Sunday, November 4, 2012

Exploring Professional Learning Communities

I am enrolled in the Masters of Instructional Design and Technology program with a Specialization in Training and Performance Improvement through Walden University. I am not currently working in the field of Instructional Design and so as I continue with the program I hope to further enhance my knowledge by seeking out information through other platforms. As professional development evolves through the use of different formats such as blogs or wikis I will seek to acquire information on innovative learning strategies from practitioners in the field of Instructional Design or Training (Ferriter, 2009). I also hope that blogging will provide for a collaborative learning environment with my fellow classmates as we share and learn together.

Below I have shared some information and links to various blogs that I have explored over the past week related to Instructional Design and Technology.

Cathy Moore

Cathy Moore addresses the need for and identifies strategies for developing creating eLearning for adults. She provides guidance in her postings on identifying and overcoming the unique challenges that instructional designers are faced with when creating eLearning for an organization. This site provides examples and strategies that can be used by the reader when they are developing courses for adult learners.

As I change directions in my career and pursue my studies in instructional design I found this particular blog helpful in providing me with knowledge and techniques that will help me to be more effective with adult learners.  




The Rapid E-Learning Blog

Tom Kuhlman is the host of The Rapid E-Learning Blog. The purpose of the blog is to provide information and tutorials on developing innovative eLearning. The site provides useful tips on software that can be used in a format that is easily accessible. There are links within the blog for additional resources related to various topics pertinent to the area of instructional design.

I have selected this particular blog in an effort to enhance my technical skills and abilities as the organization I currently work for uses Adobe Captivate in the Instructional Design and Training department. Though I do not currently work in this particular department, I am hoping to seek a position there upon the completion of my graduate coursework in Instructional Design and Technology.


 
Online Learning Insights

Online Learning Insights is a blog hosted by Debbie Morrison. The host of the blog seeks to emphasize that online learning has the opportunity to provide a positive impact on the accessibility of education. This blog also attempts to demonstrate how education can be more effective, innovative, and engaging for the learner through exploring how instructors can improve their approaches or strategies to facilitating learning.

The blog is an excellent fact based resource for obtaining information on methods to improve instruction, and it provides information on current trends and changes in education. Since I am not currently working in the field, this blog will help to enhance my knowledge and provide an opportunity to explore new ideas and topics in education as I continue my journey towards obtaining my Masters in Instructional Design and Technology. The blog will serve as a great launch pad to further develop and examine some of the ideas that are presented on it.



Resources:
Smith, M. K. (1999). Learning theory. The encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved from http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-learn.htm .

2 comments:

  1. Your site is beautiful, Amber. Very Pro! Do you mind sharing how you inserted the pics on the left margins here? Nice work. -Sky

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  2. Thank you so very much for your feedback Sky! Your blog looks great as well! I am not too familiar with WordPress when it comes to changing templates and adding photos, but I have found Blogger to be fairly user friendly when it comes to adding things such as photos. I had a document or cheat sheet at one time that I am trying to locate that included information on using HTML to do such things. I will pass it along once I locate it. Essentially what I did in this initial posting was I took a screen shot of each of the sites and then saved them to file on my computer. After I edited the screen shots a little bit I just inserted the photos using the handy insert image feature that Blogger offers. Cheers and happy blogging!

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