex now), but for elearning.
You may want to take a look at Moodle - its free (at least in my experience, my current company has their own in-house LMS so its been a hot minute since I last used it), open source and has been pretty straightforward to use. Someone else may have other suggestions for you as well.
Would love to hear how your transformation to interactive modules goes!
I'm still just using a wordpress.com site, but this is the direction I'm going. I spent a long time researching and mulling over different hosts and formats and what I needed to learn to build the perfect portfolio. Then I came to my senses and built a quick, simple, but functional site with the intention to do future iterations as needed/as I learn new tricks.
Not a lot. I work in Canvas, so I do use it every day, but that isn't always necessary. I just like having more control over what goes into courses in Canvas, and not all IDs use Canvas. I also don't know a lot, just the basics. I keep a Word doc with a list codes and just copy/paste them as needed.
I taught myself the basics using https://www.freecodecamp.org/. But again, it's not 100% necessary to learn. I will say that it's taught me a level of attention to detail that I didn't have before and I think everyone could benefit from learning HTML.
Pixabay (and all stock photo sites, paid and unpaid) will have their license on their web site so you can read it and understand.
Here's is Pixabay's license agreement.
Inkscape is a free and open source graphics editor. It is robust and stable and has a great set of tools.
Pair Inkscape and Ghostscript to enable .eps editing. Here’s a YouTube video showing you how for Windows 10. You can easily find other versions by searching: https://youtu.be/e7OeI8xB5Ts
Now, when you purchase stock illustrations from your favorite commercial stock image site, you can download the .eps version, open with Inkscape, and edit it in a vector scalable way. Meaning you can scale it up or down to any size and it retains clean crisp lines.
Break it apart, keep what you need, delete what you don’t. Customize it any way you want. Export to png (to retain any transparencies) and you just made a high (picture 😉) quality graphic. For free.
Enjoy.
P.S. For assistance, there are many, many tutorials on YouTube and a pretty comprehensive user guide online available right from the menu bar.
For the courses I've helped design around coding, we do include coding practice. That is really important. If the course is language agnostic, perhaps look to the way sites like Exercism or CodeWars will take the same challenge and port it to multiple languages. There are sites like Repl.it that can help you to integrate coding challenges with automated tests so that you aren't trying to build your own tool.
There are also useful programming activities that aren't coding activities to help get people thinking about things in a programmatic way. For example, you can find many code websites for kids that help them to program robots to perform certain actions (usually using a block-based interface like Scratch). One of the simulations I built for adults was asking them to play with the concept of a two-wheeled robot and "program" it to perform certain actions by setting the power level on each motor. In that way, they were thinking about the kinds of things they'd need to ask their students to think about, but without us having to try and integrate all of the hardware that usually comes with thinking about robotics.
Hope that helps!
The live stream was fun today. Tomorrow I'll be hanging out with the live stream on Leadership with the my friends at PeopleFirm if you're interested in joining. http://crowdcast.io/seedsofinsight
Also, to stay connected with my community and what I'm doing you can join me here: http://patreon.com/bschlenker
You can try talking about generic things. My partner and I made a little interaction that talks about pairing wine with food. There's loads of royalty-free food/wine pictures online.
Also, a quick google search for free stock photos brings up this site: https://www.pexels.com
Thanks for the feedback!
Just published it here: https://www.eduflow.com/blog/common-instructional-designer-interview-questions-and-how-to-answer-them
Will look through your notes and make some updates.
I'm a fan of how Udemy.com and Lynda.com (now LinkedIn Learning) online courses are put together. They use the same instructor/narrator even for courses that are dozens of hours long. That said, my company uses the same professional narrator for 95% of our online courses. It's been the same guy for nearly a decade. Nice guy, but I personally am tired of hearing his voice. We've considered using text-to-speech for less important courses that need a quick turnaround. The technology has really advanced to the point where it can be hard to tell it's not a human.
​
As for animation versus real-life, I know a lot of mandatory corporate training uses animation. As long as it's not too cartoonish, most people do not seem to mind. What's more important is the quality of the script and ability of the voice actors. It won't matter if you use animation or live acting if the video looks and sounds like a cheap daytime soap opera or middle school play.
Storyline offers a ton of user guides that can be very helpful.
