Instructional Design
Education done well, is entertaining.
Humanity consumes a lot of media. We're trained all our lives to follow a narrative in a specific way. To reach your audience you need to get their attention, make them care, and stick in their mind, you must design content that is engaging.
My Educational Content
Videos
Courses
Courses
Watch my educational presentations and videos.
Courses
Courses
Courses
Check out interactive courses I've built in Articulate Rise.
My Strategy
Research & Analysis
Become a subject matter expert
Bill Nye the Science Guy researches everything. And kids learn a lot from that guy. Heck, I'm 36 and I'm still learning from that guy. He's able to package his information in such an entertaining way because he understands the subject matter he teaches inside and out.
Understand the learner as well as you understand the material
Learner personas can feel like a solely creative endeavor but you will teach a 60-year-old plumber to build his first website in a very different way than you'll teach a new college grad how to nail an interview. Honor the learner journey by being sure you understand the circumstances in which they're learning and the impact that understanding this material will have on their lives. I guarantee you'll create much better courses.
Design & Development
Plan for the how as well as the what
When you understand both your subject and your learner, it's time to plan how to teach them the subject they want to learn. Will you provide real world examples of the concepts you present? Will you include quizzes? You want to keep it comprehensive, consistent, and relevant.
Engage your learners with variety and interactive elements
Don't be boring. Know when too much is too much and break down chunks of information into digestible segments. Use images, interactivity, and multi-media so the learner doesn't have to fight their inner tween begging them to pop over to Facebook in order to keep going.
Feedback & Measurement
ADDIE vs SAM
Sigh... listen, in my opinion this is the same girl with a different haircut. The primary difference is when and how you gather feedback during the process. ADDIE comes to the table with a completed course and asks what you think, SAM asks for feedback at every stage. Which way you choose to go will probably depend on the size of your team and the topic you're teaching.
Start with your KPIs in mind
If you know how you're measuring success, you'll design in the correct kinds of quizzes and tests, you'll focus your content on driving the correct actions, and stakeholders and learners alike will be delighted with the results of your efforts. You might get where you're going without knowing your destination before you take off, but it'll take a lot longer, and you could incur a lot of negative attention in the meantime.