I'd say it's good to have thick skin and humility.
Often you'll write some copy or design a graphic that you're really happy with only to be told by a client that it isn't quite what they had in mind. You have to be able to take on board their feedback without taking it personally. There have been times over the years where I've questioned client feedback privately but the comments have actually gone on to improve the finished piece.
Thank you for starting a discussion here in the community, James! :) I definitely agree with David, being able to take feedback and criticism is a really important asset.
One of the other really valuable skills is to have some good video and audio recording skills. If you know how to use a few basic tools, record videos and edit them, add audio, clean up audio files, insert sound effects and narration into your courses, that's also a nice skillset.
A must have screencast tool for me is Articulate Replay 360 and Peek. Any suggestion for free web app screencast tools? What tools do you recommend for video and audio recording?
I might add "the ability to look at things from different perspectives".
Remember that we are not creating for us, but rather for someone else. So it is through those eyes we need to view our work product. For example we need tor remember that just because WE may like things left justified and bulleted, the target audience or stakeholders may be more comfortable with paragraph style content.
This gets even harder when our experience and/or go-to research indicates that things would be best done a certain way. So our ability to balance different perspectives to come up with a winning design is key.
A strong understanding of narrative - a lot of great learning comes from scenarios and what are scenarios but little stories. When you understand narrative structure, you can write more powerful stories.
A good ear for dialogue - the ability to write believable dialogue and narration can really punch up the power of your learning.
The ability to say when - elearning developers are often perfectionists. Sometimes you just have to stop tinkering and publish/deliver already. =)
Knowing when good is good enough is absolutely essential. I personally place this under the broad "business pragmatist" realm, but it's a key element for sure.
9 Replies
I'd say it's good to have thick skin and humility.
Often you'll write some copy or design a graphic that you're really happy with only to be told by a client that it isn't quite what they had in mind. You have to be able to take on board their feedback without taking it personally. There have been times over the years where I've questioned client feedback privately but the comments have actually gone on to improve the finished piece.
Thank you for sharing your expertise, David.
Thank you for starting a discussion here in the community, James! :) I definitely agree with David, being able to take feedback and criticism is a really important asset.
One of the other really valuable skills is to have some good video and audio recording skills. If you know how to use a few basic tools, record videos and edit them, add audio, clean up audio files, insert sound effects and narration into your courses, that's also a nice skillset.
Great add, Nicole.
A must have screencast tool for me is Articulate Replay 360 and Peek. Any suggestion for free web app screencast tools? What tools do you recommend for video and audio recording?
I might add "the ability to look at things from different perspectives".
Remember that we are not creating for us, but rather for someone else. So it is through those eyes we need to view our work product. For example we need tor remember that just because WE may like things left justified and bulleted, the target audience or stakeholders may be more comfortable with paragraph style content.
This gets even harder when our experience and/or go-to research indicates that things would be best done a certain way. So our ability to balance different perspectives to come up with a winning design is key.
Thanks for sharing Bob.
Perspective agility is global skillset on most jobs.
I love Camtasia for Video and audio editing. Works really nicely with Articulate platforms too. It's not free, but it is a one time purchase.
A strong understanding of narrative - a lot of great learning comes from scenarios and what are scenarios but little stories. When you understand narrative structure, you can write more powerful stories.
A good ear for dialogue - the ability to write believable dialogue and narration can really punch up the power of your learning.
The ability to say when - elearning developers are often perfectionists. Sometimes you just have to stop tinkering and publish/deliver already. =)
@ Sean's last point... Amen!
Knowing when good is good enough is absolutely essential. I personally place this under the broad "business pragmatist" realm, but it's a key element for sure.
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