And honestly I’m sure a cursory search on YouTube would pull up some good resources
Focus on learning about how to use Layers and States. Once you understand those two concepts Storyline is pretty straightforward
Is this for e-learning or instructor-led, in-person training? You mentioned "online exercises" but you also mentioned "printing out cards," so I'm a bit confused.
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u/exotekmedia mentioned Captivate and Storyline. You might also check out The Training Arcade or Kahoot.
What I've found is that accessibility has been very spotty and individual, though it's best in university courses. There are a number of tools, such as WebAIM WAVE and WorldAttest which will down rundown of your webpage and let you know about any accessibility issues.
From a design perspective, you'll want to tackle that up front. For example, if you have some interaction that is drag and drop, that tends to not be accessible, so as a designer, you'll want to design a different, equally rigorous activity up front.
If you have the time, it's also really good to try to use an actual screenreader like VoiceOver on Mac or NVDA for Windows. There's some great information on how to test using a screenreader in this course: https://egghead.io/courses/start-building-accessible-web-applications-today
Those are the kinds of things I've done previously. Hope that helps!
Just a few quick thoughts - I haven't dug in or looked at the content, just a preliminary glance at the design:
My first choice would probably be ClickUp. The design, organization and features are way beyond any current platforms. I love that they offer different views (including an agile board) to view your work. You are able to create as many teams and projects as you like, and also add subtasks within tasks. Trello is a good option as well if you're looking for an amped-up to do list that you can share and grow with.
I found the book E-Learning by Design (second edition) by William Horton to be one of the most useful books I have ever read for this major.
https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Design-William-Horton/dp/0470900024
I'll second The Power of Habit, and I've also loved How We Learn by Benedict Carey.
The Art of Conversation by Judy Apps also helped immensely when it came to working through my fear of public speaking.
Very impressive. I can see it being useful for SME written text, especially if the questions can follow good practice as seen in something like Patti Shank, Write Better Multiple-Choice Questions to Assess Learning
There were some quirks in the answer text but nothing that couldn't be easily edited on export.
I used a professionally written user guide as a source URL. How does it cope with something less polished as the source?
If you're exporting as HTML, SCORM, or xAPI you can still make minor text changes and even update images.
Merely unzip the folder then open it up in a text editor like VS Code. Search for the text you want to change in the project (ctrl + shift + F) and then amend accordingly. Similarly with graphics, audio, and videos find them in the assets folder and overwrite with the updated asset with the same name.
Rezip the folder and you're done.
My book More Than Pretty is focused on document design, integrating information, instructional, and graphic design. Topics focus on the visual and structural design of short and long form documents. I think you will find it relevant and useful.
ADDIE is just one process within Instructional Design that provides a framework for creating courses. It was introduced in 1975, so yes, the framework definitely isn't specific to online courses.
I'm similarly just scratching the surface of ID as a non-ID professional who has suddenly been asked to create some training courses at my company. I'm finding this book useful (no idea if ID pros think it's any good):
Rapid Instructional Design by George Piskurich.
Coursera also seems to have some decent looking courses that I haven't looked at in depth yet.
Kudos! If this is something you'd like to explore more in your career, there's always Cammy Bean's "Accidental Instructional Designer" that seems to apply to your experiences and focuses on making your work more effective.
https://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Instructional-Designer-Learning-Digital/dp/1562869140
Canva.com has a lot of free assets and there is no trial only if you pay for the pro version which is like $120 a year for 5 licenses.
Look at this book https://www.amazon.com/Multimedia-Learning-Richard-Mayer/dp/0521735351?ref_=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=06d3d3da-64b9-4580-9fad-8d1b153329da#
Hello! I often find myself in an environment where I need to connect to different devices, such as a MacBook and a windows desktop. Instead of having different keyboards and mice for each, I found this set that can connect to a USB as 2 Bluetooth devices at the same time and cycle between them. Check it out Logitech MK850 Performance... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NAVO5PF?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
I give this book to all new IDs I've mentored. It will help you with number 1.
It's a great place to start
The first link found when Googling "Clark Quinn": About Quinnovation. Its a silly name, but gives an overview of the person OP is talking about.
My suggestion is Learning Science for Instructional Designers. It's one of the most accessible and digestible books for new IDs.
I recommend huion sketch for general animation, but there aren't much tutorials on it. It's in android. Here is the link since it's hard to find: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.huion.inkpaint
You can make gifts too
I'm a big fan of the Cognitive Apprenticeship Model and Legitimate Peripheral Participation. They position learning as a more situated and social process.
