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The Gamification of Work

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Courtesy of Blanco River Lodge
How do you distinguish between work and play?
Are they really that different?

Consider this:

1) Many games these days - particularly those online - are highly complex and taxing. They require skills in strategic planning, negotiation, resource allocation, tactics, practice (and more practice), and the use of specialised tools (from rackets to balls to enchanted axes).

2) The advent of social networks have resulted in more businesses embracing blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Google +, YouTube, and Pinterest, all in the name of work. Yes, you can now surf and update stuff on the Internet during office hours, and get paid for it.

3) Hierarchy and pecking order apply equally in both contexts. A be-medalled badminton player/ RPG grand master is just as respected as a star engineer or target-exceeding sales manager.

4) Peer acceptance and team support is crucial. A manager who dominates others through fear and intimidation eventually finds himself or herself in cold storage. Similarly, the best players in team sport always look out for their friends.

5) Hobbies these days are becoming more and more involved. People are no longer content with simply cooking but are creating recipes, posting them on Instagram/Tumblr, and teaching others how to bake that world-class souffle.

The huge difference, however, is this. What is the frame of mind that you adopt while performing that activity? What moves you to complete that task?

Are you driven by:

A) The sheer necessity to earn an income and to pay your bills?

B) The opportunity to express yourself and indulge your muse?

C) The conviviality and camaraderie of doing stuff with people you care about?

D) The chance to make a difference in a future that you believe in?

E) The insatiable need to “score” and achieve points, besting your previous record?

If your answer is A and that alone, it is probably time for you to consider looking for another job. Doing something merely because you have to isn’t going to bring out the best in you. On the contrary, it will sap your energies and weaken your spirit.

If your answer is B, C, D, E (or all four), you are actually not “working” in the traditional sense but playing. Earning a keep is really a bonus (OK, maybe its more than that, but you get the drift).

The differences between work and play is nicely summarised by the table below from the Gamification Wiki. Have a look and see if you agree.

Source: Work Game

Tasks repetitive dull repetitive fun
Feedback once a year constantly
Goals contradictory, vague clear
Path to Mastery unclear clear
Rules unclear, untransparent clear, transparent
Information too much and not enough right amount at the right time
Failure forbidden, punished expected, encouraged, spectacular, brag about it
Status of Users hidden transparent, timely
Promotion kiss-up-o-gracy meritocracy
Collaboration yes yes
Speed/Risk low high
Autonomy mid to low high
Narrative only if you are lucky yes
Obstacles accidental on purpose
Courtesy of Gamification Wiki

The challenge for all of us is this:

How do we make our work more like play (and less like work)?

For a start, consider embracing the principles of gamification at the workplace. This can perhaps be summarised as follows:
1) Adopt accelerated feedback cycles so that employees know when they’ve done well and when they’ve slipped up. The faster and more frequently you can do so, the better.
2) Establish clear objectives and “rules of the game” with boundaries that are clear and unambiguous.
3) Encourage socialisation and cross-team efforts. Make it clear what project teams are working on.
4) Develop a compelling story that is woven into aspects of the “game”. This narrative should resonate with players and engage them in proactive participation.
5) Provide clear and achievable rewards for intermediate milestones. This shouldn’t wait till the completion of a 12 month project, but could be established at various junctures.
6) Break down tasks into challenging but achievable quantums. In gamification, the achievement of intermediate wins are an important component of sustaining energy levels throughout the endeavour.
7) Be public and transparent about the different “games” that are being played. If possible broadcast the progress of various teams through multiple corporate channels.
8) Most importantly, build a culture that celebrates failure. In fact, a resounding crash during a Formula One race attracts far more attention than a run-of-the-mill victory. Having said that, it is good to institute a system that encourages people to learn fast from their mistakes and move on.

via The Gamification of Work | LinkedIn.

The Educators Road Map For The Next Generation of Work

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This road map for the next generation of work is for the up and coming generation to make sure they start on the right foot.

What happens when the tools & technologies we use every day become mainstream parts of the business world?
What happens when we stop leading separate “consumer” & “professional” lives when it comes to technology stacks?

The result is a dramatic change in the products we use at work and as a result an upending of the canon of management practices that define how work is done.

New tools are appearing that radically alter the traditional definitions of productivity and work. Businesses failing to embrace these changes will find their employees simply working around IT at levels we have not seen even during the earliest days of the PC. Too many enterprises are either flat-out resisting these shifts or hoping for a “transition”—disruption is taking place, not only to every business, but within every business.

The Educators Work Culture

Continuous productivity is an era that fosters a seamless integration between consumer and business platforms. Continuous productivity manifests itself as an environment where the evolving tools and culture make it possible to innovate more and faster than ever, with significantly improved execution. Together our industry is shaping a new way to learn, work, and live with the power of software and mobile computing—an era of continuous productivity.

Continuous productivity is possible

Continuous productivity shifts our efforts from the start/stop world of episodic work and work products to one that builds on the technologies that start to answer what happens when:

  • A generation of new employees has access to the collective knowledge of an entire profession, experts, or enterprise.
  • Collaboration takes place across organisation and company boundaries with everyone connected by a social fibre rather than the organisations hierarchy.
  • Data, knowledge, analysis, and opinion are equally available to every member of a team in formats that are digital, sharable, and structured.
  • People have the ability to time slice, context switch, and proactively deal with situations as they arise, shifting from a start/stop environment to one that is continuous.

Join The Educators Pioneering projects

The vast majority of organisations are struggling right now with how to face these challenges. Beside the ones who try to ignore this shift, majority of the organisations are trying to use this new technology to run their old system. You are welcome to join The Eductors as an individual and develop your teaching environment or join any of our current and futur group projects.

How Different is the way we work:

The availability of the information and communications tools has allowed us to move from a hierarchical access model of the past to a much more collaborative and sharing-first approach. Every member have access to the raw “feeds” that could be material to their role. Teams become the focus of collaborative work, empowered by the data to inform their decisions. The increasing use of “crowds” and product usage telemetry able to guide improved our services, based not on sampling and forecasting but on what amounts to a census of real-world usage.

The following table contrasts the way we work (continuous productivity) and the current norms.

