In this episode, I got to meet Darcy Goshorn. Darcy is currently an Instructional Designer at Bloomin' Brands, Inc which is the restaurant holdings company that owns the Outback Steakhouse chain.

But prior that, Darcy spent over a decade as a teacher and educator in higher ed, including a stint as a learning technology director in Oslo, Norway.

Darcy has a varied skillset and is definitely an experienced educator and instructional designer. Check out this member showcase and get to know Darcy. Add him to your network - you'll be glad you did.

One of the funner experiences doing Member Showcases is talking to new Instructional Designers. And we've been seeing more and more newbies to the field since the pandemic began, as educators are discovering the field of Instructional Design.

And our Member Showcase guest, Chris Syracuse, is one of those new Instructional Designers. Like many others, he has already established a fascinating set of skills he brings to the field, in this instance for Chris: graphic design and UX.

So give this episode a listen to learn more about Chris. He's new to the field and if this conversation is any indication, has a bright future ahead of him.

In this episode, we talked with Randy Rebman about LMSes from the higher ed side of things - specifically Blackboard and Canvas LMS. It was just a couple of years ago that Canvas LMS stormed onto the scene and toppled Blackboard's ownership of the Higher Ed LMS space and we talked about why, the differences between the two types of systems, and what migrating from Blackboard to Canvas is like.

Ultimately, I think this conversation left me with more questions than answers. I'm curious why Higher Ed's LMS offerings seem to be so lacking in many ways. The differences between users is an obvious factor, but you'd think that there'd be more common features.

Give this episode a listen if you'd like to hear something a little different from the LMS Playlist. Randy had some excellent insights to share and can help you understand features you want --- and don't want --- in your LMS.

This episode's guest, Sami Chan, did a really interesting thing on Linkedin. Sami put together a series of ten slide decks, all with 9 - 15 slides in each, and posted them every week or so in her timeline to share with her connections. The topic of the decks was "Skills I Learned By Playing Dungeons and Dragons". And for any of you that aren't familiar with Dungeons and Dragons, it's a role-playing game developed in the 1970's that takes place in a fantasy world. To play, participants take on different roles, such as a fighter or wizard or knight, and work through the game "as that character" to achieve a goal, like find treasure or magic items or go on missions to save a town or another character. It's immersive, it's role-playing, and it's definitely something that can teach soft skills - which is what Sami ingeniously explains in her series. And interestingly enough, it was L&D professionals that were most attracted to the series. Although Sami is a graphic designer, illustrator and copywriter, it was the learning community that found the posts most attractive, and Sami is now beginning a career in instructional design.

What you'll get by listening to this one is why and how Sami put the slides together and how it affected her linkedin profile. We also go into detail about how D&D taught her the variety of soft skills she discusses in her slides.

It was a really fun conversation --- another episode that has the L&D and D&D connection --- and it definitely conveys the value of role-playing to learning. Enjoy.

Here are Sami's Episodes:

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: Planning

Part 3: Authenticity

Part 4: Teamwork

Part 5: Leadership

Part 6: Networking

Part 7: Expectation Management

Part 8: Rewarding Accomplishments

Part 9: Problem Solving

Part 10: Quitting

It almost felt a little awkward doing a Member Showcase with Cara North --- she's been a big part of TLDC for so long and I wasn't sure my questions would be engaging enough. But it just goes to show, all of our stories are so layered and interesting, that even the simplest of questions can still reveal much.

There is a good portion of TLDC that only exists because of Cara's support, and many of you know about her generosity and how she leads.

For those of you that don't, give this episode a listen. Cara is one of L&D's top influencers with good reason. And you'll learn why in this recording.

Enjoy.

We had a lot of fun geeking out in this episode with Mike Peacock from Aristocrat.

Mike was here to share his eLearning workflow and digital file organization strategies. Managing multiple platforms, video, audio, storyboarding - as you probably know - can be a huge challenge. But it was great to hear a variety of tips from a legit pro audio professional and former music teacher.

This kind of insight isn't common in L&D.

So take some notes - the conversation was quick and we covered a lot of ground. Hope you enjoy it!

We started out the week at TLDC getting to know Cheryl Oberlin. It's been a few months since Cheryl signed up as a Member, and what I've noticed about her is that she's consistently positive, always supportive, and comes across as someone you can count on --- and that's not a typical feeling you get from someone you've only met through email and linkedin messages.

So I was glad to finally talk with Cheryl -- and have those qualities solidified through our live conversation. Cheryl has an incredibly varied background and a wealth of experience; she is someone that will benefit your network and you'll be glad to get to know. Connect with Cheryl ... and enjoy the episode.

In this Community Discussion episode, I was truly curious about 2020 twitter's actual value as a resource for L&D professionals. I recall being skeptical about it when I created my profile in 2007. But my guest, Kristen Hayden Safdie, as well as quite a few chat participants in this community discussion, showed me that with the right tools and some discipline, twitter offers insights, connection, and even support for challenges you may be facing in your job and career.

Also, here is a link to a public doc Kristen shared that features a great way to organize who you follow. A few other participants in this chat have also inserted their favorite follows, and you may want to do so too.

Enjoy the episode.

In this episode, Lee LeFever returned to TLDCast to talk about his new book, Big Enough. You may know Lee from the CommonCraft Explainer videos that were viral hits on YouTube a few years back.

We talked about those videos, how he's evolved as a media creator, and also discussed the topic of his new book, Big Enough: Building a Business that Scales with Your Lifestyle.

What was particularly interesting was Lee emphasized that much of his success can be attributed to being able to write well - a skill we can always improve upon.

Enjoy the episode.

So here's a couple of interesting stats about Linkedin:

They have 706 million users

45% of internet users who make more than $75,000 annually use LinkedIn while only 25% of those in the $50,000 to $74,999 range use the platform.

So I guess that's part of the reason why you should be using Linkedin.

But there's a whole lot more to it than just signing up. And I brought together a superb group of power users to discuss the why's and how's of Linkedin, and getting the most out of it.

Tameka Harris, Devlin Peck, Rubina Halwani, and Toddi Norum all shared their experiences -- and some excellent tips --- on using Linkedin. And if you're an L&D professional either just getting started with Linkedin or looking to amplify your presence there, this will be a great episode for you.