Experiencing eLearning

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

While most of the the presentations, webinars, and podcast interviews that I do relate to scenario-based learning , I have also spoken with multiple groups about instructional design careers and freelancing. This post is a collection of all of my presentations and podcasts about instructional design careers and freelancing. Note that most of the links below are to my blog posts rather than directly to the presentation or podcast recordings, since that makes it easier for you to find the links an

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Experiencing eLearning

AUGUST 29, 2023

In a previous blog post, I explained how to start writing branching scenarios with AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard. In this post, I’ll continue with that same scenario, focusing on how to draft choices and alternate paths with ChatGPT. Coming up with alternate paths and plausible wrong answers is always one of the most challenging tasks in writing branching scenarios.

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Experiencing eLearning

AUGUST 22, 2023

One of the most common mistakes I see in scenario-based learning is using feedback to tell learners what was right or wrong instead of showing them. Example scenario with “telling” feedback Take the following example of a branching scenario to practice counseling someone on dietary choices. One mistake learners can make in the scenario is setting a goal that is too difficult.

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Experiencing eLearning

AUGUST 8, 2023

As I read online, I bookmark resources I find interesting and useful. I share these links periodically here on my blog. This post includes links on character images and other illustrations, AI image editing tools and tips, Twine, scenario examples and tools, and instructional design skills. Character images and other illustrations unDraw – Open source illustrations for any idea Image library that you can easily customize.

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Experiencing eLearning

JULY 4, 2023

I have given a number of presentations on scenario-based learning over the past few years. While I often share those recordings on my blog as they happen, this is a more comprehensive list, compiled into a single post. All of these recordings are free, although some require registration. Within this post, I have mostly linked to blog posts about the presentations rather than directly to the recordings because I often include links to resources or further information in my posts.

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Experiencing eLearning

JUNE 13, 2023

One of the biggest challenges of creating branching scenarios is managing the complexity and keeping it from growing out of control. If you narrow your focus for branching scenarios, you can alleviate that issue. A narrow focus lets you create something that is useful for your audience without being too big to develop and manage. Part of the planning and analysis process for branching scenarios must include refining and narrowing the topic and skill to something very focused.

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Experiencing eLearning

JUNE 6, 2023

As I read online, I bookmark resources I find interesting and useful. I share these links periodically here on my blog. This post includes links on game design, branching scenario tools and templates, ChatGPT prompts for ID, AI tools, learning science, engagement, and the “magic email” for freelancers and consultants. Games design and scenarios Designing eLearning Games Using Interactive Stories Kayleen Holt shares 6 questions to consider when designing elearning games that incorpora

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Experiencing eLearning

APRIL 11, 2023

As I read online, I bookmark resources I find interesting and useful. I share these links periodically here on my blog. This post includes links on the gender pay gap, accessibility for videos, useful tools, and creating branching scenarios. Gender pay gap Freelancing Females Rate Sheet — Freelancing Females – The Largest Community of Freelance Women A database of freelance rates in many fields to help increase pay transparency and give freelancers benchmarks to know what they’re wor

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Experiencing eLearning

MARCH 7, 2023

I have several speaking engagements already booked for 2023. Here’s where you can find me this year for a livestream next week, my Learning Solutions Conference session, and upcoming free webinars. A few additional events are in the planning stages right now. Free webinar: Livestream Branching Scenario Build Ever wished you could peek over my shoulder while I create a branching scenario?

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Experiencing eLearning

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

As I read online, I bookmark resources I find interesting and useful. I share these links periodically here on my blog. This post includes links on AI tools, games, freelancing, top learning influencers, copyright, and more. AI tools 17 AI Tools Other than ChatGPT More options for AI tools beyond ChatGPT Tome – The AI-powered storytelling format This says “storytelling,” but it’s really an AI tool for quickly creating presentations and video.

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Experiencing eLearning

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

Holly Owens recently interviewed me for her EdUp EdTech podcast. We talked about my transition from band teacher to freelance LXD consultant. Holly asked about the “feast or famine” cycle in freelancing, and I talked about strategies to address that. This conversation was recorded shortly after I was announced as part of Eduflow’s list of top 100 most influential people in learning , so we talked about that top 100 list, my career trajectory, and how I became well-known in the

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Experiencing eLearning

JANUARY 31, 2023

Betty Dannewitz, host of the If You Ask Betty Podcast , is currently sharing a series of three episodes about Encanto and learning. I was part of the discussion for episode two: Let’s Talk About Bruno. Betty asked Destery Hildenbrand, Eamonn Powers, Jonathan Hill, and me to talk about Bruno as a metaphor for learning. We had a lively conversation for about an hour about Bruno, Abuela, the Encanto movie, storytelling, and how it relates to learning and development.

