First Time Visitor’s Guide
What This Blog is About
In one phrase: Building Engaging Learning Experiences through Instructional Design and E-Learning
I’m an instructional designer developing online learning, so that’s primarily what I write about.
- Instructional Design: This is what I do all day, and I’m always trying to learn how to do it better.
- Corporate E-Learning: Even though I’m in education, I know I can learn a lot from corporate e-learning. Besides, I’m employed by a for-profit company.
- Higher Ed: Much of my career has been in the for-profit higher education world.
- K-12 Education: My career started teaching K-12 education, and I spent several years developing graduate courses for K-12 teachers.
- Lifelong Learning: It didn’t start out to be a goal for my blog, but I’ve discovered that these tools help my own lifelong learning. I write about my discoveries: what works, what doesn’t, what I’m thinking.
- Technology: I write about technology, especially as it overlaps with any of the above areas.
- Bookmarks: The Weekly Bookmarks Posts are resources I find interesting or useful. You can view and search the complete list of bookmarks on Diigo or del.icio.us.
On my Post Series and Recurring Themes page, I’ve collected some popular topics. This includes my liveblogged posts from the TCC 2008 conference and my series on instructional design careers. The top posts in the sidebar to the right are another great place to start reading.
If you want to learn more about me, check out my bio.
Talk to Me
One of the great things about blogging is how many wonderful people I have “met” and learned from through online connections. I don’t want this to be one-way communication; I love the conversations. Please comment on any post if you would like to add to the conversation, disagree with what I wrote, or just ask a question. I read every comment, honest! In fact, you can start right now by commenting below this post.
Comment Policy
Fortunately, I have very few problems with comments here. I do delete spam comments and reserve the right to delete sales pitches. I don’t like hard sells, so please don’t use my blog for that. Vendors and businesses are welcome to comment if they contribute to the conversation.
You are welcome to respectfully disagree with anything I say; I won’t delete or edit your comments. Some of the best discussions I’ve had here have resulted from differing opinions and perspectives. I don’t have all the answers.
I do sometimes edit comments to fix broken links. Any other edits to comments will be clearly noted as my changes. (For example, I removed someone’s email address and phone number from a comment because he requested it; he didn’t realize it would be publicly visible.)
How To Comment
If you’re the first one to comment on a post, you’ll see “Leave a Comment” at the bottom of a post. If the conversation has already started, you’ll see how many comments there are. Click either “Leave a Comment” or “[#] Comments” to open the comment form. If you are on the page for a specific post, rather than the main page for my blog, you’ll already see the “Leave a Comment” form.
Enter your name, email address, and URL in the spaces provided. URL is optional, but if you have a blog, I’d love to have the address so I can learn more about you. That will be publicly visible. Your email address will be hidden to everyone but me. I promise not to share that email address with anyone. I may use it to let you know I’ve replied to your comment though.
If you’re new to commenting, why don’t you try it out at the bottom of this page and get some practice?
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Welcome to my blog! If this is your first time here, check out the 
Hello! I came across your blog and am sooo glad I did! I am a grad student in Instructional Technology and will graduate in June ’09. I went straight into the degree after finishing my bachelors in General Studies with a concentration in Liberal Arts/Humanities (mostly visual art courses), and simply chose this degree because I felt ill equipped for the job force and thought a masters would be helpful. So, now here I am about to graduate and I am very confused as to what I am actually qualified for. The classes I’ve taken have all been like what seems to be very common sense stuff with a little technology and software thrown in there. I have little experience with actually creating instruction other than powerpoint!! I’ve already started looking up positions online, but all of the job descriptions and requirements seem way out of reach. Do you have any advice or any idea where I should go from here? Is it possible that I am just not aware of what I have gained since I haven’t been put into a “real life” situation? Also, do companies typically train people coming into a position? Thanks so much for your help!
-Summer
Hi Summer,
Last October there were several discussions about how to get some more practical experience with relevant tools as a new graduate.
