E-Learning Heroes - Advice and ideas from the Articulate Community

Our team has used William Horton's Elearning By Design book and Michael Allen's Guide to E-Learning.  Looking for some good books on instructional design.  Any recommendations?

Thanks.

Good question.  I'm looking for some, too. 

Two of my favorite books are not really elearning books but more presentation books:

1. Slideology by Nancy Duarte
2. Beyond Bullet Points by Cliff Atkinson

Both books focus on how you design and layout your slides which is similar to what we do in course design.

Most people I speak to aren't just instructional designers.  So I think you need to break it into what it takes to deliver elearning courses and then look at the skills and resources you need to get there.

I recommend these books for those getting started:

1. E-Learning By Design: covers a lot of practical information; probably the most complete, although it could be updated
2. Design for How People Learn: learn how people learn to build the right type of learning
3. Michael Allen's stuff: the godfather of elearning; like his approach to elearning design 
4. Performance Consulting: learn to work with clients to move towards the right objectives
5. Beyond Bullet Points: combines cognitive science from Mayer with practical steps on creating a meaningful presentation/course
6. Non-Designer's Design Book or Non-Designer's Design & Type Books:good books on the basics of graphic design and use of fonts
7. Understanding By Design: start with your objectives in mind and figure out how to teach them.

If you're an Articulate user, then here are two good Articulate books:

1. Essential Articulate Studio '09: it's well documented and great reference manual
2. E-Learning Uncovered: Articulate Studio '09: the authors take a very pragmatic approach to learning the tools

There are all sorts of good books.  The thing is to get one, read it, and then apply what you learned to your courses.  Then get a new book.  Here's a good list started by the bloggers at Upside Learning.  I've also been updating it with recommendations from others in this thread.

1. UPDATED: eLearning by Design (2d Ed) by William Horton (old version)
2. Design for How People Learn by Julie Dirksen
3. Slideology by Nancy Duarte
4. Designing Successful e-Learning by Michael Allen
5. Guide to eLearning by Michael Allen
6. e-Learning and the Science of Instruction by Ruth Colvin Clark & Richard E. Mayer
7. Graphics for Learning: Proven Guidelines for Planning, Designing, and Evaluating Visuals in Training Materials by Ruth C. Clark and Chopeta Lyons
8. Evidence-Based Training Methods by Ruth Clark
9. Making Sense of Online Learning : A Guide for Beginners and the Truly Skeptical by Patti Shank & Amy Sitze
10. The Online Learning Idea Book: 95 Proven Ways to Enhance Technology-Based and Blended Learning edited by Patti Shank
11. The E-Learning Handbook: Past Promises, Present Challenges by Saul Carliner & Patti Shank
12. The Principles of Instructional Design by Gagne et al
13. The New Mager Six-Pack by Robert Mager (all of the Mager books below)
14. Analyzing Performance Problems by Robert F. Mager
15. Preparing Instructional Objectives by Robert F. Mager
16. Measuring Instructional Results by Robert F. Mager
17. How to Turn Learners On....Without Turning Them Off by Robert F. Mager
18. Goal Analysis by Robert F. Mager
19. Making Instruction Work by Robert Mager
20. Instructional Design Strategies and Tactics by Cynthia B. Leshin, Joellyn Pollock, and Charles M. Reigeluth (out of print)
21. ISD: From the Ground Up : A No-Nonsense Approach to Instructional Design by Chuck Hodell
22. The Systematic Design of Instruction by Walter Dick, Lou Carey, James O. Carey
23. Instructional Design by Tillman J. Ragan & Patricia L. Smith
24. The Art of Facilitation by Dale Hunter and Anne Bailey and Bill Taylor
25. Creative Training Techniques Handbook: Tips, Tactics, and How-To’s for Delivering Effective Training by Robert Pike
26. Made to Stick by the Heath Brothers
27. Designing Effective Instruction by Gary R. Morrison, Steven M. Ross, and Jerrold E. Kemp
28. Train for Results by Catherine Mattiske
29. First Principles of Instruction by M David Merrill (free PDF)
30. Visual Language for Designers by Connie Malamed
31. Don't Make Me Think by Steven Krug

That's a good list of books.  Thanks.  If you could only have one eLearning book what would you choose?

One of my favorite books is  E-Learning  and the Science of Instruction. Tom hit some of the others that I like and have used. I think the non designers web book is great because  it stresses CARP. Contrast ,Alignment, Repetition, and Proximity which are very important in the design phase of any project.

@Christine

If you could have only one book, go ahead and buy these two from the above lists:

1. e-Learning and the Science of Instruction (Clark & Mayer)
2. Michael Allen's Guide to e-Learning

Buy one in the first half of the year and the 2nd one in the second half. If you're employer will only pay for one book, but the second one for your personal library.

Or, let family/friends know what you want for your birthday!

A book I bought recently is Visual Language for Designers, by Connie Malamed. It discusses principles for creating graphics that people understand.

Its great for inspiration and to also see some great uses of graphics for displaying information.

Also borrowing from the first post  The Non-Designers Design book has a sister book called the Non-Designers Type book. You can buy these two as one book (which I have done) which is quite handy.

Another good read is Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug. Though it deals with web usability, there are some great takeaways for e-learning designers too. He's really into making online experiences efficient & practical & frictionless.