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Experiencing eLearning

JANUARY 24, 2023

In my recent webinar for the Learning Guild , someone asked if it’s better to write in second or third person perspective for scenarios. I have written scenarios from both perspectives, and I think both have advantages and disadvantages for different situations. Second person (you) Second person perspective means writing the scenario so “you” are doing the action and making the decisions.

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Experiencing eLearning

JANUARY 17, 2023

Back in 2015, I gave a short presentation for the Online Network of Independent Learning Professionals on finding freelance clients. In reality, I don’t do very much to actively seek out clients; most of my freelance clients find me. Here are the recommendations I shared with the group on how to become visible to clients (plus some updates). Even though this presentation is several years old, my methods haven’t really changed much.

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Experiencing eLearning

DECEMBER 6, 2022

I’ve had the opportunity to be interviewed on some wonderful podcasts over the last few years. Most of the time, our discussions related to scenario-based learning. I have also recorded several conversations about instructional design careers, freelancing, and other topics. To make these easier to find, here’s a collection of my podcast interviews.

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Experiencing eLearning

NOVEMBER 29, 2022

As I read online, I bookmark resources I find interesting and useful. I share these links periodically here on my blog. This post includes links on research on high-fidelity simulations and discovery learning, course pricing, and free, diverse stock images. Research on learning. The minimal relationship between simulation fidelity and transfer of learning – PubMed.

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Experiencing eLearning

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

A reader asked, “Should you include voice over and video in branching scenarios?” As with all things instructional design, the answer is “it depends.” Most of the time, I don’t use voice over or videos for branching scenarios because it adds a lot of complexity to the development and revision. However, there are exceptions when including voice over or interactive video works better.

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Experiencing eLearning

OCTOBER 11, 2022

I recently got a question from a reader about how long a branching scenario should be. Specifically, she was asked to create a very large branching scenario, and wanted to know how feasible that would be. I would love your expertise on whether you think a 45-min branching scenario sim in [Storyline] is too long. Is there a magic number or ideal amount of time for this type of learning experience?

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Experiencing eLearning

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022

As I read online, I bookmark resources I find interesting and useful. I share these links periodically here on my blog. This post includes links on story design, visual design and usability, tools, and templates. Story design. Strategies for Humanizing Training. Rance Green summarizes the structure for instructional story design. To sum up this structure, it looks like this: STORY > REFELECT > SOLVE > FEEDBACK Tell the story first.

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Experiencing eLearning

AUGUST 30, 2022

Earlier this year, I ran a pilot of a new course, Build Your Branching Scenario. Based on the feedback from the first cohort, I’m making some course updates for cohort 2. I’m going to be fairly transparent here about some of the things that didn’t work as well as I’d hoped. This post also explains some of the adjustments for this cohort. 9 weeks long.

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Experiencing eLearning

AUGUST 23, 2022

Every year, Jane Hart collects and analyzes lists of top 10 tools for learning. Some of these are my personal learning tools; others are what I use to create learning for others. You can vote for your top 10 tools for learning until August 25, 2022. These tools aren’t ranked, but they are categorized based on whether I use them to create learning for others or as a tool for my own personal development.

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Experiencing eLearning

AUGUST 2, 2022

For the past several years, I’ve been using Twine to write and prototype branching scenarios. The upgrade to version 2.4 included some significant changes to the Twine user interface. While I know additional changes are planned to continue to improve the application, I upgraded to Twine 2.4.1 this week to get some first impressions. Mostly, I like the changes and new features, although I’m hoping for some additional improvements in the future.

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Experiencing eLearning

MAY 24, 2022

As I read online, I bookmark resources I find interesting and useful. I share these links periodically here on my blog. This post includes links on UX, accessibility, branching scenarios, Twine, instructional design blogs, free/freemium tools, and systems thinking. UX. 7 Articles To Help You Improve Your eLearning Designs. A curated list of UX resources from Mel Milloway with relevance for elearning development.

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Experiencing eLearning

APRIL 12, 2022

As I read online, I bookmark resources I find interesting and useful. I share these links periodically here on my blog. This post includes links on writing branching scenarios, free tools, content curation, xAPI, and getting started in Storyline. Writing branching scenarios. Does writing style change how learners perceive choices in a branched scenario?

