Lessons from Terrible Students

In our fifth episode we discuss a topic that I am particularly passionate about, Quality Control or QC.  These are the unsung heroes of our projects, as they inspect and review our work for grammatical and spelling changes, as well as functionality and accessibility.  Take a listen to see why we think this is a vital part of any L&D project.

In our fourth episode we welcome guest star, Sarah Meyer! Sarah is one of our fantastic Project Managers, or PMs, and she shares what it is like to try to keep IDs, SMEs, Stakeholders, and even other PMs aligned while a project develops. This is the fourth and final position deep dive, going into how the role of the learning PM is essential for the project to get across the finish line, however this is not our last episode in the series.  Stay Tuned!

In our third episode we deep dive into what life is like as a SME, both customer-facing and corporate.  Jeremy and Tara both came from a SME background, so they share what their day-to-day life was like in their previous roles, and how that affects their view on training. They also end the episode with our first iterations of “Tales from the Field,” where Jeremy tells a real story of when he was an installation technician in a rural county in his home state. Trust us, you do not want to miss this one.  

In our second episode we start our conversation about each of the roles that we identified in our first episode. We go into detail about Jeremy’s current role, the Instructional Designer. We share how IDs work with clients and how IDs utilize research-based development processes throughout the project lifecycle to make effective learning. What IDs actually do is not widely known, and we wanted to shine a light on how we work and what we do every day. This is the start of our three episode stint, with each episode highlighting some of the biggest roles in the process: IDs, SMEs, and PMs.

Meet our hosts, hear a shout-out to author Cammy Bean about her book “The Accidental Instructional Designer,” and get some insight into the roles and responsibilities of the array of professionals involved in developing and building training initiatives in the workplace. It is not unusual for subject matter experts (SMEs) to be asked to assist in the development of new training materials. It is also not unusual for some of those SMEs to change direction and move their careers toward the development side of training projects. Jeremy Brown and Dr. Tara Roberson-Moore both started as SMEs – so, if you are new or have been asked to help out with a training project – they have been where you are! It can be confusing – with theories, and philosophies, and frameworks, and models – oh my! But when it comes down to it – all of those things point back to common sense. Listen as they make the connections, provide tips, and leave the pod with information on how to get free job aids you can use in your ID work every day.