First eLearning
Starting Authoring Tool
Help, I have an Instructional Design Master’s Degree and I Can’t Create E-Learning
If you don’t have a portfolio yet, start creating one now. In this economy, a portfolio is a way to demonstrate what you can do when you don’t have any experience. I’m not going to pretend that this is a great time to be starting out in any field, but you can at least give yourself a head start by creating a portfolio. If none of your courses have given you the opportunity to create realistic projects, you might try to find a nonprofit group where you could volunteer to develop some training. Volunteer work would give you something more to put on your resume too.
You might also want to check out the Ask Liz Ryan online community. This is a general networking work/life group that is a good place to get advice. It’s not specific to any field, but you can ask questions about basically any part of the general hiring and job search process and get answers from managers, recruiters, and HR folks.
Hi Christy I would love to link my blog to your blog and learn more about e-learning. My company, which I am still trying to grow, offers non-credit courses online. Thanks for putting together such an informative blog!
Barbara
Hi Barbara,
I remember you from our conversation a year ago. I have to say, I don’t see that your website has improved in the last year, at least as far as making it clear that you accept and offer self-paced courses rather than only instructor-led. You seem very focused on the instructor side of things.
I’m afraid I don’t do link exchanges, but I’m glad you’re enjoying my blog.
Christy,
I am a registered nurse. I recently changed directions in my career from a critical care nurse to that of a school nurse. When my children were still in school, I frequently disagreed with the way different subjects were taught. There were no variables which seemed to account for the different learning styles and processes of different students. Everyone was taught the same thing; in the same way; in the same time frame. The faster students were bored while waiting for the slower students to catch up and valuable learning time was wasted. I kept thinking there must be a better way to teach that would allow each student to learn in his own way and at his own pace.
Working for the school system has rekindled my interest in the learning process and the need to reform the way our children are taught. I recently enrolled at Walden University in their online Instructional Design and Technology graduate program. I know it sounds like a stretch from nursing to ID since I have no background, but I have the determination and motivation to enhance and redesign the conventional classroom.
Reading your series on becoming an ID helped reinforce my decision. I love to work on the computer and learn new technology to create new things. I think the continual learning involved with this field will help to keep my mind active well into my retirement years. I hope to use what I learn, plus the knowledge I have acquired over the past 30 years, to design online health-related courses for K-12. Maybe I will inspire another who is thinking about a career change. What do you think my chances for success are? Can an old dog learn new tricks?
If you are motivated, which it sounds like you are, then I see no reason you can’t be successful with your career change. I’ve actually seen a number of job listings from employers looking for instructional designers with health care experience. It’s a combination of experience that is really in demand.
Hi,
Can you tell me of any good accredited schools with a certificate in Instructional Design? I live in the Pacific NW. I already have an MS in Educational Media. I am interested in ID, Trianing. I also want to learn about gaming. I am interested in how people learn and how I can design training. When looking at schools for training in this field, what should I ask them. What kind of software is the most popular (industry standard) so I not wasting my time with a certificate program that is not focusing on the the new trends.
thanks
jackie
Tony Karrer just posted on eLearning Certifications; check out the options there. I’m not sure that you need a certificate when you already have a related masters degree though.
If you do decide that you want a certificate, look for one that will give you practical experience and let you create a portfolio. Check out the discussion of certificates versus masters degrees for ideas on what to look for in a program. I’m not sure what programs actually include game design, so definitely ask schools about that if that’s where you want to focus. The University of Manitoba has a program in Emerging Technologies for Learning might be a good fit though.
Captivate and Articulate are both popular right now. If you can learn Flash, that gives you many more options, especially if you are interested in game design.
Hi Christy,
I love your blog! It’s very informative. I am a new student in the Master’s level instructional design and technology program Walden University. It’s all relatively new to me, but I welcome the challenges. I am learning so much and with helpful resources, such as your blog, I know I won’t fail. Keep up the good work!
