Instructional Design

My name is Lisa Falanga and I am a graduate student enrolled in the IDT program at Walden University. I am new to blogging and have tackled the task of finding blogging sites that will serve as a resource to me as an instructional designer. While I must say at first I was a bit overwhelmed, I did eventually figure out how to navigate the various blogging sites available. Below I have identified three sites that I believe will be beneficial to me as an instructional designer. However, I also found these sites contain information that is valuable to me now in my current profession as a Program Coordinator of continuing education (instructor-led as well as on-line training) in a community healthcare system in Massachusetts.

http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/ - This site contains valuable information for creating e-learning. It provides tips and tricks for creating e-learning as well as access to templates to use when creating e-learning courses. Topics covered on this site vary from Designing the Right Course, Instructional Design, Building Scenarios, to name a few. The information is easy to access and understand. This blog is hosted by Tom Kuhlmann who currently runs the community at Articulate, a leader in rapid e-learning software and e-learning authoring tools.

http://www.wordpress.com/ - When you enter "instructional design" in the search engine on the top right corner of this site, you get a hit of 14,000+ posts. There are lots of blogs and/or articles on this site regarding instructional design, understanding information and how it relates to instructional design, and approaches to learning. I believe this site to be useful to the instructional designer in helping them understanding the learning process, their relationship with content experts, etc. As instructional designers we need to understand what the goal of the learning experience is; how do we interpret the information provided by the content experts and convey that information to the learner. I think this blog site is helpful with that process.

http://www.elearninglearning.com/blog/instructional-design/- As a facilitator of education, I liked this site a lot. Here you can find lots of information relative to not just instructional design but to T & D as well. There are links to well-known learning organizations, such as American Society for Training & Development and upcoming e-learning events. I think anyone involved in instructional design, learning and performance, or adult education will find this site useful.

After reviewing these blogging sites, I have a much better understanding of their purpose and how they will benefit me not only in my current position, but as I pursue my degree in instructional design. They provide so much information beneficial to anyone involved in T & D. While it takes some time to learn how to navigate through them, once you have that down it is amazing how much information is at your fingertips. Hopefully you will visit these sites and find them useful.