Second this. I convinced my team to get away from stock photos and old ass clipart and go with vector images. flaticon has been an absolute gamechanger and, believe it or not, we are yet to run into a scenario where we weren't able to find graphics relevant to our projects.
I am part of running https://www.eduflow.com/academy/instructional-design-principles-for-course-creation. We have a cohort starting on the 17th of January. Send me a private message if you want a seat - then I will include you.
you can use something like archbee.io since you can host the content on a domain and add a password to protect the content.
The app works similar to Confluence, except you can send the link and password for them to access the content.
Unfortunately I don't the answer to your question. But have you tried posting in the Adobe Captivate Enthusiasts group on LinkedIn?
https://www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=2009048
Hopefully you'll get the answer to your issue.
I also suggest IDOL is you want to chat and ask questions you can. Here is my calendar link if you would like.
I would recommend reading the book "What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming an Instructional Designer" by Luke Hobson. It is mostly focused on higher education, but gives a good tour through the day-to-day and discusses whether or not to go into ID.
I definitely recommend a self-hosted Wordpress site (not the one that you could build in Wordpress.com). You can start with a theme (there are free and paid templates) and then customise it as much as you want. I use banahosting + google domains + premium themes from Themeforest and it has worked well so far.
I know that RenPy games have to be downloaded, but at least if you were to upload it to a platform like itch.io, it might be a bit better.
Great to see folks using free and open source tools!
Pexels is one of my favorite stock image libraries.
The advice I've gotten from my org's diversity, equity and inclusion experts, and from related conference sessions, is:
Don't seek to exhibit the full range of your organization's and/or your audience's diversity in a single image. That will come off as tokenism, on top of being difficult from a production/acquisition standpoint, since it's rare that you find single images exhibiting that much diversity -- and when you do, they tend to be artificial and especially "stock-y" -- or you end up having to always use/show collages.
Instead, seek to exhibit the full range of diversity through a suite of products or a suite of images. For example, if you're designing a Storyline course, you don't need each image within that course exhibiting the full range of diversity. Instead, you want it so that, if you compile all of the images used in the course, you'll see that full range of diversity and hopefully representation that is proportional to your org/audience (i.e., if your audience is 30% white and 70% non-white, the image subjects should be closer to 30% white/70% non-white than to 70% white/30% non-white). And if you're designing a series of pamphlets and each pamphlet has 1-2 images in it, you don't need each pamphlet exhibiting the full range of diversity; you just need that full suite of pamphlets exhibiting it.
And within that general rule, it is still good to have individual images showing heterogeneity; you just don't need/want to go artificially overboard with it.
Camtasia is a low cost video editor but its still decently pricey for just doing motion paths. It's a good option if you need an easy to use video editor in the future
For free theres https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/ It's more complex because its a full video editor but you can look up a youtube guide and follow along.
I am actually trying to get away from using 100% video content in our courses because of the size and latency issues. However, when I do have a video (usually a screencast), I use the open source Handbrake for compression. It makes compression easy with reasonable default settings.
upvoted for indeed.com. also - and i don't know if you have a similar situation - my masters degree alma mater has a mailing list to alert graduates of contract and permanent opportunities in our field.
that, and people just ask. it's good to cultivate a PLN, and this is one of the fringe benefits.
I can't speak to conventions as I've never been able to attend a single one.
Do you mean the noun's project lingo? If so, that's the noun project's asset management system to help make it easier to gather, search for, and reuse images, SVGs, etc. I have it downloaded but have yet to use it properly.
Superstar IDs.... I keep up with this community and if you look at the sticky post on the home page of the subreddit you'll see several twitter chats you can keep up with. For myself, I've really found that I'm quite bad at social and keeping up with Twitter is too much. There are several gurus in the industry but not many of them have portfolios. Again, many, many folks use the Articulate challenges as a way to show their work. I'm sure most folks on here have portfolios but I don't know who's are "the best." I list several examples (forgive the self promotion) in a book I created on building portfolio projects. You can find it here: https://gumroad.com/l/eOwj
Have you looked at upwork.com? There are instructional design jobs out there that you would likely be very qualified for. The platform charges a fee for clients and freelancers to connect with one another but it's much easier than seeking these jobs on your own.
Hello,I made some tests. I am not sure if this will help you, but better try something than do nothing.