Hi Christy,
Your site is awesome. My problem is the opposite of what I have read. I received the Masters in Training and Development along with graduate certificates in Instructional Design, Curriculum Development, Elearning and Online Teaching. Unfortunately, I am not working in the field. I search out sites like yours to stay “involved”. I had not been actively searching for positions because of a project I recently completed for my church’s new school of ministry – 5 Programs and 32 courses. Great experience but no pay. I need help getting into the field.
Just because the work you did for your church was volunteer work doesn’t mean you can’t list it on your resume as a position, especially since it sounds like it’s directly related. Who cares that you didn’t get a paycheck? If you can show employers that your church curriculum development taught you skills that apply to what they need, it doesn’t matter that you weren’t an employee.
That said, if you don’t have some secular content in your portfolio, you may want to create some. It’s probably better to have some more generic content to present to a potential employer.
[...] eLearning coach; “What does an instructional designer do?” by Chris Tucker on her site Experiencing E-Learning; and “Getting Started with Instructional Design” on the Learn and Lead [...]
Hello,
I am a former private school teacher interested in finding an on-line instructional design program that would be applicable in a k-12 new york state setting or corporate environment.
Would you please direct me to any programs you may be aware of.
Thank You.
Instructional Design for Beginners
Hi Christy,
My name is Tracy Gaunt and currently, I am enrolled in the MS Instructional Design and Technology graduate program with Walden University. Reading through your comment section on your ‘Visitor site’ it appears you have had a few past learners from Walden. One of our assignments was to establish our own blog, along with researching blogs within the design world, and hopefully learn from their experiences. I was attracted to your site as it is user friendly and has helped initiate me into the world of instructional design. Like yourself, I will be designing primarily online programs and hope to utilize you as a resource throughout my graduate studies.
Your weekly bookmarks are great additions to the site and will be useful when looking for resources that I can link into. For example, I honestly did not know what moodle was, until I read through your bookmarks.
Your links to Diigo and Cat’s Pyjamas have intrigued me enough that it seems like I am wired to my laptop.
Innovative technology is moving at such a fast pace, that I worry I might fall off the tracks. I am curious how much time commitment is involved in maintaining your blog as it seems there are never enough hours in a day?
Are there particular areas within the internet world that you search when looking for ideas for your weekly bookmark, or do you research everywhere? I have been focusing on technology and education but wonder if there are filters that can help me sort thru all of it.
I look forward to your thoughts and reflection from when you first began designing.
References
Cat’s Pyjamas( 2007). Retrieved from: http://www.cats-pyjamas.net/2010/05/moodle-tool-guide-for-teachers/ November 14, 2010
Diigo Inc. (2010). About Diigo. Retrieved from: http://www.diigo.com/ November 14, 2010
Moodle(2010). In Wikipedia online. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle November 14, 2010
Hi Tracy,
Right now, I’m spending very little time on my blog, as you can probably tell by the lack of regular posts. I’m probably spending 2-3 hours a week answering comments and emails right now, but no actual time writing (like I should be). The automatic bookmark posts make it easier for me to keep some fresh content on my blog without really adding any extra time to my workday. Those bookmarks tend to be topics I’m researching either for classes I’m developing or for my own personal interest, so you’ll see streaks of particular topics. For example, in October 2009 I had a cluster of bookmarks on writing online and how Web 2.0 tools can help teach writing; that was research for a blog post.
Don’t worry about trying to do everything at once. You started a blog; that’s a great first step. A social bookmarking tool like Diigo is great because it helps organize everything else you’re learning about. Once you get in the habit of bookmarking and making comments, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without that tool. An RSS reader is the other tool I rely on to keep up with everything in the world, although if you’re a Twitter fan that’s a good alternative. One big shift for me when I started this was realizing that it’s impossible to keep up with everything. You can’t do it, so don’t beat yourself up–just start doing something. It does get easier with time.