Traditional way
 Continuous Productivity
Process Exploration
Hierarchy, top down or middle out Network, bottom up
Internal committees Internal and external teams, crowds
Strategy-centric Execution-centric
Presenting packaged and produced ideas, documents Sharing ideas and perspectives continuously, service
Data based on snapshots at intervals, viewed statically Data always real-time, viewed dynamically
Process-centric Rhythm-centric
Exact answers Approximation and iteration
More users More usage

The cultural changes encouraged and enabled by continuous productivity include:

  • Innovate more and faster. The bottom line is that by compressing the time between meaningful interactions between members of a team, we will go from problem to solution faster. Whether solving a problem with an existing product or service or thinking up a new one, the continuous nature of communication speeds up the velocity and quality of work.
  • Flatten hierarchy. Equal access to tools and information, a continuous multi-way dialog, and the ease and bringing together relevant parties regardless of place in the organisation flattens the hierarchy, this is the key.
  • Improve execution. Execution improves because members of teams have access to the interactions and data in real-time. Gone are the days of “game of telephone” where information needed to “cascade” through an organization only to be reinterpreted or even filtered by each level of an organization.
  • Respond to changes using telemetry / data. With the advent of continuous real-world usage telemetry, the debate and dialog move from the problems to the solution. You don’t spend energy arguing over the problem, but debating the merits of various solutions.
  • Strengthen organization and partnerships. Organisations that communicate openly and transparently leave much less room for politics and hidden agendas. The transparency afforded by tools might introduce some rough and tumble in the early days as new “norms” are created but over time the ability to collaborate will only improve given the shared context and information base everyone works from.
  • Focus on the destination, not the journey. The real-time sharing of information forces organizations to operate in real-time. Problems are in the here and now and demand solutions in the present. The benefit of this “pressure” is that a focus on the internal systems, the steps along the way, or intermediate results is, out of necessity, de-emphasised.

Follow the following article for further reading.

 

  1. Road Map For The Next Generation of Work – Paradigm shift (1)
  2. Road Map For The Next Generation of Work – Theory & Technology (2)
  3. Road Map For The Next Generation of Work – Examples and Checklist (3)

 

 

Effective Visuals

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Along with having great course content, you should also have an outstanding use of effective visuals throughout the entire course.

Sometimes finding the right images can be more difficult than originally anticipated. Your images must add value to the course, whether it is a graph or chart explaining the information, or just an example photo that the student can relate to.

Keep in mind that specific eLearning platforms can have different ways to feature visuals throughout your course. These are 10 Do’s and Don’ts for choosing eLearning visuals, beginning with the quality.Do find quality images. Avoid using blurry or pixelated images within your courses. Rather than looking unprofessional or distracting your students, either use quality images or none at all.

Don’t use visuals without a purpose. It is important that all of your images have a purpose and add value to your course. Don’t use images just for decoration or to fill in space. Images without a specific meaning may be distracting to your students, rather than helpful.

Do choose valuable images. Your images must add value to the course, whether it is a graph or chart explaining the information, or just an example photo that the student can relate to. Be sure the images resonate with your students.

Don’t use overly complex visuals. If you have a complex graphic that is crucial to your course, consider placing it on it’s own slide with the description separately. This will allow for a larger image and the students are likely to see more (or all) of the details. When possible, avoid complex graphics and go for a simpler version, while still getting the point across.

Do use a variety of visuals. Be sure your course has a variety of graphics and images throughout. These include charts, handouts, photos, or even bullet points or lists. Different medias and visuals help the student organize their information better.

Don’t overload your courses with images. Adding too many visual elements can quickly become cluttered and overwhelming for the student. With less visuals, the student can better focus on the content.

Do use words and pictures together. Consider placing text and images together, expressing the same message in two different ways. Students can likely learn faster and remember key terms when associated to an image.

Don’t add text to busy images. Placing text with an already complicated graphic will only further the complexity. Place the text on a different screen in this case.

Do use a consistent image style. Consistency helps students focus on the material rather than worrying about the design changing throughout the course.

Don’t copy images from Google. Many images seen via Google are copyrighted and therefore, you will be violating copyright if you use them in your course.

With these 10 visual Do’s and Don’ts, you can create your online course in no time via an eLearning platform. Be sure to utilize your eLearning platform to add visuals throughout the entire course, not just in the presentations.

Are you looking for quality images to use in your online learning courses? These are 10 free stock photo resources and 10 free eLearning graphics tools.

Key skills e-learning project manager must have

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One of the most important ingredients for the success of your e-learning project is the team that you will be working with. Most Project Managers are not in the fortunate position that they can choose their teams.

It is highly likely that you will also have to manage people as part of the project for whom this is not their day job. This blog looks at some of the skills you will require as a Project Manager and some of the ways you can manage and motivate your team to achieve success.

The Project Manager

Congratulations if you have taken on the role of Project Manager for an e-learning project. It will be an exciting and rewarding project that can make a real difference to your organisation and your customers. Here are some of the key attributes you will need.
1. Conciliator
You may encounter conflict – either personally – or between your project team members and you will need to find a way to resolve the conflict and move on.
2. Communicator
Key to your role will be keeping everyone informed of the project and its progress. You need to be able to sell new ideas to people and get commitment to your project.
3. Manager
You will be managing people working for you on the project – either directly or in a matrix structure.
4. Administrator
You may have to be responsible for keeping a selection of project documents up to date.
5. Negotiator
You will need to negotiate for resources and compete with other projects to get senior management commitment.
6. Politician
Your project is a key change in the organisation and you will need to be skilled at managing different points of view and reactions.
7. Influencer
You will need to “sell” the change to people across the organisation and take actions that will persuade people to adapt to a new way of doing things.
8. Planner and organiser
You will be managing a range of activities that need to take place within specified timescales.
9. Technician
You will need to understand the systems and processes of the organisation you work in and to have knowledge of the techniques used in project management and planning (see previous section).
10. Business professional
Delivering a project requires strong business acumen particularly if you are responsible for a budget and resources.
11. Change agent
Delivering a project means change and you will need to be comfortable with change management processes and techniques.

So not much required for the job of Project Manager!
As well as these it is helpful for the project manager to understand the systems and processes of the organisation they work in and to have a knowledge of the techniques used in project management and planning.

