Instructional Design Resources

Everyone remembers various first they have experienced throughout their lives first crush, first cell phone, or the first time you drove a car. Now that I am officially a blogger I will add this to my list of first, right now the experience feels like the first time I tried to program a VCR to record while I was away from home (never did get that to work) but if you are successfully reading this then my achievement rate has increased extensively.

That leads me to the purpose of this blog which is to relate this experience to you and recommend electronic resources I have found useful in the past to assist me while navigating and creating on and for the World Wide Web and creating e-learning and instructional design materials.

The first web site I am recommending is eLearning Learning it is a collection of blog posts and articles focused on the subject of eLearning.(http://www.elearninglearning.com/blog/blogging/instructional-design/)

One specific blog (Michael Hanley) E-Learning Curve Blog (2010) discusses learning methods and defines 3 specific types: formal learning, non-formal learning, and informal learning. The article briefly describes how one can receive an education – formally through a traditional educational or training institution in a systematized manner described as intentionally seeking some type of degree or certificate, non-formally through intentional knowledge seeking but not to achieve any certification or planned diploma but still in a structured manner, and informal learning which occurs by living and gathering experiences.

The latter is usually unintentional and is not structured; it often happens by accident or often unconsciously. Instructional Designers should considered why and how individuals learn and factor those theories into to the construction of their designs.

The other two sites I am recommending are Adobe TV - http://tv.adobe.com/%20/ an online video resource for expert instruction (Adobe Inc.) that Industrial Designers and other related professions can utilize to learn how to create and publish their materials. One specific video highlights a new resource that convert’s blog content into a voice broadcast. Use this link to view Mike Potter’s interview of The BlogRadio’s architect Bruce Hopkins - http://tv.adobe.com/watch/interview/interview-with-blogradio.

Lastly, I am recommending to anyone using the Internet and creating materials that will be utilized on the web or other electronic sources to familiarize themselves with the W3C - http://www.w3.org/: “The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards”. It is a major resource to obtain standards and best practices for various software programs as well as computer technology terms, definitions, and code samples to name a few.

One specific example of the type of useful resources and information it provides is the Feed Validation Service…“a free service that checks the syntax of Atom or RSS feeds”. It also provides a Markup Validation Service to validate Web pages - http://validator.w3.org/feed/& http://validator.w3.org/ . The term validation relates to whether a page item or background code is conforming to a specific standard or preset determination or is simply correct. For example, when you place a text box (field) on a web page to provide a space for the user to enter their name you can set validation to ensure once the user hits submit or exit they have actually type something in this field.

References

Adobe Systems Inc. (2010). Adobe TV. http://www.adobe.com/

BlogRadio. (2010). Cloud-based, streaming media for RSS. http://www.podblogr.com/

eLearning Learning.com. (2010). http://www.elearninglearning.com/blog/blogging/instructional-design/

Feed Validation Service. (2010). http://validator.w3.org/feed/

Hanley, M. (2010). E-Learning Curve Blog. Retrieved from http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/ on May 4, 2010.

Markup Validation Service. (2010). http://validator.w3.org/

Potter, M. (2009). Episode: Interview with BlogRadio. Adobe TV. Retrieved from http://tv.adobe.com/watch/interview/interview-with-blogradio

W3C. (2010). The World Wide Web Consortium. http://www.w3.org/Consortium/