Freelance Heroes
Aug 02, 2012
Hi, and welcome to the "Freelance Heroes" thread, a place where Articulate Freelancers help each other. Got a question about freelancing? Or perhaps you have an e-learning asset that may be valuable to those "doin' their own thing"? This is the place to share--to give.
To start things off, I'd like to share a short list of questions that help me figure out what kind of training a potential client wants. (So often they have no idea what they want.) The list is far from exhaustive, but may be of some help. Looking forward to meeting you. --Daniel
1293 Replies
Consulting Training Practice looking to build a small e-Learningteam
A real opportunity totake all of your eLearning experience and make a massive impact within ourorganisation. We are looking for dynamic individuals to work in our fast-pacedenvironment.
We require a strong Instructional Designer who can work closelywith the SME’s to take their current classroom based materials andtransition into a highly interactive, intuitive and high quality eLearningplatform utilizing simulations as one of the many eLearning approaches.
In addition, we also requiretwo eLearning Developers to make the magic happen. You must be highly creative,have great ideas and be extremely technically competent across the variety ofeLearning platforms. We want to push the boundaries of eLearning. This is NOT aPowerPoint conversation exercise!
You should be able to manage your activities to a tight schedule - we have alot of work to do!
Additional skills that 'ideal' candidates would have, include SOME or all ofthe following:
Integration skills with LMS systems such as Moodle
Adding e-learning portfolio to existing company web-site
HTML5 programming
Design expertise/experience
E-learning story boarding
E-Learning UI design
Experience in instructional design and curriculum development
Knowledge of e-learning technologies and deployment strategies
Experience applying adult learning principles and instructional designpractices
Demonstrated ability to analyze, interpret and implement scripts andstoryboards for e-learning
Demonstrated ability to create engaging, interactive, and effective training andperformance support materials
Candidates can work remotely or at our offices in the East Bay area ofCalifornia. Benefits include a competitive salary and bonus scheme. We are opento engaging candidates as full and part-time employees or on a 1099 basis.
In the first instance please submit your resume to applyingforthejob@yahoo.com,which should identify areas where you believe yourself to be very strong. Ifyou can submit links to any of your prior work that would be very helpful.Finally, please indicate your start availability.
Please, no agents.
@Job Available
Do you have a company website as your profile has no information.
Nicholas
We are looking for an eLearning developer who is skilled in Articulate Storyline. We have four existing Articulate courses that need updating and conversion to Storyline. Using our updated PPTs and storyboards, you will be doing the technical piece - converting to Storyline, adding interactivity, quizzes, videos files, and voice over files. Subject matter is teacher professional development.
What we need:
If you are interested please email me your CV and link to a sample of your work or link to a portfolio, and rate information: maryalicec at teachingstrategies.com
Mary Alice
Looking at this from more a graphic/web design freelancer perspective, I think the solution has a lot more variables than the points made in the article.
Due to programs becoming cheaper/easier to use, there are many more people out there who can do what I do than just a decade ago. In addition, many of these people are from countries where hourly wages, in general, are much lower. Both of these factors have driven down the value of freelance work in a lot of industries.
Another factor is the value of the final product. For example, it may take eight hours to design a logo for a large corporation or a small, startup business. Should the creator charge the same for both since it took the same amount of time? Of course not.
My point is, because different projects have different "values", I think it's smarter to move away from hourly rates and focus more on final cost of doing a project. One of the things a freelancer uses to create a final price is their hourly rate but it is only one variable in the mix.
Another thing to consider is that all time is not equal. For example, I have a much higher hourly rate for idea creation and development than I do the more software-related "grunt work" that many other people can do. But the client never hears of those.
I'd love to read other insights on this issue.
My company is in the process of developing and launching elearning courses and we are currently seeking an additional Articulate Developer/Graphic designer. Please contact me at aburwinkel@tpg-mail.com if you have experience in graphic design, PowerPoint, Articulate Storyline and other core work skills required to take a training course from instructor led to online learning. We are primarily looking for someone interested in a full time contractor position in Cincinnati, OH.