The role of Project Manager – filling the gaps

It is not always possible to have all of the skills and knowledge required in one person. We all work differently and over time have developed strengths in different areas. We also have a personal preference for the way we work. If there are areas in which you don’t feel confident you can…
1. Formal Training and Development
Depending on the project timescale you may have the opportunity to invest in your own development and learn new skills. Learning Pool can provide a range of training options to assist you with e-learning skills and knowledge. Other formal training could include Project Management, Leadership and Team Building. Check the Learning Pool catalogue for what you can learn from our courses.
2. On the Job Learning
Having completed some e-learning you may feel comfortable about applying your new skills and knowledge whilst you are working on the project. For example, completing the project documentation is something that you can really only get good at when you do it. Work with your team, be honest about your level of experience and learn together.
3. Coaching and Mentoring
You may identify someone in your organisation who is a good project manager that you would benefit from their skills and experience. Ask them to help you. It is always very satisfying to be asked. You may wish to shadow their meetings or talk them through the issues you are trying to resolve. Your Learning Pool team are also on hand to help you.
4. Delegation
I’m useless with numbers. I know that and no matter how hard I’ve tried to learn I don’t seem to get it. Recognising this I have always made friends with the people in Finance and ensure that I have one of them on my team. If there are areas that you don’t have the skills or experience in, find someone who does.
Three rewards of being a good Project Manager

So why do this?

It might be that you are passionate about your project and want to see it delivered successfully. That must be the ultimate satisfaction for any project manager. But you can also achieve the following:

  1. Developing Yourself - New skills, new challenges, new people! All of these will help you to develop your experience and knowledge.
  2. Developing Others - Introducing e-learning will give you the opportunity to introduce your team to a new system, the way in which you deliver your project may also give people the chance to develop themselves. Include personal development plans as part of your project.
  3. Developing the Organisation - As well as delivering a product that is all about development, you have the chance to deliver your project in such a way that the organisation benefits from the learning you experience. Your Project Closure Report should identify any new ways of doing things that worked well and can be passed on to others.

Article by: Wendy Kay

Empower Yourself

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You can, and should, empower yourself.

We tend to think of empowerment as a gift granted to us by others. Your supervisor empowers you to make decisions; your government empowers you to vote; a business empowers you to customize a product. These are all examples of empowerment, to be sure, but they are not the only ways we can experience it.

Empowering yourself means deciding your own path and doing what you need to do to acquire the skills and opportunities necessary to follow that path.

Steps to Self-Empowerment

Step 1: Expand Your Mind. Before you act in an empowered manner, you must be able to think in an empowered manner. Often, this means learning to let your mind roam beyond the parameters of what you have learned in school or been trained to do on the job.

Opening your mind to the possibilities is a skill that must be constantly practiced. Study, read, engage with others who can teach you something new.

Step 2: Expand Your Territory. If you are in extend your field of studies, start teaching part times, study abroad. If you are in the workplace, seek opportunities to travel, take assignments in another city or country, expand your expertise, get involved with new technology. Your exposure to new visions of success will radically change your thinking.

Next Step - The Educators Starter Pack

The starter pack is designed to empower you to manage your students community from different sources in one place. In most cases The Educators provide related test and content online to assist your teaching. The starter pack is offered free of charge (subject to approval) and is made of two stages:

Stage 1- You are given an online training/inductions programme. This online programme is designed to give you an understanding or how a virtual room works. Here you will be using the system as a student, this gives us the opportunity to not only to train you but also you will gain the learner experience which is crucial for the next stage.

Stage 2- On a successful completion of the first stage you will be given a class room to manage (content in the class is subject to your expertise). You will be expected to enrol few students (5 min. to 10 max.) on your course and manage them through their tasks. Next step is to run your class subject to contract. (Click here for Standard Service Rates)

TheEducators.com aims to create a wider spectrum of possibilities for its members. We create the opportunities, and you empower yourself.

Click me to join

You can carry on with further training programmes (Instructional Design, Moodle Course Design, Teaching with Moodle, Test and Assessment Design, Moodle Administrator, VLE Architecture)

IT Trends Effecting Online Training

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Here is the list of IT trends effecting online training and education. Most of you involved in elearning have embraced the first six points of this article. I suggest you pay more attention to the items 7 to 12. The following is the summary of the article by DANIEL BURRUS.

No matter what industry you’re in, your company can’t survive without technology. From smart phones and tablets to mobile apps and cloud-based technology, there’s a plethora of technological advancements to not only keep track of, but also to profit from.

To stay competitive, every organisation needs to anticipate the most significant technology trends that are shaping their business and changing their customer, and then develop innovative ways to use them to their advantage, both inside and outside of their organisation. Remember, if it can be done, it will be done. If you don’t use these technologies to create a competitive advantage, someone else will.

Over the next five short years the following game-changing technologies will transform how we sell, market, communicate, collaborate, educate, train, innovate, and much more.

1. Big Data Gets Bigger and Becomes a Service.

Big Data is a term to describe the technologies and techniques used to capture and utilize the exponentially increasing streams of datawith the goal ofbringing enterprise-wide visibility and insights to make rapid critical decisions. Companies are learning the hard way that Big Bad Data can get you into trouble fast, so there is a new push to focus on the quality of the data as it is being captured.

  • High Speed Analytics using advanced cloud services will increasingly be used as a complement to existing information management systems and programs to tame the massive data explosion. This new level of data integration and analytics will require many new skills and cross-functional buy-in in order to break down the many data and organizational silos that still exist. The rapid increase in data makes this a fast-growing hard trend that cannot be ignored.
  • Big Data as-a-Service (BDaaS) will emerge this year as cloud providers offer midsize and smaller organizations access to much larger streams of relevant data they could not tap into otherwise.

2. Cloud Computing Gets Personal and Advanced Cloud Services will be increasingly embraced by business of all sizes, as this represents a major shift in how organizations obtain and maintain software, hardware, and computing capacity. As consumers, we first experienced public clouds (think about when you use Google Docs or Apple’s iCloud). Then we saw more private clouds giving companies the security and limited access they needed, as well as hybrid clouds that provided both, giving customers and consumers access to specific areas of a company’s cloud. Companies of all sizes are using the cloud to cut costs in IT, human resources, and sales management functions. As individuals increasingly use personal mobile clouds, we will see a shift to services and less of a focus on the devices we use to access our services. This shift will also help us address the three limiting factors of mobility: battery life, memory, and processors.

3. On Demand Services will increasingly be offered to companies needing to rapidly deploy new services. Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS) is increasingly joining Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), creating what some have called “IT as a service.” The rapid growth of Collaboration-as-a-Service (CaaS), Security-as-a-Service (SaaS), Networking as-a-Service (NaaS), and many more are all giving birth to Everything as-a-Service (XaaS). As a result, IT departments in all industries will be increasingly freed to focus on enabling business process transformation, which will allow organizations to maximize their return on their technology investments.

4. Virtualisation of Storage, Desktops, Applications, and Networking will see continued acceptance and growth by both large and small businesses as virtualisation security improves. In addition to storage, we will continue to see the virtualisation of processing power, allowing mobile devices to access supercomputer capabilities and apply it to processes such as purchasing and logistics, to name a few.

