What Do E-Learning Designers Really Do? #30

E-Learning Challenge #30

Have you ever tried explaining what you do to your friends or parents? Anyone? Chances are you were met with a blank or quizzical look.

While most jobs can be tough to explain to people outside your industry, e-learning design has to be one of the most challenging jobs to explain. The industry is relatively new and requires designers to juggle a variety of skills from writing to design to project management to counselling.

For anyone who’s struggled to explain their occupation, the “What People Think I Do / What I Really Do” is the visual elevator pitch you've been looking for. 

Using a series of panels, you tell a visual story about the preconceptions outsiders have about our industry. You’ve likely seen one or more versions of this visual communication meme. Here’s one of my favorites:

There isn’t a strict format you have to follow, the panels typically include panels for:

• What my friends think I do
• What my mom thinks I do
• What society thinks I do
• What my boss thinks I do
• What I think I do
• What I actually do

In some ways, this meme is similar to the photo collage challenge you did a couple weeks back. The biggest difference is the meme is focused around explaining what your occupation while the photo collage was more open-ended.

Now, it’s possible what people think you do and what you really do are exactly the same:

Challenge of the week

This week, your challenge is to design a visual chart using the “What People Think I Do / What I really Do” meme.  You can choose any job role you like: instructional designer, course designer, Super Hero, or any other title that interests you.

Projects can be static images, or you can try something more interactive like video or animation. Whatever you decide to do, just have fun with it! I’ll start a Pinterest board like I did for your instructional design tips to showcase your examples.

Resources

Here’s a free PowerPoint template to help you get started:

Blogs and articles

• What People Think I do / What I Really Do (Know Your Meme)
• Instructional Design Tips (E-Learning challenge)
• What does an instructional designer do?

Last week’s challenge 

Before you start telling everyone what you really do, check out what your community members did in last week’s summary slide challenge:

• Nancy Woinoski kicked off the challenge with an amazing summary slide featuring an embedded app to allow learners to comment on the course wall.
• Joshua Roberts leveraged some community resources to design a fun and personalized summary slide. Nice one, Joshua!
• Jeff Kortenbosch reminded us how great Engage ‘13 is for quickly pulling together a clean and concise resource slide. Thanks, Jeff!
• Charles Hamper took things in a retro direction with this fun summary slide featuring groovy tunes and options for reviewing course resources.
• Dan Sweigert helped learners check out anytime they like with this colorful summary slide. Check out Dan’s blog post to learn more about the inspiration and development process behind his project. “Great job” Dan!
• Ruth McElhone drove a creative summary slide that includes resource reminders and an option to email course notes to a learning coach.
• Jackie Van Nice had some fun with her animal-themed conclusion slide featuring image-based rollovers for resources, feedback, summary, review, and exiting the course. Check out Jackie’s blog to learn more about this fun project.
• Ashley Chiasson introduced us (was I the only one?) to the Grumpy Cat meme in this simple yet funny conclusion slide.
• Melanie Dunmore shared a hand-drawn summary slide that features colorful illustrations and interactive markers for accessing course resources.
• Matt Guyan proved course designers can have their e-learning and eat it too in this surprise-ending resource slide. Nice touch with the presents and candles, Matt!
• Allison Nederveld proved no e-learning mission is impossible with this game-themed course ending. You’ll want to read more about Allison’s project over at her blog.
• Paul Alders gave us a peek at an interactive training manual he’s working on with this summary slide. Nice use of Storyline’s scrollpane, Paul!
• Mary Cropp shared a fun summary slide for an onboarding module. Subtle animations combined with sound effects make this a pleasing way to end a module. Thanks, Mary!
• Miranda Verswijvelen shared a character-inspired recap slide featuring an interactive slide summary. Great demo, Miranda!
• Yours truly shared some silly ideas for closing out a course. Honestly… you’re better off going with one or more ideas shared above!

Wishing you a great week—doing whatever it is you do—E-Learning Heroes!

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.

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 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.