My favorite design books are by Robert F. Mager. He has a set called "The New Mager Six-Pack" and it includes the following:

• Analyzing Performance Problems
• Preparing Instructional Objectives
• Measuring Instructional Results
• How to Turn Learners On....without turning them off
• Goal Analysis
• Making Instruction Work

These books are easy to read, very well done, and very practical.

 http://www.cepworldwide.com/storefront.asp

Take a look at this one... not a book, but great tool box for instructional designers

http://ldt.eworks.edu.au/Default.aspx

I'll second Cincy's Mager Six-Pack nod. A must read and a must have reference. I used to keep a couple of these to loan out for reference. They are easy reads and down to earth.

If you're interested in changing your perspective on the role of training in solving problems - Thomas Gilbert's Human Competence is a must have tome. A great beginning to the learning journey that instills a holistic view of problem solving.

Geary Rummler's White Space Revisited: Creating Value through Process is another perspective widening reference from one of the greats in the pragmatic problem solving world.

Gilbert and Rummler provide an alternate perspective to what you might see on the typical ISD reference shelf. Ignore these prospects at your own peril

Another good one is Creating Graphics for Learning and Performance by Linda Lohr. She has some very good tips for developing graphics.

Check out The Blended Learning Cookbook, v.2 by Clive Sheperd

Great Discussion about having a degree on Instructional design or not! Tom I have a question for you." Is there any University that offer a degree or master in instructional design?" becuase all I know is that of Educational Technology. I love instructional design and to me because of globalization is the father of modern education. Tom! I will really love have a list of  university that offers instructional design at degree or master level

Does anybody know a good book for writing elearning storyboards?

Two books that I reference often are Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art and Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels by Scott McCloud.

These books along with slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations have helped me and have helped the non-developers on my team build some effective eLearning. 

Thank you Mason. I will have a look at them. I have already read the slide:ology book.

Couple of schools I know of with Master's programs:

Penn State - http://www.ed.psu.edu/educ/in-sys

Florida State - http://insys.fsu.edu/

Boise State - http://ipt.boisestate.edu/

San Diego State - http://coe.sdsu.edu/edtec/

Indiana University - http://site.educ.indiana.edu/Default.aspx?alias=site.educ.indiana.edu/ist

Writing Training Materials That Work, Foshay, Silber, and Stelnicki

Training Design Basics, Carliner

The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. Edited by Richard E. Mayer. Dense but informative!

Okay lots of books, can anyone suggest any great pdf's  - I'm being horribly cheap righ tnow

Hey Ari - One idea for budget-conscious folks is to rent Kindle books. Amazon makes the Kindle app available for desktops (mac and pc) so you can view them on your computer.

I also buy a lot of books from Amazon listed as "used" but in new condition. The savings is substantial in many cases.

Hi David and Ari,

I, too, buy used books and often save a Lot of money. I'm a Barnes & Noble supporter. I know sometimes Amazon is cheaper, but I like to support brick and mortar stores too (provide jobs for people, local taxes, etc.) and B&N has those along with their online presence. I recently bought "The Town that Food Saved" (for a Book Club read) and even though I would have had free shipping for the paperback (as a B&N member), I bought the used copy at $1.88 and saved about $10.00! So, food for thought and a little competition :-) Oh, and don't forget B&N has the Nook!

I bought almost all of my books for grad school and professional knowledge through Half.com. It's a good source for used books. Run by eBay without the bidding part. I've had cases where I saved close to $100 on a used book vice buying new from the college bookstore, not to mention getting some books for cheaper than the media mail shipping costs. Much like Amazon's used books, it's worth checking before you buy new. I'd also check eBay since you never know what might be there.

Showemimo,

I can not say enough great things about my Walden University Instructional Design and Technology degree I earned from there.  Many wonderful doors have been opened to me and I have found that in the corporate sector where I work, Walden's education is way beyond where these corporate learning departments are right now. The cost was in line with other universities.  Walden University is only one of two universities that offer a B.S. in Instructional Design and Technology with different emphasis areas.  They offer alumni 15% off tuition if they come back for their masters program. Also 4 of my B.S classes transfered into the Master's program which came out to saving me an addition 9 credits I did not have to take for my Master's in Instructional Design. 

Now about the man that is the head of the Instructional Design department Dr. Mark Clauburg.  One word "Outstanding" Dr. Clauburg goes way beyond just being an instructor. He actually helped prepare me for my first job interview 12 weeks before I graduated, which I landed.  The curriculum is challenging but once again I can not stress how advanced it is to real world corp. learning.

So to some up I will have a B.S. and M.S. in instructional Design from Walden University that will cost me a total of $55,000. I really think it is the best deal out there.  Good Luck.

Ps. One of  my books of choice that I call my bible is Rapid Instructional Design - George Pikruich - wonderful use of the ADDIE model in Rapid Prototyping. This is handy if you work in the corporate sector where everything needs to be done yesterday.

I forgot to add if you own a ipad or iphone don't forget to check your libraries first.  I read a lot and with the kindle app on my ipad and my library card, I'm able to hook into the Phoenix Library and download books for free. I have family in Michigan that hold library cards for the Detroit Public Library, we share cards to they can tap into my electronic portion of Phoenix library and I can tap into theirs.  With the economy being as is this is another great source for getting books.

Thank you for this list!!

Best way to learn about elearning? View as many elearning courses as you can. You learn more quickly by viewing a course than reading a book, though, of course, reading is indispensable. --Daniel