Blogs for the Novice Instructional Designer

For our week one assignment, I have selected three intriguing blogs containing a wealth of educational material on instructional design, eLearning and gamesmanship.   Each of these blogs, the Upside Learning, The eLearning Coach, and the Rapid eLearning, provide their own unique tips for the novice and experienced instructional designer practitioner. 

The eLearning Coach, written by Connie Malamed, provides extensive information and is presented in an easy-to-read format for us new bloggers to peruse all the diverse categories for strategies pertaining to online learning and instructional design.    In addition, the eLearning Coach shares actionable strategies, practical content, product reviews and resources to help us design, develop and understand online learning.  Ms. Malamed writes with years of experience in the instructional design field holding a graduate in Instructional Design & Technology to include numerous years of experience in the trenches.

Tom Kuhlmann who shares practical tips and tricks about rapid eLearning composes the Rapid E-Learning Blog.  Kuhlmann has earned his graduate degree in Education Technology and has over 15 years experience in the training industry where he developed hundreds of hours of eLearning while managing eLearning projects.  The blog appears to be an extension of their website that has abundance of information on course building tutorials, offers advice and opinions from industry experts, and even provides free downloads.

                       

The Upside Learning Blog is another platform for instructional designers to gain advice and guidelines.  The blog is also named after the company’s namesake for delivering learning solutions for businesses.  Their blog is packed with information on learning such as eLearning and development, game basic learning, technology advances, and instructional design tips.  Upside Learning provides some brilliant guidance for the instructional design practitioner such as the 10 Commandments of Learning (actually 5), and free downloads providing information on inserting gaming techniques in your courses.

As a novice in instructional design and blogging, I found each of these blogs a rich resource for learning as we progress through our studies.  Check them out; I think you would agree!