Happy Friday, E-Learning Heroes!
Last week you visually explained what you do as course designers. This week, it’s time to show what you’ve done as course designers.
How do you show your work? In a portfolio, of course. But this time, use your same tools for building learning projects and let your creativity run free. Seriously! It’s your time to showcase your skills with the tools you use every day.
I get it. Most course designers don’t like to think about portfolios. Saying “look at what I did” probably isn’t in your DNA. But portfolios are a lot like flossing teeth. You never really know how important it is until it’s too late.
Last month I posted a forum thread asking users to share their e-learning portfolios. Some folks had their portfolios ready, others had to scramble. This week, Jackie Van Nice shared some creative resume ideas and asked the community if anyone had built their portfolios or resumes using Storyline. Some lively discussions followed around topics like: when to use interactive resumes, what will recruiters think, and what types of jobs are best suited for non-standard resumes.
An interactive portfolio should move beyond the paper resume. It’s your opportunity to create excitement and lengthen the time recruiters view your e-learning portfolio.
Challenge of the week
This week, your challenge is to design an interactive resume or portfolio showcasing your e-learning work. You can show all your work or highlight only a couple of your favorite projects.
Your interactive resume can be courses, excerpts from courses, screenshots, word docs, screencasts, or anything else you want to feature.
As always, you can share your examples in the comments below as well as on your own blog. Need someone to help upload your files? I’m happy to host your files for you on Articulate’s servers.
Bonus: Take the challenge up a notch by sharing a template version of your interactive resume that others can use. I’ll create a new blog post to highlight the templates and promote everyone who shares.
Tools
You can use Articulate Storyline, Articulate Studio, or PowerPoint to build your interactive resume.
Resources
To help you get started, check out some of the websites your fellow community members built using Articulate software.
Last week’s challenge
Before you run off and show us what you’ve done, check out these visual explanations of what people do in e-learning:
- Jeff Kortenbosch kicked off this week’s challenge by sharing what people think corporate e-learning specialists do.
- Montse Anderson shared her thoughts on what people think of e-learning designers, and what everyone’s favorite e-learning character thinks about e-learning designers.
- Joshua Roberts may be the only one in his circle who knows what an e-learning designer does.
- Rebecca Fleisch Cordeiro built a creative interaction to explain what she does as an instructional designer. Becky later shared her .story file so everyone can check out the cool menu she used. Thanks, Becky!
- Ashley Chiasson spends a lot of time juggling tasks and drinking coffee to keep up her amazing instructional design skills.
- Shefali Godinho joined the community with an insightful poster explaining how she chooses books at the library. Welcome to E-Learning Heroes, Sefali!
- Miranda Verswijvelen took things in another direction in this interactive explainer on how others view her home country, Belgium.
- Bruce Graham jumped into the challenge to explain what he really does with a video-based explainer. Spoiler alert: Story Lion makes an appearance.
- Jackie Van Nice shared a hand-drawn interaction to disabuse others of the idea that e-learning designers are a sketchy lot. Well done, Jackie!
- Michael Hinze isn’t your typical super star course designer, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t experience the typical e-learning problems from time to time.
- Abram Siegel shared a creative look at what he and others think e-learning instructional designers really do. Nice one, Abram!
- Allison Nederveld shared a related video that humorously captures the challenges creatives have fitting into the corporate world. Thanks for the laughs, Allison!
- Rachel Barnum explains the multifaceted world of what educational technologists do in this thoughtful meme poster.
- Nicola Redfearn joined her first challenge (Welcome, Nicola!) to explain what everyone from her mum to her boss thinks instructional designers do. Nicely done, Nicola!
- Ashley Kontos shared her first challenge entry with a creative explainer of what her clients and family thinks she does as an instructional designer. Nice job, Ashley!
- Dan Sweigert explains who he is and what others think he does as an e-learning designer.
- Sjoerd de Vries is serious about explaining what e-learning designers do, even when he uses Comic Sans and character voices that are anything but serious. Great demo, Sjoerd!
- Mary Cropp shaved off some common misconceptions to explain what your facial hair really says about you. Awesome, Mary!
- Patrick Gurczynski scored a three-pointer with his explanation of what others think of his world. Nice one, Patrick!
- Nick Russell sketched out his explanation of what those around him think he does in this animated explainer.
- Gemma Henderson didn’t let computer problems prevent her from sharing what e-learning designers do in this vintage-themed explainer. Great demo, Gemma!
- Kimberly Bourque went meta with the challenge by calling on some popular memes to tell us what she things e-learning course designers do. Love it!
- Jan Gillies shared some really fun panels depicting what those around her think instructional designers really do.
- Paul Alders created custom characters to share what his family and friends think e-learning developers really do.
- Tracy Parish went with a cartoon design theme to tell her story of what e-learning designers do.
- Ian McConnell reminded us that job titles only describe a portion of what e-learning developers really do. Check out Ian's blog post for even more insights into how this creative poster came together. Thanks, Ian!
- Richard Watson shared a fun interaction that combines animation, illustrations, and a touch of humor to communicate what those around him think e-learning designers really do. Great project, Richard!
More about the e-learning challenges:
The weekly challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. We’ll feature your work and provide feedback if you request it.
Wishing you a showcase week, E-Learning Heroes!
Even if you’re using a trial version of Studio ’13 or Storyline, you can absolutely publish your challenge files. Just sign up for a fully functional, free 30-day trial, and have at it. And remember to post your questions and comments in the forums; we're here to help. For more e-learning tips, examples, and downloads, follow us on Twitter.