Upon contact please also provide an example of your work and an overview of your experience.
Regards,
Alison Burwinkel
Digital Director
TPG
www.thepartneringgroup.com
Thanks for the post, Alison. I'm sure you'll get a few quality responses. --Daniel
Anyone interested in a freelance job?
I’m not sure if this is the appropriate place to post this request. I’ll be happy to repost it elsewhere if need be.
I work for a local government, and I’m hoping to find someone to develop a front-end application to help citizens navigate to various PDF documents. We own Studio ’13 and Storyline. The latter is a recent acquisition and I haven’t had time to learn it well enough to develop something from scratch. I was hoping to find a “Hero” to develop the front-end for us, and then we can populate, maintain and grow it further from there.
We currently have an online performance reporting application on our website as an interface to show “scorecards” in a variety of areas. I have recorded a Replay screencast showing the navigational features we need. The navigation is built around our Corporate Strategic Plan.
As I mentioned, a Studio ’13 or Storyline solution would be great. We need the creative and technical development expertise to get us started, and we could then continue populating it with the PDFs and filling out the content on our own. In other words, we can deal with the easier/mundane bits to help keep our cost down.
Please contact me at lbenson@mapleridge.ca, with your thoughts on a solution, cost and timeline, and we can go from there. Thanks so much,
Laura
Anyone interested in a freelance job?
I’m not sure if this is the appropriate place to post this request. I’ll be happy to repost it elsewhere if need be.I work for a local government, and I’m hoping to find someone to develop a front-end application to help citizens navigate to various PDF documents. We own Studio ’13 and Storyline. The latter is a recent acquisition and I haven’t had time to learn it well enough to develop something from scratch. I was hoping to find a “Hero” to develop the front-end for us, and then we can populate, maintain and grow it further from there.
We currently have an online performance reporting application on our website as an interface to show “scorecards” in a variety of areas. I have recorded a Replay screencast showing the navigational features we need. The navigation is built around our Corporate Strategic Plan.
As I mentioned, a Studio ’13 or Storyline solution would be great. We need the creative and technical development expertise to get us started, and we could then continue populating it with the PDFs and filling out the content on our own. In other words, we can deal with the easier/mundane bits to help keep our cost down.
Perhaps there's a better site to post my request that you can direct me to...? I'm looking for thoughts on solution, cost and timeline. Thanks so much,
lbenson@mapleridge.ca
Storyline Developer needed to support Instructional Designer working through backlog of eLearning courses.
Potential for remote or in-person contracting, depending on tools, workflow and length of assignment.
Backlog includes three levels of production work:
Storyline Developer will focus on the first two levels of work and assist with the third level. I will tell you specifically what I need the learning object to do, you will build it using the skills/software must haves, below.
Skills/Software Must Haves:
Skills/Software Bonuses:
Interested? Email is john_stroup[AT]unigroup[DOT]com or PM me through profile on this community. Include a sample of a variety of Storyline work product and an overview of your experience/background.
I am looking for an Instructional designer with storyline experience for a short term contractor role to build new hire orientation materials from scratch. Must be local to Los Angeles or Orange County. You can contact me at info@hptinstructionaldesign.com
Has this question been asked before: at what point would you try to revise a contract? Lots of revisions (not your fault)? Tinkering with graphics that were not included in the contract? If the project is turning out to be longer than discussed when you gave your estimate? Unfortunately, neither of the specifics of these were included in the contract (I know, I know... rookie mistake!) The length thing was discussed verbally, but not written down anywhere other than my notes, sadly... It's important to me to maintain a good relationship with my client, so I don't want to ask anything unreasonable.
If you would revise under these conditions, how would you go about it? My main partner is sympathetic, but she wouldn't have the authority to revise, she'd have to send it up the food chain.
Hi Katie, this isn't really a rookie mistake. Unfortunately it happens all the time. If possible it is always a good idea to stipulate in the contract that the costs quoted are based on the agreed upon work as outlined in the contact and that any change in scope will result in a change request to determine the additional time and costs.
