June 2019

One problem with calling professionals in our field instructional designers is people think we should be experts across the design spectrum (e.g., Graphic Design, UI Design, Visual Design, Web Design, etc.) While most instructional design programs have courses on message design and development (where those other design disciples might come into play), most programs tend […]

Dr. M. David Merrill, professor emeritus at Utah State University, sent out a note on LinkedIn that he recently updated his website. As he notes in his post, his new website contains biographical information about his career and is a repository of some of his most important publications, along with links to some online lectures

I follow THOUSANDS of people in the education sphere on social media and the things that go viral within my echo chamber sometimes crack me up. Cara North made a casual Monday morning observation on LinkedIn asking: You know the best way to start your day on LinkedIn? With messages from new connections who want

I stumbled on a white paper by Barnes and Nobel College titled, “Inspire Evolution: Increasing Faculty Technology Use in Higher Education“. I didn’t know Barnes & Noble College was an entity, but as I found on their website they “serve over 6 million students and faculty members and operate 773 campus stores nationwide” and Barnes

We’re in the midst of preparing manuscripts and presentations for recent projects and Jennifer Englund suggested that we consider using the Open Science Framework (OSF) as an online hub to collaborate and transparently share our efforts. As noted in the FAQ of the website, the OSF is maintained and developed by the Center for Open Science (COS),

I came across the Digital Divide Index (DDI) project on Purdue University’s Center for Regional Development website. Noting in the overview that “the digital divide is the number one threat to community economic development in the 21st century”, the project attempts to define the problem (through the calculation of the DDI) using 5-year American Community

Mixed with the big data and learning analytics drumbeats are warnings about data privacy and security, including this recent post in EdTech: Focus on Higher Education about student data and privacy after graduation. While the post offers macro tech-based solutions, it also highlights the guidance the University of Pittsburgh gives new graduates for securely closing down

Enilda Romero-Hall, my friend from graduate school, recently posted on Facebook that she is now an IBSTPI Scholar with the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction (IBSTPI). In addition to being excited to see Enilda join this organization, I’m reminded that I should have referenced IBSTPI in my recent post about the

I took Sli.do, the audience response tool, for a spin today with less than 30 seconds to get up and running. It looks like a promising option and made Jane Hart’s Top Tools for Learning for the first time in this past year’s survey. Key features include: Questions Polls Brainstorming Idea Q&A Event Analytics Other

A question was posted in the Designers for Learning Facebook group about favorite “free” stock photos. As always, “free” is not always openly licensed, so read the licensing provisions before you use them in your work. Here are many of the responses: search.creativecommons.org Noun Project (icons and photos) Photopin Pixabay Unsplash Pexels Freepik Gratisography New