Instructional Design

In this section, I give tips and tricks about becoming an instructional designer. I show you the courses you can take to get certified. I give my reviews of the best software to use. I also give you guidance about what e-Learning management systems are the most effective.

I divided this category into 4 themes:

Becoming an Instructional Designer →
Best Software for ID →
e-Learning & ID →
SCORM →

Learn something new in your area of ​​interest!

Becoming an Instructional Designer

The experiences from the onset of the global pandemic showed everyone how important instructional design is in the educational systems. Before the pandemic, there was a strong demand for instructional designers. After the pandemic hit, the demand increased significantly. Working in this field is very rewarding, and the pay is excellent.
My List of the Best Instructional Design Training Courses →
I reviewed the best instructional design courses offered by Coursera, Udemy, Harvard, LinkedIn, and others. Some of these courses are suitable for beginners. Other courses are useful as part of continuing education for instructional designers to improve their skill set.
Top 29 Online Instructional Design Certificate Programs →
These are the programs you can take to get a certificate or an advanced degree in instructional design. There are more than two dozen exceptional programs to choose from. Each one has a certain focus. I included online certificate courses and reviews of programs by major universities such as the University of Illinois and Harvard.
11 Best Instructional Design Master’s Degree Programs →
If you seek a master’s in instructional design, my reviews of the best program will help you know what questions to ask about the programs. You want to know the strength of the emphasis on theory that is balanced with practical applications. Another key consideration is the financing to help pay for these programs.
How Much Do Instructional Designers Make – Top Salary for Instructional Designer →
The first thing one thinks about when considering a career as an instructional designer is how much money can you make? If you are curious about this, then read my report on the average salaries for instructional designers. I go into the details of where the jobs are that pay the best. If you are willing to relocate, you can find the highest-paid positions.
34 Model Examples of an Instructional Design Portfolio →
Instructional designers who work independently and those seeking a job or career advancement need to create a portfolio of their successful projects to show potential clients and recruiters. I demonstrate some examples of excellent ways to enhance a portfolio to get attention. I show real-world examples of well-designed portfolios that are posted online.
27 Places and 7 Steps to Find Instructional Design Job →
If you are looking for a good job as an instructional designer and places to find projects to work on as a freelancer, this is a terrific resource to check out. This has all the freelance systems and career databases. It includes descriptions of the type of projects you can find to work on in the freelance systems and the job listings.
Top 20 Instructional Design Interview Questions – How to Answer Them →
This is my “cheat sheet” that gives tips on answering questions that may come up in a job interview for a position as an instructional designer. It teaches how to avoid trick questions without seeming to be hiding something or playing games. The questions and answers were compiled from recruiters who routinely try to fill these positions.
5 Things to Know Before Writing an Instructional Designer Cover Letter →
Did you know that a cover letter sent with a resume makes you stand out from the crowd? You may get a better result in landing an interview, depending on what your cover letter says. Learn how to write a cover letter that gets your resume put on the top of the pile for the strongest consideration.
7 Steps for Writing an Instructional Designer Resume →
Do you know what makes a good resume when seeking a job as an instructional designer? This step-by-step guide will show you how to write an impressive resume. It gives guidance about writing a winning resume and linking it to your online portfolio for the greatest impact.
Top 100 e-Learning Books to Make Every Instructional Designer a Better Professional →
This list of the top 100 books every instructional designer and e-Learning professional needs to have in their library for reference. Start your collection of books with my guidance. This is helpful for those who are self-taught too.
3 Best Laptops for Instructional Design – 7 Things to Know When Choosing It →
Every instructional designer needs a laptop that can handle the software tools they want to use. A laptop can also be a nice way to show potentials clients and job interviewers your portfolio if you have the portfolio on your laptop when attending in-person meetings. I reviewed some of the laptops I think work best for instructional designers.
How to Become an Instructional Designer: 13 Experts Give Their 3 Key Tips →
Want to know what the experts in instructional design think? This article covers the questions that I asked the experts. It gives a summary of their sage advice to aspiring instructional designers. It is very interesting to read what they think.
Top 4 Upskilling Resources for Instructional Designers →
There is a need for instructional designers to participate in continuing education to improve skills and increase opportunities for getting better projects and career advancement. Technology is constantly upgrading. Staying up-to-date with the innovations and trends in instructional design is vitally important.

