That's Awesome ID!

The Chief of Awesomeness Alexander Salas joins me to talk about his new program, Become ID, a budget friendly program which aims to provide guidance and assistance to folks who are trying to transition into instructional design.  Alex shares a little bit about the conception of the program, what it entails, and how it differs from other courses that are offered through eLearningLaunch.com. 

He also takes some time to talk about his own journey in the field of instructional design and why sharing his knowledge is such a passion. 

You can learn more about the Become ID program at eLearningLaunch.com. 

Instructional designer turned customer success consultant, Erin Peterschick, joins me to talk about the constantly changing and evolving world of learning tech. Erin discusses what's been most surprising about her new role at Totara, the company behind the award-winning learning experience platform. We also talk about the challenges of implementing increasingly newer and more complex applications in the workplace, as well as the fallout of our society's churn and burn culture. Erin shares how she has personally had to become more agile with new technology this year as she took her in-person, local learning conference "Learnapalooza" fully online within six weeks!

Erin and her partner at Skillsleap will share more about how they made that transition possible at the upcoming Tech Fest. 

You can connect with Erin at www.skillsleap.com or through LinkedIn. 

Instructional designer and program manager Dr. Luke Hobson joins me to chat about what instructional design looks like in the higher education setting. He gives a brief overview of the day-to-day of what a higher ed ID does, and lists some pros and cons about higher ed versus a corporate ID position. He also gives some advice to any people looking to transition into higher ed from a K-12 background, and emphasizes the need to have a firm grasp on both tools and processes. 

You can find out more about Dr. Luke Hobson, his podcast, and his Instructional Design Institute at www.drlukehobson.com.

In this special episode, I hand over the reigns to newcomer Amy Petricek, and let her interview me about my journey from the world of education to instructional design. Amy is a naturally inquisitive person, so I knew she'd make an excellent guest host! We talk about how we first met, how I first got interested in instructional design, the importance of sharing your learning journey, and the secret to success in my career search. SPOILER ALERT: it was people! 

You can connect with Amy on LinkedIn, or take a look at her portfolio at www.amypetricek.com.

Learning experience designer Cheryl Oberlin joins me to discuss the unique challenges that face adult learners in the corporate setting. We discuss why some adult learners may be reluctant to even engage in continued learning once they are out of the academic setting, and some ways to engage unmotivated learners. 

Connect with Cheryl on LinkedIn. 

I wanted to take a moment to pause and reflect on what an awesome journey this has been so far. Thank you to all my guests, listeners, subscribers, and cheerleaders. I didn't know if I'd continue past a few episodes, but you have all inspired me to keep going.

As a thank you I've put together a blooper reel of silly moments from the first nine episodes. Enjoy!

If you have enjoyed the show so far, please consider heading over to iTunes to leave a rating and review. It will help get the word out. 

Here's to the next ten episodes!

Learning experience designer Chris Syracuse joins me to discuss Cognitive Load Theory. Coming from a technical communications and visual design background, Chris is particularly interested in how the theory of cognitive load might inform better learning design decisions. We talk about schemas, the power of seven plus-or-minus two, and why too much interactivity might actually be putting learners into the extraneous cognitive load zone. Chris also mentions a few things you should avoid using in your own visual design. SPOILER ALERT: drop shadows and gradients are on the list! 

You can connect with Chris on LinkedIn. 

You can also check out his portfolio at chrissyracuse.design.

Instructional designer Mike Peacock joins me to discuss the ways his company has used augmented reality as both a marketing and training tool. We geek out about audio production, Zappar's new AR headset, the ZapBox, and the challenge of learning development applications like Unity. Mike also shares his personal philosophy to "focus on the art of possibility" and how that applies to trying out new things, including new technologies. 

You can connect with Mike on LinkedIn. 

The multi-talented Cheryl Cooper joins me to talk about her transition from a career in chemical engineering to learning and development. She shares the many lessons she learned over the course of her transition and offers advice to others who may be interested in a career as an instructional designer or eLearning developer. We also chat about how generous and awesome the L&D/ID community is on LinkedIn and the value of helping out those who may be coming up after you by sharing knowledge and resources as you go. 

You can connect with Cheryl on LinkedIn or check out her portfolio at www.cheryllcooper.com.

Instructional designer and author Tim Slade joins me to talk about the new release of his book "The eLearning Designer's Handbook". He graciously allows me to fangirl over the layout, design, and content of this book because I think it's just so neat. He also explains the inspiration for the book and gives advice on how to make eLearning that feels more like a learning event than a training. Finally, he shares his last minute idea to create companion notebooks to go along with the handbook so that eLearning designers can stay organized during their design process. 

You can find "The eLearning Designer's Handbook" as well as the companion notebooks on Amazon.com.

You can connect with Tim at www.timslade.com or on LinkedIn.