5. Consumerisation of IT increases, as consumers become the driving source for innovation and technology, which is fueled by rapid advances in processing power, storage, and bandwidth. Smart companies have recognized that this is a hard trend that will continue and have stopped fighting consumerization. Instead, they are turning it into a competitive advantage by consumerizing their applications, such as recommending safe and secure third party hardware and apps. Encouraging employees to share productivity enhancing consumer technology will become a wise strategy.

6. Wear Your Own Device (WYOD) will take off this year as wearable technology goes mainstream with big players launching smart watches, smart glasses, and more, creating new problems as well as opportunities for organizations of all sizes. Over the past few years, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) caught many IT departments by surprise; it’s now time to get in front of this this predictable hard trend and turn it into an advantage.

Are you ready to take your course online follow our free step by step advise on this site, and for those interested to design their course on Moodle platform we offer a free online course.

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7. Gameification of Training and Education will acceleratea fast-moving hard trend ofusing advanced simulations and skill-based learning systems that are self-diagnostic, interactive, game-like, and competitive, all focused on giving the user an immersive experience thanks to a photo-realistic 3D interface. Some will develop software using these gaming techniques to work on existing hardware systems such as both old and new versions of Xbox and PlayStation. A social component that includes sharing will drive success.

8. Online Learning and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) have been embraced by highly recognized and traditional educational institutions, putting them in a position to challenge all educational systems by making Location and Tuition far less of a barrier to receiving the information, training, and knowledge people need to know in order to succeed in a rapidly changing world. This hard trend, combined with Gameification systems, will change the face of global education.

9. eBooks, eNewspapers, eMagazines and Interactive Multimedia eTextbooks are finallypassing the tipping pointdue to the abundance of smart phones and tablets that provide a full color experience, and publishers providing apps that give a better-than-paper experience by including cut, copy, paste, print, and multimedia capabilities. Interactive eTextbooks will finally take off thanks to easy-to-use software such as Apple’s iBook Author and other competing tools, freeing new publishers to create compelling and engaging content, and freeing students from a static, expensive, and literally heavy experience.

10. Social Business Applications take on a new level of urgency as organizations shift from an Information Age “informing”model to a Communication Age “communicating and engaging” model. Social Software for business will reach a new level of adoption with applications to enhance relationships, collaboration, networking, social validation, and more. Social Searchand Social Analytics will increasingly be used by marketers and researchers, not to mention Wall Street, to tap into millions of daily tweets and Facebook conversations, providing real-time analysis of many key consumer metrics.

11. Smart Phones & Tablets Get Smarter with the rapid advances in processing power, storage, and bandwidth. Smart phones have already become our primary personal computer, and the Mobile Web hasbecomea must-have capability. An Enterprise Mobility Strategy Becomes Mandatory for all size organizations as we see mobile data, mobile media, mobile sales, mobile marketing, mobile commerce, mobile finance, mobile payments, mobile health, and many more explode. The vast majority of mobile phones sold globally will have a browser, making the smart phone our primary computer that is with us 24/7 and signaling a profound shift in global computing. This new level of mobility and connectivity by many millions around the world will allow any size business to transform how they market, sell, communicate, collaborate, educate, train, and innovate using mobility.

12. Mobile Apps for Business Processes such as purchasing, supply chain, logistics, distribution, service, sales, maintenance, and more will grow rapidly. There will be an increasing focus on Business App Stores within companies giving users access to personalized information they need on their mobile devices anytime and anywhere.

Posted by: Daniel BurrusDaniel Burrus

common misconceptions in workplace training

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A Free Guide on How to Take Your Course online from The Educators

It is incredibly focused, with a refreshingly simple approach. And it covers, course design, elearning technology, marketing your course online and so much more!

Read It Now

The problem with workplace training is that it seems so simple: Show employees what to do, have them practice it a few times, and you’re done. But “training is not as intuitive as it may seem,” notes Eduardo Salas, a professor of psychology at the University of Central Florida.

There is a science of training that shows that there is a right way and a wrong way to design, deliver, and implement a training program.

The science of training—one that has developed and matured over the past 30 years is too often ignored by vendors selling their own decidedly unscientific approaches to training, and by well-meaning employers and managers who assume that their intuition is a reliable guide in putting together a worker training program.

Salas’s report is full of compelling examples of how intuitive assumptions can lead trainers astray—and how science can ensure that training is truly effective. Here, an assemblage of common misconceptions, corrected by the science of training:

  1. It’s what happens during training that matters. Actually, what happens before and after training can be just as important. Beforehand, employers should take care to communicate clearly what the training is about and how it relates to workers’ jobs; afterward, they should seek employee feedback and offer support for newly-acquired skills.
  2. Training should be focused on getting workers to remember everything they need to know to do their jobs. There’s so much information available today that trainers need to distinguish between content that is “need-to-know,” and that is “need-to-access.” For the latter category, Salas writes, “training should teach people where and how to find that information rather than seeking to have them retain that information in memory.”
  3. As part of training, employees should be tested on their abilities and asked to focus on the areas that need improvement. Research shows that training is more effective when it’s presented as an opportunity, rather than as a test, and when it emphasizes its benefits to participants, rather than participants’ existing deficits.
  4. Once employees have been trained, those skills are in place and subsequent training can move on to teaching new skills. In fact, “skill decay is a major problem in training,” writes Salas. He cites a meta-analysis finding that a year after training, trainees have lost over 90 percent of what they learned. Skill decay can be prevented by giving workers frequent opportunities to practice their new skills, and by scheduling “refresher” training.
  5. The motivation to learn has to come from within the individual employee—there’s not much employers can do about it. Actually, Salas reports, employers can act to increase workers’ motivation: by being clear about the link between what’s being taught and how it will be used on the job, and by making sure employees feel supported in their efforts to learn by their supervisors and by the organization as a whole.
  6. Workbooks, lectures, and videos are the best way to deliver training information. These media, which emphasize information and demonstration, “remain the strategies of choice in industry. And this is a problem,” Salas writes. “We know from the body of research that learning occurs through the practice and feedback components.” Employers can increase the effectiveness of training by making the process more active and engaging for participants.
  7. The best way to arrange training is to show workers what to do, then let them jump in and try it for themselves. “Not all practice is created equal,” Salas notes. “Unstructured practice without objectives, appropriate stimulation, and useful feedback can teach wrong lessons.” Workers will get the most out of practice when they are provided with constructive and timely feedback that identifies what they may be doing wrong and how to fix it.
  8. The better workers perform during training, the better they’ll perform on the job.Not necessarily. Research shows that conditions that maximize performance during training are often different from those that maximize the transfer and retention of those skills. “Drilling” information leads to rapid learning during training, for example, but it leads to poorer retention and transfer than other methods that promote “deep learning.”
  9. Making errors during training should be avoided. “Because errors often occur on the job, there is value in training people to cope with errors both strategically and on an emotional level,” Salas notes. Guiding workers to make errors, and then providing them with strategies to correct their mistakes, will lead them to understand the task in greater depth and will help them deal with errors on the job.
  10. Adding technology is a surefire way to improve training. “Both traditional forms of training and technology-based training can work, but both can fail as well,” Salas observes. Technology must be implemented in a thoughtful way, in accordance with scientific findings, in order to add to the effectiveness of training.
  11. Workers should always be allowed to make their own choices about what they need to learn. Research shows that “learner control,” although it sounds appealing, doesn’t lead to greater learning. Left to their own devices, workers may not be knowledgeable or motivated enough to make wise decisions about how and what to learn.
  12. In training using simulations, it’s important for the virtual setting to be precisely the same as the one the worker will encounter on the job. Actually, Salas writes, what matters is not the “physical fidelity” of the simulation, but its psychological fidelity—how accurately it evokes the feelings and the responses the worker will have on the job.