I haven't done step 4 because I don't have any PDF file with embedded flash. However, I tested it by opening a flash game in Y8.com and it works. I also open a PDF document using the portable browser and I was able to view it.
Resume templates - I read a lot of pro and con about the use of resume templates, especially the graphical kind (icons, profile pics, banners) found on Creative Market, Envato, etc... I was curious since graphics and design are a proponent of instructional design if any members are using such template styles.
https://creativemarket.com/templates/resumes
I imagine templates that use too many non text elements would cause issues with applicant tracking systems.
Any thoughts of the pro vs. con?
I normally use Apple keynote because I’m most comfortable with it, but I’ve also been flirting with this great tool that deserves more recognition in the ID community, Storyboarder.
https://wonderunit.com/storyboarder/
I like the feature where you can print out pages, draw your storyboards, take a photo with QR code and it imports and sequences your cells! So clever.
To preface this, I want to say that 97% of my experience is in Captivate and the other 3% is my dabbling in Rise. That being said, I totally hear you that Rise courses are quick hits that look professional, but over time they can all start to look the same. Here are a few tricks I came up with that helped me develop a really sharp-looking Rise course recently:
Flip Cards: I both love and hate the flip-card feature in Rise. I love the interaction itself, but the fact you can't really crop the images can make them look awkward. What I've started doing is sourcing flat icons from www.flaticon.com and using them for the front of the flip cards. This allows them to have a clean/consistent look that actually looks professional (instead of trying to crop images to fit the square). You can also edit the colors of the icons to fit your/your client's brand guidelines.
Title Images: I like using the "text on images" for section breaks. One problem, however, is that you can't really change the position of the text on the screen. To solve for this, I crop my images ahead of time so that there's a bit of a blur/negative space where I want the text of the image to sit, meaning that the characters/sharper part of the image is always on the right.
Continue Buttons: Going with my advice from above regarding the title images, one thing I really like to do is put a continue button before every title image. The reason I do this is because Rise will "pull" the screen down so that the exact top of the title image is at the very top of your browser window. This will help the learner experience feel more "fluid".
Hope these tips help!
I have, but it's difficult to find illustrations that show a child avatar expressing different facial expressions, gestures, etc. I'll keep looking!
I've looked at Flat Icons and that often has avatars, but only in a single facial expression. It might be enough though and I could manipulate it in PS.
What format are you expected to deliver in?
Given the timeframe and size of project, I would have said Rise too. Try contacting them to extend the trial? Or pay for a month?
If it really has to be free, Moodle is a good free LMS. And you can create content in it - sequences of text/graphics/video/audio etc, and quizzes.
Adapt is a good free e-learning authoring environment. Creates a scroll page of various block-types, like Rise. More modern than slide decks with next buttons.
Both Moodle and Adapt require command-line tech savvy to setup, as they are server-based. (remote or local.) You could build huge varied courses with those two - after significant upfront effort and learning curve,
What's your definition of e-learning? A series of tutorial videos, inside HTML pages can be a good solution. Try Explain Everything ... https://explaineverything.com/.
Powerpoint is also good for making graphic annimations with voiceover, then exporting to video
Good luck!
We decided to launch early while we are still getting the final details in place. To get an idea about which type of people we normally collaborate with you can check out the authors of other courses on https://www.eduflow.com/academy.
I've seen several articles about this. I've added the links below. Remember to focus on what they want, how you can help them, not that you are looking for experience. Good luck! I have a feeling you're going to do well.
You can check out this article that we wrote about ID portfolios, it has examples in the text itself and links to a portfolio gallery with portfolios of other instructional designers: https://www.eduflow.com/blog/how-to-create-an-instructional-design-portfolio
We listed 45 different online ID courses here https://www.eduflow.com/blog/the-ultimate-list-of-41-instructional-design-courses
Here is a list of online ID courses that we made https://www.eduflow.com/blog/the-ultimate-list-of-41-instructional-design-courses
We built a lightweight simple LMS called Eduflow (www.eduflow.com). It might not be a perfect fit for you, but I wanted to share it if anyone was interested in checking it out :).
You have the option to export a Rise 360 course in several formats, including a web-only option (no learner progress tracking), so the client could post the course on their own web server.
Here's info about the export options: https://articulate.com/support/article/How-to-Share-Articulate-Rise-Courses-with-Learners
Hello. I just wanted to ask you about something in your post. You say that Storyline doesn't work on a Mac. Where did you get that from?