Best Software for ID

This section has my reviews of the best software to use to sync audio and video in your presentations. I also did a comprehensive review of the best animation presentation software. Pretty much every instructional designer needs to use this software.
11 Ways on How to Sync Audio and Video Recorded Separately →
Most of the time, the audio and video for an e-Learning presentation or course are recorded separately. This requires software to help sync the two separate recordings to ensure the audio track has the proper timing to match the video images. I review the best software to do this task along with tips on how to do this well.
Make Videos More Engaging with Animation Presentation Software →
Animation is a great way to make e-Learning experiences more interesting. I reviewed the best animation software that helps educators and trainers make animated presentations. This includes using animated components in PowerPoint, creating whiteboard animations and animation videos.

e-Learning & ID

Explore the topics of e-Learning with practical tips such as how to share PowerPoint presentations online for free. Understand the power of gamification in e-Learning course design. Read about the optimal length for an e-learning course. This section includes a discussion of advantages and disadvantages related to e-Learning and many practical tips on developing engaging e-Learning experiences.
6 Disadvantages of Blended Learning You Have to Cope With →
Blended learning is the combination of e-Learning with traditional classroom experiences. It can be successful; however, there are pitfalls and severe challenges for successfully implementing blended learning programs. This article points out all the disadvantages that must be overcome.
How to Share a PowerPoint Presentation Online: Eight Free Options →
Would you like to know about free options to share your PowerPoint presentations? I discovered eight methods to do this at no cost. Learn about file sharing, slide hosting services, uploading a presentation to YouTube, sharing a presentation through a learning management system, and more.
How to Implement 1:1 Technology using Tablets in the Classroom →
There is a megatrend of one-to-one technology deployment in educational systems. This means each student has his or her own tablet device to use in class and take home. These low-cost devices are being used by the millions now as a primary educational tool. Using devices that are specially designed with content and access controls has many advantages.
What’s the Optimal Length of an e-Learning Course? →
The human attention span drives the design of e-Learning courses offered online to an optimal length for each lesson of between 15 and 30 minutes. However, depending on the course content, it may be better to have a longer lesson of up to one and one-half hours that models what the experience is like in a university, in-person setting. On the other hand, short lessons of five minutes or less can be appropriate for certain subject matter.
Will E-Learning Replace the Traditional School Day? →
There is little chance that e-Learning will completely replace traditional classrooms because human beings are social animals needing to see other people in person. The isolation experienced during the pandemic created many mental health issues for students. There is a place for e-Learning that is appropriate but not a full replacement for all in-person educational experiences.
PowerPoint for e-Learning: 7 Benefits You May Have Never Considered →
The widely-used PowerPoint software has some benefits for use in e-Learning that are simple and at the same time sophisticated. This article explores techniques to turn otherwise boring PowerPoint presentations into exciting presentations with increased user engagement. PowerPoint is easy to learn, use, and share.
10 Best Ways to Share E-Learning Courses →
Here are many ways to share e-Learning courses. They include Tempshare, FTP upload and hosting, cloud services like the S3 cloud-based system from Amazon, Github, Site44.com, and more. Some are free, and others are modestly priced for serving content to multiple users.
10 Great Locations to Dig up e-Learning Templates →
There is no need to create an e-Learning course design completely from scratch when you can use a template instead and then customize the template for specific needs. I give many online services that offer templates for e-Learning courses. Some systems have a few hundred templates that are free or low cost. One system has over a million templates for $499 per year.
E-Learning Implementation Plan: 5 Universal Steps →
Want to learn about an easy-to-implement e-Learning course plan that has five steps? This basic plan is useful for almost any e-Learning course designed to be offered online. It starts with defining the objectives, setting the project scope, choosing the development platform software, checking the course offering’s quality, and marketing the course to potential students.
E-Learning Course Fundamentals: 5 Features You Should Factor in →
Five factors need to be considered regarding features that should be included in an e-Learning course offering. These factors are navigation, use of multimedia, interactivity, tests/assessment, and tracking. All e-Learning courses need to have all these features to be fully functional.
MOOC: Today and Tomorrow [Infographic] →
The massive open online course (MOOC) trend first started as an offline initiative during the 1960s. Nowadays, it is a very viable alternative e-Learning system. There are close to five billion potential global learners who cannot afford to pay tuition yet desire to learn remotely by participating in MOOC offerings.
Engaging Learning 101: How to Make Video Lectures →
Here is a short piece that concentrates on making engaging video lectures. Do not be intimidated by the technology. It is easier to make compelling lectures than you think. A lot relies on your ability to deliver an interesting presentation that simple video recording techniques can capture.
What Are the Essentials of a Modern LMS? →
This article covers the key features of a modern learning management system (LMS). An LMS handles the assignments, quizzes, grading, support, and tracking. An LMS needs to be task-oriented and not tool-oriented. An LMS needs to be personalized for each user and educator/trainer. The best LMS software is open source.
How to Develop an e-Learning Script for Scenario-Based Training Courses →
Scenario-based training courses are in vogue because students are more interested in learning things that have practical applications. This article discusses how to develop an e-Learning script for this type of course. There are just six steps to developing a script to the level of a prototype.
Five Scenarios That Urge Course Authors to Turn to Agile →
Agile project management that was first used for software project development, has made inroads into instructional design. Agile uses an iterative process that first delivers a viable product. Afterward, the product, such as an e-Learning course, continues to be improved with added functionality based on user feedback.
Should Every College Use a Learning Management System? →
Learning management systems (LMS) are increasingly being applied in higher education. For an LMS to be successfully implemented, this requires the establishment of clear objectives. Higher educational systems that need authoring, performance, and attendance tracking benefit from using an LMS.
Bringing Gamification to Your e-Learning Content: Handy Tips →
Gamification is very helpful in making e-Learning experiences more interesting. Studies show that making a game out of learning improves student retention and engagement. Gamification makes learning fun for students. This article discusses how to use gaming rules and rewards to improve e-Learning courses.
Would You Pay for Mentorship to Help with e-Learning Courses? →
This article discusses the hypothetical question about would you pay a mentor to help with e-Learning course design? Some say no. Others say yes they would, depending on the needs and who the mentor is.