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Experiencing eLearning

APRIL 5, 2022

When you use voice over for elearning, do you want it to sound natural and flowing, or do you want it to sound stiff and didactic? A great voice over person can make a good script more engaging, and a great script sound fantastic. However, if the script itself is completely stiff and unnatural, there’s only so much a voice over person can do. The solution is to vary the sentence structure in voice over scripts.

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Experiencing eLearning

MARCH 29, 2022

Bryan Jones from eLearningArt has done several past articles with collections of tips from L&D professionals. This time, he asked us for time saving tips for eLearning development. My tip to save elearning development time is to create a “Styles” slide with models of slide elements that you can copy to slides instead of manually formatting each object.

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Experiencing eLearning

MARCH 1, 2022

iSpring isn’t as common of an elearning development tool as Storyline or Captivate, especially in the US. However, the iSpring Suite 10 includes TalkMaster , a Dialog Simulation tool that works very smoothly for creating branching scenarios. The tool has some limitations, but it’s very efficient for creating branching scenarios with conversations.

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Experiencing eLearning

FEBRUARY 22, 2022

Instructional designers sometimes run into pitfalls when writing voice over scripts. Jill Goldman of Goldivox is a voice over professional who graciously agreed to share with me the issues she sometimes sees in scripts. I’ll share her perspective in block quotes below, along with my own tips. Watch for these common pitfalls in your voice over scripts: Numbers Lists Abbreviations Emphasis Grammar Errors.

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Experiencing eLearning

JANUARY 11, 2022

My Build Your Branching Scenario course is still in development, but I can answer some questions about the program now. What does this branching scenario course include? This course includes opportunities to learn by doing, plus presentations, resources, and feedback to help you create a branching scenario from start to finish. We’ll have 8 live, virtual sessions.

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Experiencing eLearning

JANUARY 4, 2022

Why create diverse characters for learning scenarios? Our characters should reflect the diversity of our audience. When in doubt, I tend to err on the side of being more diverse in my representation rather than more homogeneous. I’d rather show an aspiration of diversity, even if organizations haven’t reached that goal of diverse representation in real life yet.

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Experiencing eLearning

DECEMBER 28, 2021

Today, I’m sharing two categories of my top posts of 2021. The first category is the top posts that I wrote and published this year, excluding updates of old posts. The second category includes the top posts by overall views, regardless of when I actually published them. Catch up on anything you missed during this year, or see the highlights from my archives.

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Experiencing eLearning

NOVEMBER 23, 2021

I had a great conversation with Betty Dannewitz on her If You Ask Betty podcast. We spent most of our time talking about tools for drafting and building branching scenarios: Twine Google Forms Miro BranchTrack ChatMapper. Each of those tools has advantages and disadvantages for different situations. We discussed the pros and cons and when each tool would make sense.

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Experiencing eLearning

OCTOBER 12, 2021

How do you estimate the required time to create branching scenarios? It’s tricky to estimate, even for me, because branching scenarios can vary widely in complexity. In order to figure it out, we have to consider several factors: the overall size of the scenario, the complexity of the branching structure, the amount of multimedia, the difficulty of any triggers or programming, and the tools used.

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Experiencing eLearning

OCTOBER 5, 2021

When someone mentions scenario-based learning, do you automatically think of complex branching scenarios? While that’s one way to implement scenarios (and a very effective one!), I don’t think it’s the only option. A range of options for scenarios are available, from passive to active. Even if you can’t convince your organization or clients to invest in full-blown branching scenarios, you can use less intensive alternatives to incorporate scenarios and storytelling.

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Experiencing eLearning

AUGUST 31, 2021

As of this month, it’s been 10 years since I left my last full-time job and started my own business. In August 2011, I wrapped up my last project at Cisco and formed my LLC. Prior to this, the longest I ever held a job was about 3 years. However, even after 10 years of consulting, it still feels like the right fit. I still enjoy what I do, and I hope to continue for many more years.

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Experiencing eLearning

AUGUST 24, 2021

Several years ago, I gave a presentation on the why and how of scenario-based learning. I have given this presentation to several other groups since then, including two ATD chapters. I tweak it a little every time. As a general overview of scenario-based learning, it has become one of my more popular presentations. Description. Are you looking for ways to make your training more relevant and engaging?

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Experiencing eLearning

AUGUST 10, 2021

As I read online, I bookmark resources I find interesting and useful. I share these links periodically here on my blog. This post includes links on instructional design research and principles, productivity, video, animation, visual design, an elearning example, and my article on scenario-based learning for TD Magazine. Instructional design research and principles.

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