Saturday, September 11, 2010

Post #1: The Doorway to Professional Learning Communities

Today is assignment #1 in my Learning Theories and Instruction class for my M.S. in Instructional Design and Technology Program.

Part 1 of the assignment is to create a blog-easy enough to create, much more of a challenge to remember to actually update it on a regular basis.
Part 2 is to search and explore various blogs and sites relevant to the field of instructional design and/or training.  This is where things have become quite interesting!  There is and endless amount of information available on the world wide web relating to instructional design, eLearning, and training.  I have found countless blogs and sites that provide information for those that are beginning in the field-to those that are experienced and looking to further their knowledge-base.
Part 3 is to write about what you find...so here goes

The first site that I began with was Blogs about: Instructional Design, which was provided by my professor.  This site is a compilation of Wordpress blogs that are about Instructional Design. The site comprises several blogs from various people, on subjects such as instructional design, eLearning, training, and self directed learning.  A blog I enjoyed, bookmarked, and added to my RSS Feeder was Good To Great In pursuit of excellence: my view on the world of learning and training. This blog is fairly new and only has a few entries so far; but the entries that are there involve a discussion on "what is good eLearning".  The author of the blog has a great voice and has a passion for the subject matter.  
Since this blog didn't have many postings I decided to look at the blogs that the author followed and found more blogs and sites to read about.


The second site that I bookmarked and added to my RSS Feeder is The Rapid eLearning Blog. What first caught my attention with this blog was the look of the site as well as the layout of the information.  Once I began to actually read the content, I realized this was a great resource as I advance in my Instructional Design program.  This particular blog contains a lot of information on creating, designing, and building, eLearning courses.  The site contains several discussions and tips on creating eLearning courses, as well as tips to become a better designer.  Finally the blog also has a few FREEBIES including a free PowerPoint eLearning template.  The host of the site, Tom Kuhlmann has over 15 years of experience in the training industry.  This is a great resource not only for a professional student; but also for anyone that wants to become an "eLearning Pro".


The next site that I bookmarked and added to my RSS Feeder is Designed for Learning! This site is authored/hosted by an Independent Learning and Development Specialist named Taruna Goel. The article that caught my attention initially on this blog was the article "Top 10 Resources on Instructional Design: Basics and More".  The author then provides a list of 10 resources, including hyperlinks to access each one.  The list comprises of top 10 books for instructional design, essential reading lists, instructional design knowledge base, instructional design models, the top eLearning blogs of 2009, and that's only half of the information!  As you click on each hyperlink it opens to the document/article which includes links to even more sources


These three sites/blogs were only the beginning for me.  I have found quite a few sites that I have already added to My Blog list as well as my RSS Feeder.  My hopes is that as I advance in my degree program I will be able to utilize these links even further in my professional development.  

No comments:

Post a Comment