“The Science of Training and Development in Organizations” (full text here) is full of surprising conclusions drawn from research. With the rich body of evidence now available, we no longer need to rely on intuition—or the claims of hucksters—to design workplace training. That’s what science is for.

What Matters in Training and Development

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The Science of Training and Development in Organizations:

What Matters in Practice

Companies know that they need to encourage the continued learning and development of their workforce in order to stay on top in their field. Because a trained workforce can provide a competitive advantage to companies, it makes sense to implement the best training program possible — especially one guided by sound science.

Each year, organisations in the United States spend roughly $135 billion on employee training.

In this article, Salas (University of Central Florida), Tannenbaum (The Group for Organizational Effectiveness), Kraiger (Colorado State University), and Smith-Jentsch (University of Central Florida) describe the current state of the science and practice of training, discuss why organizations should care about employee training, and outline processes for creating the most effective training program possible.

Training research and practice have greatly advanced within the last 30 years, moving from what was once described as a “nonempirical” field to one based on science. Research not only has shown that well-designed training programs work, but also has provided insights into what makes a program effective. According to the authors, what occurs during training is not the only thing that matters; what occurs before and after training is just as important for program success.

Based on past research, the authors suggest several steps that should be taken before, during, and after training to maximise a program’s impact.

Before:

Research indicates that organizations should take steps before training to create an appropriate learning climate and conduct a Training Needs Analysis — a diagnosis of what needs to be trained, to whom, and in what organisational system.

During:

During training, organizations should take steps to create the right trainee mindset and should use training strategies that utilize appropriate instructional principles.

After:

After training, employers should ensure that transfer of the training has occurred and should evaluate the training methods to see if any improvements could be made.

By becoming informed about and active in the training process, business leaders and policy makers can positively influence the scientific rigor — and therefore effectiveness — of training at their organisations, thus maximising the potential of their workforce and of their organisation as a whole.

About the Authors (PDF)

Editorial: Commentary on the Science of Training and Development in Organizations: What Matters in Practice

By Paul W. Thayer - Read the Full Text (PDF)

How To Build a Profitable eLearning Business

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Unicorn CEO, Peter Phillips asks why are there so few global players in the business of eLearning development and what are the keys to survival and growth in the highly competitive eLearning industry?

Over Unicorn’s 25 years, we have seen the evolution of the bespoke eLearning business from a small fragmented cottage industry into today’s much larger fragmented cottage industry. So what differentiates your bespoke eLearning business? Is it great writing, great design, a specialist eLearning industry focus? Or something else altogether…..

Here are a few suggestions for having a profitable bespoke business.

1- Raise barriers to entry

The eLearning industry has always suffered from low entry barriers. These have made for plenty of competition, but also driven down margins and, in the longer term, that constrains growth. In the early days, there were some excellent authoring tools around, but these required a degree of technical programming skill to use them effectively. The rise of rapid development tools that don’t require coding skills such as the PowerPoint Add-ins from Articulate and iSpring, have lowered entry barriers further.

2- Create switching costs

Bespoke eLearning companies need a constant stream of new business and when switching costs for your clients are low and price competition fierce, stable growth is tough.

3- Employ great Instructional Designers

There is still one important constraint on new entrants - instructional design skills. Anyone with experience of the eLearning industry knows how difficult it is to find good instructional designers who understand the subject matter, the principles of effective learning and have the creativity to be able to engage the learner. These skilled resources are a key limit on the ability to maintain high quality when trying to grow fast, although that has not always been a sufficient deterrent. We’ve all winced at examples of ‘Click Next 150 times then answer three badly written questions’!

4- Outsource non-core activities

Over the past decade, better communications have exposed providers to global competition, resulting in further downward pressure on prices, but also opportunities for cost saving through offshore outsourcing and crowd sourcing. Unfortunately potential cost savings are rarely fully realised as the reduced direct costs can be outweighed by additional management costs in ensuring that quality, creativity and cultural relevance are not compromised.

5- Two plus two doesn’t equal four

A strategy of growth through acquisition requires a very different skill set from organic growth. The history of the eLearning industry is littered with failed or overpriced mergers and acquisitions. A public listing is only for the brave, the deluded or those looking for a quick exit before it all goes pear-shaped! The tarnished history of mergers and acquisitions highlights there are few advantages in size in bespoke eLearning companies, and management problems tend to multiply as teams get larger and more dispersed.

6- Find your niche

A route to profitable growth is apparent in the examples of successful niche players, who focus on market verticals where they have specialist expertise and can talk the language of their clients. Whether it is oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, healthcare or, as in Unicorn’s case, insurance and banking, you can create strong barriers to entry and high switching costs, and build profitable, enduring business relationships.

The exponential rise of mobile platforms expands the market and brings in more players, but the basic economics are unchanged.

We will continue seeing new entrants with new ideas and a low cost base challenging the established players in an increasingly global cottage industry.

We have developed a series of simple instructions on how to take your course online, freely available to any visitor to this site. For this free guide visit the Going Online Page.

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Peter Phillips

As Unicorn CEO, my role is to communicate the Unicorn values, drive innovation and growth, and help to make Unicorn a fun place to work.