I was looking at the tech specs from Articulate and it's supposed to work on a Mac. This isn't meant to be a "gotcha" or anything. I'm looking to get a new computer after I finish my masters degree and I would like to be able to use both authoring tools depending on job requirements. I just got my first iPhone so I was playing with the idea of getting an iMac.
Then, you can mock up a couple of slides and interactivities and publish a couple of ways.
Let me know if you want input on the stuff you're doing. I love storyline and miss using it.
The big difference between the two is the scale of work you're likely be asked to do. In corporate, you'll be building training modules with a lot more multimedia involvement. Animations, buttons, scoreboards, whatever. If you have any video editing software you're used to, it would be a good skill to list. If you don't, Techsmith offers a free 30 day trial for Camtasia. Make a couple of narrated videos to practice. Pick a small task you can demonstrate in 3-5 minutes and create a tutorial video for it.
In higher ed, you're more likely to start out as a course builder, where faculty will hand you content and you'll be responsible for putting it in the LMS and making sure that everything is there and in the right place. Ensuring content is accessible will be a big thing, so you'll be making sure images have alt text, videos have captions, and so on. Not that you won't do such things in corporate, but it tends to be more proactive in higher ed. Here is where you would definitely want to mention which LMSs you've worked with, and where you really want to be competent with Canvas. If you want some variety to compare and contrast, try playing with Moodle as well.
Hey everyone, great conversation on this thread! I'm so interested in this topic, and super excited to be interviewing the founder of a cool, up and coming VR training company here in NYC - Cortney Harding.
It's on September 12 at 12pm ET
In it, we’ll be discussing:
1) Which topics work well in VR and which don’t?
2) How to get started to see what VR is all about.
3) How to define the problem you’re trying to solve to ensure a successful VR project.
4) What do you need to prepare a rock-solid brief for creating a VR simulation?
You can register here if this sounds interesting to you!
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/2615671771022/WN\_zYU2srsiSPuTTj8fh7TAHw
For collecting and structuring SME input on new or changing projects, processes, or equipment our workflow normally uses process mapping to identify the new tasks and required skills or knowledge, and then uses Cathy Moore's action mapping. While these are often done initially 'low tech' via whiteboard and/or post-it notes, we normally use Visio to capture/save the output of both exercises once they are completed, and edit them as we move through the project.
For collaboration on assets and documents while designing/developing, like other responses we previously used SharePoint, but have moved to Box in the last few years.
It is ambitious, but with a bit of juggling of curriculums and electives (or whatever chosen LMS will call them) it could work.
I wouldn't limit your search stictly to LMSs though. It may seem like semantics, but an LCMS or even an ecommerce focused CMS might work better. A site like https://teamtreehouse.com/ comes to mind as an example.
Wordpress.com has the advantage of dealing with most of the security you would have to deal with on your own.
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I self host and it's not hard, but just an extra layer of geekery that may not be worth it for some.
I have only ever user PowerPoint and Storyline. My co-workers in India swear by the iSpring plugin for PowerPoint which seems to add much of the Storyline functionality.
Lancestorm's suggestion is probably the best route to go to navigate the competing interests. It's easier push back here, because the design concept is so simple, any stakeholder can understand it.
If you have the time, you can write a script by taking the SME recording and transcribing it with Otter.ai. Polish and edit the script, then give it to a voice talent. Then sync up the video and audio in Camtasia.
I use Quire for both work and personal tasks.
It's a free task management software with agile features such as kanban board, offline syncing, easy collaboration, reminders, priorities...etc
I've just started reading this book, which does a great job weaving product design / UX principles in with those of Instructional Design: Design Thinking for Training and Development.
It's, in essence, a blueprint for designing effective learning journeys through that lens, with a lot of the focus being work done in a corporate context. It's a great read, rich with examples, and you'll likely find some of the processes familiar from your UX boot camp experience.
