Category: Blog
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The Importance of B-Roll
When working on a video project it is critical to record some B-Roll. B-roll is background video that can set the scene or help provide context to the content. It can be used in a variety of ways and is usually placed “on top” of the other elements in the video. In a pinch, you…
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The importance of quality audio.
Our learners will forgive a lot, especially video-wise, but learners will not forgive bad audio. If your project has bad audio your learners will disengage and shut down if they don’t turn the entire project off. Personally, I break audio into three quality categories: Unacceptable audio is audio that has distracting elements whatever they may…
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The importance of creativity and one technique for boosting your creativity
Today I discuss the importance of creativity in instructional design and specifically the pillar of creativity that is Convergent and Divergent thinking. And I end with a tip on how you can boost your own creativity by exercising the Convergent/Divergent Thinking Muscle.
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Design Thinking and How it Can Help Instructional Designers
I’m quite certain that instructional design was not on the minds of the people who originally started describing design thinking but the model’s five components mirror the components of quality instructional design quite well. Those five components are: 1. Empathize 2. Define 3. Ideate 4. Prototype 5. Test Stanford’s d.School has an excellent “Crash Course”…
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What is the best way to deal with a Subject Matter Expert or SME?
Like all of us, Subject Matter Experts come in all personality types. So what is the best way to deal with the subject matter expert that you have been assigned for your instructional design project? While I find subject matter experts may be described along a continuum of “Don’t want to be bothered” to “Don’t…
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What do instructional designers do?
One of the topics that I haven’t covered yet is to ask what do instructional designers do? Essentially Instructional Designers Design Instruction by: -Analyzing the work environment -Identifying Success Criteria -Determining Pre-training activities – determine prerequisite skills – identify learning objectives -Developing Course Materials -Developing Post Training Support -Evaluating Data -Revising Materials Other areas of…
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Staying Creatively Inspired and an Apple Pencil Recommendation.
My mother came by today and we ended up going to “Art in the Park” in South Portland Maine where there were 170 fine artists set up in the park. It reminded me of the importance of both keeping ourselves artistically inspired and energized and the importance of having our own practice. So today’s topic…
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The final stage(s) of the hype cycle
The hype cycle’s fifth stage is the plateau of productivity and this is the “boring stage” where the given innovation or technology just is there and is productive and predictable. This is where most of the technologies that we use on a daily basis are and it’s also where many of the technologies that we…
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The Hype Cycle’s Slope of Enlightenment
The fourth phase of the hype cycle is the Slope of Enlightenment where expectations and excitement start to match the reality regarding a given technology or innovation. This is when you will start to see “off the shelf” versions of the technology and “best practices” become established. For the majority of organizations and individuals, this…
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The Hype Cycle’s Trough of Disillusionment
The hype cycle’s trough of disillusionment is the third stage of the hype cycle. As the name implies this is the stage where people become disillusioned with a new innovation or technology. It can also be seen as a “wakeup call” with respect to the unrealistic expectations that we have regarding new technologies ability to…
Christopher Bergeron 