SCORM

The shareable content object reference model (SCORM) is a set of standards for e-Learning courses. It provides the communication protocols and the data modeling for e-Learning software. Software developers use the SCORM standards to make their software interoperable with other e-Learning systems. SCORM controls how e-Learning content works with learning management systems.
3 Best Ways to Convert PowerPoint Presentations into SCORM at No Cost →
This article covers some ways to convert PowerPoint to SCORM for free. To make a PowerPoint presentation accessible through a learning management system, it needs to be converted to the SCORM standards. The iSpring tool is the easiest and most convenient converter to use for this purpose.
3 Best Ways to Create a SCORM Content Package →
SCORM determines how online e-Learning courses work and are tracked by learning management systems. If you use the industry-standard software that includes Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, or Trivantis Lectora, it works perfectly with SCORM. When using those software systems, saving a course for management by an LMS is easy to do.
SCORM 1.2 vs 2004: Pros and Cons of e-Learning Old-timers →
SCROM has been the standard for quite some time. It is being challenged by the Tin Can (xApi) and cmi5. Even though SCROM is over a decade old, it is still widely used. This article delves into the specifics of SCROM.
New cmi5 e-Learning Standard: Features and Prospects →
The newest innovation that improves SCROM is cmi5. The cmi5 project merged with Tin Can development through the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (ADL) efforts. The xAPI protocol of cmi5 is an extension of SCROM, not a replacement for it.
SCORM vs Tin Can vs AICC: The LMS Standard Showdown →
This discussion considers the different approaches by using SCORM versus Tin Can versus AICC. There is a comparative chart. It contains a quick overview of AICC HACP, SCORM 1.2 and 2004, and xAPI. There are comparisons of their advantages, disadvantages, and prospects.
Conclusion
From practical tips to an in-depth discussion of software tools, this should give you an idea of the extensive nature of e-Learning courses and learning management systems. Technology innovation continues. However, the fundamentals of e-Learning remain the same. The goal is to produce interactive, engaging experiences that students appreciate.