When I do my research, I’m a heavy Google user. I tend to use 5 or 6 words in search phrases to get more precise results. I use Google Scholar and ERIC when I want more academic results. I sometimes search Diigo or delicious to see what other people have bookmarked, which can be a good filter. I watch my RSS feeds for interesting links and bookmark them as I come up. Much of my current bookmarking is just little bits here and there. It doesn’t take much time to add a few sentences as a description for a link while you’re already looking at it.
Good luck with your masters program and with your new career as an ID!
Christy
Hi Christy,
I just wanted to thank you for creating this site! I am currently an elementary school teacher, but am not sure I wish to do that anymore. I love educating children and developing units in fun and innovate ways, especially with the use of technology. I was looking for another career that I could use my qualifications for, but would also keep me connected with education. I came across your site and it has given me a new direction to go in, so thank you very much! I read that you also changed from being a teacher to ID, if there is any further advice you could give me for this transition, it would be appreciated.
Again, thank you very much!
regards,
Clare
Hi Clare,
If you haven’t yet, check out my Instructional Design Careers page. That includes links to all my posts on transitioning to this career.
Christy
Hello Christy,
I’ve started my career as an IT developer (E-learning) in a financial services company 5 months back. I’m a person from a computer science background and have keen interest in instructional design. I am now involved in creating new courses in our organisation (right from the course design till evaluation). I feel a bit challenged on where to start – understanding the ISD framework? Mastering an Authoring tool? I understand that there is no shortcut to success, but would like to know if there is a fast-track to understand ISD holistically.
Check out the first two links in my Instructional Design Skills post for a place to start.
Tom Kuhlmann’s 5 Simple Ways to Get Started with E-Learning Development and Connie Malamed’s Joining the eLearning Tribe are also good posts.
I would also recommend Kineo’s 60 Minute Masters as a quick way to ramp up.
Good luck!
Thanks a lot for this lead.
Hey Christy! I like the new headshot.
So, I continue to think about many of the points you made during our conversation a couple of weeks ago. So much food for thought!
I do have one follow-up question I am hoping you might be able to answer…you told me that:
“It’s easy to get caught up in theories without really looking at whether the research support is there. Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction might be helpful as a designer, but they aren’t really supported; you can skip everything but practice with feedback without much change in results. Learning styles (like visual, auditory, kinesthetic) have much less effect on learning results than other factors, but we often focus on them heavily. Bloom didn’t have any research for his taxonomy, but I still find it useful for my own planning; I just don’t pretend there’s a research-based argument for classifying a verb as application instead of analysis.”
While I had known this about the learning styles (I recall reading that Jonassen and Grabowski (1993) determined that learning styles actually have very limited applications for ID practitioners), I had never heard this about Gagne and Bloom before!
It threw me for a whirl, and I would be really interested to learn more about the lack of research being these models. Would you happen to know where you read or learned that?
Thank you for being such a fantastic resource for so many of us!!!
Gratefully,
Lauren
My 1000+ word answer has been posted. This was a little long for a comment.
http://christytucker.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/questioning-gagne-and-blooms-relevance/
Fabulous! Thank you!!
[...] a follow-up question, she asked where I learned the above about Gagné and [...]
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I am considering trying to start a career as an Instructional Designer. I have a BA and worked in tv production for a number of years before starting my family. Now I am working as a Secretary for a university. Tuition benefits will help with classes but it will still be expensive.
I would like to know your thoughts on the viability of a mid-life career change to instructional design by a person who lives in a rural Michigan area.
Plenty of instructional designers switched to this after a previous career (including me), so that’s certainly possible. Your location is a bigger potential problem. Assuming relocation isn’t an option, you’ll need to find a virtual position. This is a good field for that, but it can be hard to get started. Make sure your instructional design program will help you create a portfolio, preferably an online portfolio. A good university program should also have a career center to help you find a job, and they should tell you what their job placement rate is. If their job placement rate is low and they don’t require a portfolio, the program is probably a waste of money, frankly.