Check Unicorn’s LinkedIn page.

Website: www.unicorntraining.com/

via 6 Keys To A Profitable Bespoke eLearning Business.

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Metacognitive And Learning

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Strategies For Instructional Design

Do you know how to learn? Many people don’t. Specifically, they don’t know how to look inward to examine how they learn and to judge what is effective.

That’s where metacognitive strategies come in. They are techniques that help people become more successful learners. Shouldn’t this be a crucial goal of instructional design?

Improved metacognition can facilitate both formal and informal learning. It can improve the performance of new tasks on the job and help teams problem solve more effectively.

Here are some things instructional designers should know about metacognition.

What is metacognition?

  1. Metacognition is often referred to as “thinking about thinking.” But that’s just a quick definition. Metacognition is a regulatory system that helps a person understand and control his or her own cognitive performance.
  2. Metacognition allows people to take charge of their own learning. It involves awareness of how they learn, an evaluation of their learning needs, generating strategies to meet these needs and then implementing the strategies. (Hacker, 2009)
  3. Learners often show an increase in self-confidence when they build metacognitive skills. Self-efficacy improves motivation as well as learning success.
  4. Metacognitive skills are generally learned during a later stage of development. Metacognitive strategies can often (but not always) be stated by the individual who is using them.
  5. For all age groups, metacognitive knowledge is crucial for efficient independent learning because it fosters forethought and self-reflection.

The Two Processes of Metacognition

Fortunately, many theorists organize the skills of metacognition into two components. This makes it easier to understand and remember.

  1. According to theory, metacognition consists of two complementary processes: 1) the knowledge of cognition and 2) the regulation of cognition.
  2. Knowledge of cognition has three components: knowledge of the factors that influence one’s own performance; knowing different types of strategies to use for learning; knowing what strategy to use for a specific learning situation.
  3. Regulation of cognition involves: setting goals and planning; monitoring and controlling learning; and evaluating one’s own regulation (assessing results and strategies used).

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Metacognition and Expertise

  1. Many experts cannot explain the skills they use to elicit expert performance. (Perhaps this is due to the automatic functioning of the expert.)
  2. Metacognitive strategies often separate an expert from a novice. For example, experts are able to plan effectively on a global level at the start of a task—a novice won’t see the big picture.
  3. Some adults with expertise in one domain can transfer their metacognitive skills to learn more rapidly in another domain.
  4. On the other hand, some adults do not spontaneously transfer metacognitive skills to new settings and thus, will need help doing so.

Examples of Metacognition Skills You May Use

Successful learners typically use metacognitive strategies whenever they learn. But they may fail to use the best strategy for each type of learning situation. Here are some metacognitive strategies that will sound familiar to you:

  1. Knowing the limits of your own memory for a particular task and creating a means of external support.
  2. Self-monitoring your learning strategy, such as concept mapping, and then adapting the strategy if it isn’t effective.
  3. Noticing whether you comprehend something you just read and then modifying your approach if you did not comprehend it.
  4. Choosing to skim subheadings of unimportant information to get to the information you need.
  5. Repeatedly rehearsing a skill in order to gain proficiency.
  6. Periodically doing self-tests to see how well you learned something.

Metacognitive and learning Strategies

Metacognitive strategies facilitate learning how to learn. You can incorporate these, as appropriate, into eLearning courses, social learning experiences, pre- and post-training activities and other formal or informal learning experiences.

  1. Ask Questions. During formal courses and in post-training activities, ask questions that allow learners to reflect on their own learning processes and strategies. In collaborative learning, ask them to reflect on the role they play when problem solving in teams.
  2. Foster Self-reflection. Emphasize the importance of personal reflection during and after learning experiences. Encourage learners to critically analyze their own assumptions and how this may have influenced their learning.
  3. Encourage Self-questioning. Foster independent learning by asking learners to generate their own questions and answer them to enhance comprehension. The questions can be related to meeting their personal goals
  4. Teach Strategies Directly. Teach appropriate metacognitive strategies as a part of a training course.
  5. Promote Autonomous Learning. When learners have some domain knowledge, encourage participation in challenging learning experiences. They will then be forced to construct their own metacognitive strategies.
  6. Provide Access to Mentors. Many people learn best by interacting with peers who are slightly more advanced. Promote experiences where novices can observe the proficient use of a skill and then gain access to the metacognitive strategies of their mentors.
  7. Solve Problems with a Team: Cooperative problem solving can enhance metacognitive strategies by discussing possible approaches with team members and learning from each other.
  8. Think Aloud. Teach learners how to think aloud and report their thoughts while performing a difficult task. A knowledgeable partner can then point out errors in thinking or the individual can use this approach for increased self-awareness during learning.
  9. Self-explanation. Self-explanation in writing or speaking can help learners improve their comprehension of a difficult subject.
  10. Provide Opportunities for Making Errors. When learners are given the opportunity to make errors while in training, such as during simulations, it stimulates reflection on the causes of their errors.

In summary, metacognition is a set of skills that enable learners to become aware of how they learn and to evaluate and adapt these skills to become increasingly effective at learning. In a world that demands lifelong learning, providing people with new and improved metacognitive strategies is a gift that can last forever.

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learning strategies

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What’s the key to effective learning? One intriguing body of research suggests a rather riddle-like answer:

It’s not just what you know. It’s what you know about what you know.

To put it in more straight forward terms, anytime a student learns, he or she has to bring in two kinds of prior knowledge: knowledge about the subject at hand (say, mathematics or history) and knowledge about how learning works. Educators are pretty good at imparting the first kind of knowledge. We’re comfortable talking about concrete information: names, dates, numbers, facts. But the guidance we offer on the act of learning itself—the “metacognitive” aspects of learning—is more hit-or-miss, and it shows.

“Metacognition” is often simply defined as “thinking about thinking.”

Metacognition refers to higher order thinking which involves active control over the cognitive processes engaged in learning. Activities such as planning how to approach a given learning task, monitoring comprehension, and evaluating progress toward the completion of a task are metacognitive in nature. Because metacognition plays a critical role in successful learning, it is important to study metacognitive activity and development to determine how students can be taught to better apply their cognitive resources through metacognitive control.

In most of the teaching institutions, “the emphasis is on what students need to learn, whereas little emphasis—if any—is placed on training students how they should go about learning the content and what skills will promote efficient studying to support robust learning,”John Dunlosky, professor of psychology at Kent State University in Ohio”

Teaching students how to learn is as important as teaching them content, because acquiring both the right learning strategies and background knowledge is important—if not essential—for promoting lifelong learning.”

