After exploring about 20 different Instructional Design and ELearning blogs (I plan to be an elearning developer), I selected the following three to critique and reflect upon.
The Big Dog Little Dog website is the “pet” project of consultant Donald Clark. Clark has been running the site since 1995 and it is chock full of information on every aspect of learning and instructional design. In the BDLD blog, Clark covers the latest thinking in instructional design topics. For example, in the most recent post he covers ADDIE 3.0, the newest iteration of this famous model. He explains how ADDIE has evolved over the years and shows how it has become a much more flexible and iterative process that includes the use of other models, such as Action Mapping, Prototyping and 4C/ID (all of which are new to me and the mention of which spurred further investigation). In an earlier post he introduces a table of design models (Instructional System Design, Design Thinking, Agile Design, System Thinking, or XProblem), which explains their definitions, goals, main steps and links to further reading. Again, these terms were all new to me and offered a lot of new information to discover.
I find the blog and the website hugely helpful as I embark on this new field. Clark’s explanations and visuals are clear and compelling. He conveys an expertise that engenders trust and an eagerness to share knowledge that is downright heartwarming.
I see this blog as an absolute go-to place to learn and stay abreast of this dynamically changing field.
This blog is published by CommLab India, an elearning consultancy out of India. There is a significant blog posting every single working day, which equates to an enormous amount of content. But is it useful? Yes, very useful. The information is practical and addresses a wide variety of elearning topics. The writing is somewhat dry and formal, but not difficult to read. In the past 5 days, they’ve covered content types, factoring in the learner’s prior experience, presenting to GenXers, engaging learners, and the value of customer training.
Each post is brief, but includes substantive information that can be applied readily. For example, the post on content types explains how the type must be considered in designing elearning. It describes the five types: Facts, Concepts, Principals, Process, and Procedure with a short, clear paragraph on each.
This blog archive is a searchable encyclopedia of information that I expect will be a highly valuable resource as I am learning this field. I suspect that once I pass the beginner stage the blog will become less valuable, although its treatment of new developments (such as MLearning) will always be interesting.
This blog is written by Clive Shepherd, a consultant specializing in workplace learning and communication. I love this blog! Shepherd addresses current, real world issues in instructional design and learning and he does it in a clear, coherent, highly-readable style. A recent post on how “video trumps elearning” was referenced on an elearning LinkedIn group and stirred up quite a controversy, as practitioners debated the virtues of each learning solution for different applications. A post I found personally fascinating was on the use of learning resources vs. full blown learning content. With my background in marketing and sales support, I experienced a disconnect between formal learning and the kind of performance support tools that we built out of marketing. Both functions supported the same goal, yet we worked in silos. In this post, Shepherd explains how he is being asked more and more to develop these kinds of support resources rather than full elearning.
This blog will certainly be part of my ongoing education in instructional design and elearning. I believe I will gain most value from it after I am a bit more seasoned as he challenges the status quo. I need to get a little more of that status quo under my belt before I can fully appreciate the value of this work.