Since you don't have anything like this in your contract you have to rely on the goodwill of your client. I would document the extra effort and put a cost against it. Then I would decide whether or not it is worthwhile approaching the client about the extra cost. This is subjective but factors to consider are a) are the costs significant, b) have you incurred expenses as a result of the additional work or is it just your time, c) can you afford to absorb the loss, d) do you have other paid work that you had to put off because you were working on this project.
if you decide that you can't absorb the cost for whatever reason then I would tell the client about the scope creep and indicate that you will provide them with a document showing the additional effort and cost. Tell them that you would like to be compensated for the additional work but appreciate that it might not be in their budget and that by being transparent about the actual cost they will have more insight into scoping any new projects.
It is best to flag this as soon as possible so that your client is not blindsided at the end of the project.
Personally I don't worry about the extra effort unless there is a real disconnect between what I agreed with the client and what actually happened.
I would agree with Nancy this happens all the time, it is also something that now factor in when quoting for work.
You agreed a scope of work at some point you may need to draw a line and say that was not within the agreed scope, I have had to do this a couple of times I find most clients are responsive to this and either the project was revised to stay in budget or I was paid an additional agreed fee.
Yep... currently have a project where the cost of the eventual illustrations is only slightly less than my Invoice :(
Saying that - I am hoping that we can re-use many of them over many courses, so may be able to claw back.
Is a new kind of project format for me, and I have learned a lot from it.
I'd like to see this project Bruce - it sounds interesting.
How far are you willing to go when things are bad?
As a freelancer is it all about diplomacy, or you do what the client wants with some advice (that is rejected), or do you sometimes just have to walk?
Bruce, I'd say there is a range of appropriate reactions. Of course one should always be professional, cordial, and diplomatic, however as professionals don't we have an obligation to try and do our best and give that to the client?
To me that means if something needs a lot of work to get up to "professional" eLearning standards we should work with the client to get it there "let's work together to make this better". They are paying us as professionals - our abilities and knowledge are what make us, not a title or fee structure. Sometimes the client doesn't want or care for better - "that's what the SME wrote, don't make any changes to the script". IMO we should always give advice on what we think is the best course of action. Providing an inferior product or one that doesn't really meet the needs/objectives just because it's what they say/think they want doesn't help the client, clear my conscience, or add to my portfolio. That said, not all of us need every piece to be portfolio worthy, and I'm ok with that. Some clients are set in how they want things done be it from a budget, style, or other perspective, and there is only so much effort one can afford to put into changing their mind.
Bruce, my man: might you clarify the context of your question above? Sounds like perhaps you are involved in an update of a course? Sounds fun...
All of the above, at various times.
Specifically springing to mind recently is a situation with terrible Multiple choice Quizzes, which (for a number of reasons) cannot be amended. I just want to cry - but then, we are freelancers, and the customer (after advice...) is always right.
Hi All,
Can the SOW be the contract?
Ta!
Hi, Karen: In my mind, the statement of work is basically the contract, though freelancers many have a separate document, say a design document as well. I don't, but I know some do.
I have started to use SOWs, particularly with smaller pieces and some tiny microcourses I have been creating, but yet to do them for larger projects.
Baby steps...
Is it possible for someone to post an example SOW?
Thank you kindly.
Nicholas
Seeking Talented Storyline Designers...opportunity for consistent work
Hello all,
We're currently searching for talented,US-basedStoryline designersto work on a contract basis. For the right candidate(s), this could be a great opportunity for a consistent flow of projects. The right designermust be highly proficient with Storyline,and provide portfolio samples that demonstrate your superior expertise with the tool, as well as an eye for creativity and great instructional design.
Much of our work is with clients in the consumer electronics industry, so familiarity or experience with product, technology, and/or sales training is a big plus (though not mandatory).
This could be an ideal opportunity for a talented freelancer who takes pride in producing terrific work on time and on budget, and likes working on interesting projects with a great team of people.
Qualified individuals please respond to Mail@TrainingAllies.com.
Responses without portfolio samples will not be considered.
No agencies, please.
Thanks! Dave
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