Research has found that students vary widely in what they know about how to learn, according to a team of educational researchers from Australia writing last year in the journal Instructional Science. Most striking, low-achieving students show “substantial deficits” in their awareness of the cognitive and metacognitive strategies that lead to effective learning—suggesting that these students’ struggles may be due in part to a gap in their knowledge about how learning works.

Teaching students good learning strategies would ensure that they know how to acquire new knowledge, which leads to improved learning outcomes. Students who use appropriate strategies to understand and remember what they read, such as underlining important parts of the texts or discussing what they read with other people, perform mush better (equivalent to one full school year) in their assessments.

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Students can assess their own awareness by asking themselves which of the following learning strategies they regularly use (the response to each item is ideally “yes”):
• I draw pictures or diagrams to help me understand this subject.
• I make up questions that I try to answer about this subject.
• When I am learning something new in this subject, I think back to what I already know about it.
• I discuss what I am doing in this subject with others.
• I practice things over and over until I know them well in this subject.
• I think about my thinking, to check if I understand the ideas in this subject.
• When I don’t understand something in this subject I go back over it again.
• I make a note of things that I don’t understand very well in this subject, so that I can follow them up.
• When I have finished an activity in this subject I look back to see how well I did.
• I organize my time to manage my learning in this subject.
• I make plans for how to do the activities in this subject.

Research shows that those students who used fewer of these strategies reported more difficulty coping with their schoolwork. Educators can use a series of proactive questions which they can drop into the lesson on a “just-in-time” basis—at the moments when students could use the prompting most. These questions, too, can be adopted by any educator to make sure that learners know not just what is to be learned, but how.

• What is the topic for today’s lesson?
• What will be important ideas in today’s lesson?
• What do you already know about this topic?
• What can you relate this to?
• What will you do to remember the key ideas?
• Is there anything about this topic you don’t understand, or are not clear about?

 

What Is Your Learning Style?

This quiz asks 24 questions and will take less than five minutes to complete. Try not to think too hard — just go with your first thought when describing your daily activities and interests. By the end, you may have some new insights into your learning preferences.

This article has been based on an article by Annie Murphy Paul.

You can email her at annie@anniemurphypaul.com.

You can also visit her website, follow her on Twitter, and join the conversation on Facebook. Be brilliant!

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How does one get started as Instructional Designer?

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This is a summary of the answers put to Shirron’s question “How does one get started as Instructional Designer?” on a LinkedIn discussion forum in the E-Learning group, which I believe will be very helpful to all those who are considering to make a move to Instructional Design and all its related fields. There are many valuable advice from experts in the field with a first hand experience.

 

Shirron Jeffries, MBA, MSShirron Jeffries has raised this question, which I believe many new comers to this field will be asking:

How does one get started in the field?

I have my degree and have yet to land a job. I’m getting to the point of walking away from it. I’m torn because I REALLY like it but no job offers.

Instructional Designer, Facilitator, Multimedia Developer, and Curriculum Designer

 

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Comments

Dawn Fry

Dawn Fry - Director of Instructional Design at Pinnacle Career Institute

Look for consulting work while you are trying to land a full-time job. Consulting jobs often give you the leads you need to find a full time position.

Also find out what the regional conferences are and go there with a stack of your business cards. Chat people up and spread your cards widely. Present if you can get the opportunity - that way you come across as an authority figure. (And often presenters get cheaper or free entry into the conference). When you are at your first conference, make sure you talk to working Instructional Designers in your area to see what conferences they attend, and have them help you with searching for opportunities.

Many people outside the field of ID do not understand that good IDs are trained to pick up, evaluate, and use any software as a tool to performing their job. You have to explain this skill set in the interview, instead of just answering that you don’t have experience with that particular product.

Jamal Gay - Vice President, Semester Online at 2U

It seems like having the right mix of experience in media, technology and academia often gets resumes set aside for follow up. If software is an issue/deficit, visit Lynda.com and level the playing field. An often overlooked skill is one’s ability to appreciate some of the nuanced complexities of academia. Aside from that, stay persistent and ask for informational interviews - via phone or video chat - so you’re forging and fortifying relationships in the industry even while you’re searching.

Valerie Andrews

Valerie Andrews - IT Technical Training Specialist at T. Marzetti

I like Dawn’s comment about looking for consulting work. When I was laid off, I worked for 3 years as a contractor/consultant that is, until I landed my current full-time gig! 3 years sounds daunting at first, but in those 3 years, I was able to become an expert at Captivate, Articulate and Camtasia. You should get comfortable with downloading the 30-day free trials of many of those software products. In 30-days, you can become relatively good at using the tools, that’s what I did. Once you get the hang of it, the tools are similar in use, however Captivate seems to be the most challenging to learn. Also, some tech companies look for ‘junior tech writers’ to do contract work. Of course, the salaries are not what an experienced person would make, but it might get your foot in the door so you can get more experience and get some good networking contacts.

Gwynn GrandyGwynn Grandy - Graduate Assistant in Training Development at Florida State University

Do you have an online web portfolio? If not build one. If so, Find someone you trust to give honest feedback. Look for small part time contract jobs to build your experience and to build your network while you look for full time work. If you struggle to find contract work, start with a small unpaid internship.

Henrietta KoffiHenrietta Koffi - Digital Coach, Technology and Living Online Instructor, Micro-Entrepreneurship Trainer

Have you tried doing small pro bono projects for non-profits? You’d have more specific work to put on your resume, and can make connections that might land you a job. Look at job announcements closest to the kind of job in the field that you want, and find a small non-profit (with a good marketing arm that can talk you and your project up) and create something. Don’t leave - this kind of work is so much fun!

Shirron Jeffries, MBA, MS

Shirron Jeffries, MBA, MS

 

Everyone is mentioning consulting. Is that the same as contract work? Where would I find it? Do I need to go to an employment agency? I live in a small time so I’m limited.

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Urbano DelgadoUrbano Delgado - Instructional Designer

Be open to moving far from what you’re familiar with. A few years ago I was in your situation. I was near the west coast where there were no jobs. There were tons on the other side of the country. So I moved.

Antoinette HandoAntoinette Hando - Ed.D. Student (ABD) Instructional Design and Technology

I think that finding contract work is also good. I also suggest looking through the jobs here, or on indeed.com and check out the requirements. See which ones would fit your interest and skills.