Get a LinkedIn and join the group Teaching: A Path to L&D and visit teachlearndev.org
AND buy Dr. Luke Hobson's book What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming an Instructional Designer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GPHNJDH/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_7S66FYNGT1M7QNRN8PAY
I bought this wine tumbler / insulated cup for an ID on my team in celebration of completing our first module together. The description seems to insinuate it's only for women, but I am sure all genders can appreciate the sentiment of the words "You're Awesome Keep That Shit Up"
This book gave me a great foundation in graphic design principles and gave me the language i needed to guide my learning? Design Basics Index: A Graphic Designer's Guide to Designing Effective Compositions, Selecting Dynamic Components & Developing Creative Concepts
I bought a 17.3 inch one from Amazon. Very happy with it. Quite heavy though. Not something you’d want to take to a library or a cafe: https://www.amazon.com/GeForce-i7-10750H-Windows-Keyboard-17-cb1080nr/dp/B087Z21FXV/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=omen+17&qid=1629252694&sr=8-3
Peter Shea, of the Instructional Designers in Education FB group, co-authored a book: Transforming Digital Learning and Assessment. He's very experienced doing ID in higher education.
https://www.amazon.com/Transforming-Digital-Learning-Assessment-Institutional/dp/1620369877/
Short answer: yes, start with the basics and you should be good.
I'd start with overall graphic design principles (see "The NonDesigners Design Book" by Robin Williams). That way, it doesn't matter what software program (PowerPoint, Storyline, Word, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc....) you use.
As far as Illustrator and Photoshop, if you learn them and get good with them, it is a great skill. I will tell you that for me, personally, I have never gone beyond the basics and I'm doing just fine. It all depends on what you want to do, where you work, what you want to focus on, etc... There are people on my team who could teach a class in Illustrator but most of us just use it occasionally to make very simple graphic edits. Same with Photoshop. I'm usually able to find what I need using various photo stock or graphic sites.
Having said that, I AM looking to get better at both of those programs but not being an "expert" in them has not slowed me down a bit! :-)
Get a cheap USB cardioid mic. Cardioid mics are specifically made for vocals and voice in general. I've used this one extensively for various projects (only $40, and it sounds fantastic): https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Snowball-Condenser-Microphone-Cardioid/dp/B014PYGTUQ/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=snowball+blue&qid=1576266036&sr=8-2
For a camera, I would get a cheap(er) camera popular with vloggers. I would go with the Sony FDR-X3000. It has great picture quality, built-in stabilization and mic inputs (should even work with the Blue Snowball mic): https://www.amazon.com/Sony-FDRX3000-Underwater-Camcorder-White/dp/B01LYSJB8A/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=sony+x3000&qid=1576266363&sr=8-3
For under $500 you can have a decent setup to do pretty much everything you need to do. Back in the day this kind of quality would cost you thousands and thousands... Of course, you can spend wayyy more, but unless you run a production company and you do tons of video/audio content, there is no need.
Hi. I'm an Ontario teacher just finishing up a cert from Seneca College/Ontario Learn. I can answer any questions you have about that (if you have any lol).
One book I recommend is ISD from the ground up by Chuck Howell https://www.amazon.ca/ISD-Ground-Up-No-Nonsense-Instructional/dp/1562867431 (you can probably find it cheaper than this). It goes over the basics of a lot of ID and is a good resource.
I purchased this https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Gaming-i5-7300HQ-GeForce-AN515-51-55WL/dp/B074Q54GSR from Costco ($650) during black friday a few years ago for my freelance work. I like the 15 in screen and the specs are good enough to handle the type of work I do (only minor video editing). The major downside is the harddrive, its a 256gb SSD. It's quick enough but gets filled up quickly, especially if I install a game or two for the road.
I purchased this laptop from Costco two Black Fridays ago for $650. It's been a great machine, the 15-inch screen is nice and it can handle the work I'm doing (no video editing). Consider how much you will be moving around, maybe you want something smaller to fit in your bag easily, or how often you will be hooking up to a single or multi-monitor setup (what type of ports it has). Let me know if you have any further questions about buying or building PCs!
Hi!
Here is my feedback on the student success course:
I do really like that it's short and to the point without excessive information, and it definitely seems to be an effective method. So very practical, straightforward, and relevant. Very good!
If you're interested, you may be interested in the book "The Non-Designer's Design Book" that helps with things like how to center/where to position/etc. If your primary focus is on the instructional design aspect, it's not a big deal - things are pretty clear with what I need to do.
Seductive Interaction Design does a wonderful job of explaining why particular interactions work, and how.
For me, I've always found Barbara Kruger to be an incredible visual artist with a really commanding grasp on how to use text and imagery in a compelling way, which is pretty critical in ID.