Roman WalleyRoman Walley - Global Down Stream Learning Account Manager at Shell Global Solutions

I would also counsel-join the professional societies: ASTD and NSPI. They have great networking functions. In addition, doing pro-bono work can open a lot of doors because charities and non-profits usually can’t afford to hire consulting firms. The added bonus is they often attact VP level talent to their boards and working committees, increasing your exposure.

Urbano DelgadoUrbano Delgado - Instructional Designer

Charles, you’ll want to take a look at http://www.usajobs.gov. Check out series 1750, instructional systems specialist; it’s closest to instructional designer. Also Check out http://www.jobserious.com

For volunteer portfolio building, you might look at the following:

LINGOs: http://ngolearning.org/default.aspx
UN Online Volunteers Program: http://www.onlinevolunteering.org/en/index.html

Jay ChunJay Chun - eLearning Developer at Cisco Systems

My suggestion to you is starting bidding really low on elance.com for anything related to instructional design. This will let you build skill and your portfolio.

Shirron Jeffries, MBA, MS

Shirron Jeffries, MBA, MSI

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Several of you have mentioned that I create an E-portfolio. What should be in it? Is there a standard way to do it?

My issue with it is that I don’t have any graduate work to show. I received my degree five years ago (2005). I have not done any work in the field at all. I have six years of teaching (trade school, college, and public school) under my belt. I’m stuck on where to start. What should I include since I don’t have anything? Should I focus on building one at this point?

Antoinette HandoAntoinette Hando - Ed.D. Student (ABD) Instructional Design and Technologyyou’ll want to first decide what type of instructional design you want to do. For me, the main distinctions are corporate vs. education. Then create examples of what you can do for the field you’ve chosen.

If you have taught then you have lesson plans that can be made into a portfolio. Maybe take the lesson plans and look at it from the point of view of an instructional designer. What would you add to make them better for online or blended learning? Could you do a video sample of you teaching a 10 minute introduction to a topic? You could take one of your powerpoints and create a captivate lesson. This would give you a chance to update your lessons and show how you react as an instructional designer.

Heather WillisHeather Willis - Sales Curriculum Developer at VMware

You can build training on anything. It is not necessarily the subject matter - it is more about the delivery. You can provide training on how to back a cake or even how to tie your shoe. I recommend using the free trial of Storyline, Articulate Studio or Captivate to put together a couple short lessons to provide on your portfolio and keep working on it. Good luck!

 

Ray ColeRay Cole - Instructional Designer, Senior at Lam Research

You know, telling new instructional designers that they should work for free to break into the field is a bit self-defeating for the industry as a whole. Where does this end? It puts a constant downward pressure on the earning potential of instructional designers, first by adding the cost of several months of working for no pay onto the cost of any formal education the ID might have pursued to launch his or her career in the first place, and second, by forcing established IDs to price-compete with all this free labor that constantly enters the field.

Siamak Taslimi

Siamak Taslimi - Founder of TheEducators.com

Hi Shirron, check this site http://www.theeducators.co/ and if you needed more assistance contact me.

Erwin SniedzinsErwin Sniedzins - President & CEO at Mount Knowledge Inc

Greetings Shirron -Companies hire people for 2 basic reasons: - 1. To make money. 2. To save money. An individual has only 2 ways to make money: - 1. Sell a product. 2. Sell a service. Most people sell services.

How much money can you make or save a company? Depending on the industry, companies generally look for a minimum return on investment (ROI) of about 5 x 1. If you want a salary of $80,000 then show them how, if they hire you, they will make about $400,000. Then it is a “no brainer” for a decision maker to say join my team.

Now with your accredited Master degrees you have invested in yourself about 30,000 hours to sell services. What have you done to earn these degrees that will validate your creativity - not knowledge? Employers look for creativity not knowledge. Creativity indicates problem solving attributes not someone who only has the knowledge to put a nut on a bolt.

The realities are that your investments in yourself cost you money and you also needed to survive especially if you have family needs let alone your one needs.

Do you have a web site to show case your creativity? Do you have your own business cards to help you focus your passion and abilities? Do you have enough experience to do consultant work?

Now you reached out to this form and I hope others as well to highlight some of your creativity so here is what I suggest you can do ASAP to get noticed and not only a job but more importantly a career for your passion.

1. Target a minimum of 100 specific individuals, companies and charities that you want or can go after to introduce your skills.
2. Do some design work for charity but make sure you get to know who is on the board of directors and then introduce yourself to these people and then network. A lot of these BOD people are from companies that you may want to work for or know people in these companies.
3. Use your school network - Professors especially. They get requests all the time for consultant work or asked to recommend bright students.
4. Send me your resume with testimonials and examples
5. Register with associations such as Maven, head hunters, government

I am sure that you have done a lot already but you must not give up. It will come despite the pressures that you may be feeling now.

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Peter EngelsPeter Engels - Instructional Designer and Media Developer

I found myself in that situation after I finished my degree a couple years ago. I changed careers from retail management (where I was conducting training for my staff as well as the region) to a full-time ID position. 3 things helped me:

1. Start small: Apply for and accept contract work. You may just be doing storyboards, or just routine development, but it gets your name out there and a chance to work with people. The very rare test drive of a company to see if you like the way they work and vice versa. It’s not uncommon to be offered a permanent position if they have the need and resources.

2. Build your portfolio: I started by using better projects from my masters degree and added to them from industry work. A lot of places will grant you permission to include your work in a personal portfolio, usually as long as you scrub client logos/names and the company logo/name if it appears anywhere. LinkedIn now has a portfolio feature, or you can build an interactive PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro to send to potential employers.

3. Learn software: As someone earlier pointed out, the academy downplays the role of software and focuses on theory and methods. They are academics and researchers - of course they do. The reality is, you need to be able to use these tools as a means to apply the theory to produce something that looks good, works correctly, and bridges the performance gap (which is what you are really selling - a solution). Download 30 day trials using your school e-mail address and play around with the tool, maybe even build a hypothetical course (pick something you already know or can easily research). You’re learning the software AND building your portfolio. Then, use a personal e-mail to get another free 30 days. After 2 months, you should know it well enough to feel comfortable listing it on a resume and talking about it’s pros and cons in an interview.

Dawn FryDawn Fry - Director of Instructional Design at Pinnacle Career Institute

As an ID with management experience, I would advise that you look for a place that is just starting with an ID team (2 years or less) and needs a team leader. Then your management experience is a bonus, instead of a liability. I specifically wanted to get into ID administration, so I went in looking for a job where I could lead. You may not get a great pay check to start with from one of these companies, but you can use it as an experience builder to launch you into more ID leadership positions.