trends in learning and development

Hey Dee! Here's a similar thread where you can find some answers to this question. :)

For connecting with individuals, I rely heavily on Twitter (where I'm @dave_ferguson). If you're not professionally active there already, a good way to get started is to search for people you already know or know of: See what they share, and see who they follow.

David Anderson, Tom Kuhlmann, Allison LaMotte, and Trina Rimmer, for example, all have accounts.

Tools like TweetDeck or HootSuite will let you create filters, such as displaying only tweets from a Twitter list that you set up for yourself.

There are blogs, books and interviews you can read to keep up with the eLearning market trends and industry changes.

Here are 25 eLearning and edtech blogs on the web that can help you evolve and grow as a Learning Professional.

LinkedIn has a number of eLearning groups which can be quite useful. Aside from that there are Webinars, eLearning Heroes, Learning Tech conferences.

We also have regular discussions in the company to share what we find.

In addition to keeping up with trends in eLearning using many of the same sources people have already posted, I find that keeping up with trends in at least one other industry and then thinking about how those changes / developments / trends / ideas can apply to eLearning is a good way to come up with relevant new ideas and to stay fresh.

I've often read about something seemingly unrelated to eLearning but that could be adapted or that sparks an interesting idea. And sometimes these are the most interesting ideas to look into and play around with, for me at least.

Hi Dee!

The eLearning Guild is a great resource for staying on top of trends in the field. They offer lots of resources and research, and attending their conferences (and/or other elearning conferences) is an easy way to see what's up and what's coming up in our field. 

I like Christien's ideas of keeping up with trends in other fields, then thinking of how you could apply them to elearning. I think of that all the time when it comes to web design, films, advertising and marketing... lots of related areas that can make us look a whole lot better as designers if we pay attention. :)  

While mostly not related to Storyline, and focusing on (mostly university-level) Computer Science education, I have found ACM SIGCSE (www.sigcse.org) a very helpful venue, especially its conferences. However, that is quite specific to my own interests as a CS educator...

Interacting with other individuals: Twitter (@amdchiasson), LinkedIn, E-Learning Heroes

There are several communities I participate in: the Instructional Design sub-reddit, Online Network of Independent Learning Professionals (a LinkedIn group that meets in real-time every second Thursday)

For research/staying current: The E-learning Guild, ATD, and I subscribe to a bunch of journals (JOLT, MERLOT, Contact North, etc.).

Webinars/online events/live conferences from the elearning Guild and ATD. The eLearning Guild's online magazine, Learning Solutions is a good resource too.

ATD, http://www.educatorstechnology.com/, of course e-learning heroes, I look for all the newsletters from the vendors whose products I use. I also like to network as much as possible with others in the industry.  Usually at each meeting I am inspired to try something new and make it somehow my own.

I recommend looking through Google+ Communities. People love to talk and showcase things they are working on. Ther's som legwork involved and vetting but overall it's a good resource.

eLearning Feeds
Educational Technology and Mobile Learning
eLearning Industry

Above are a few of the feeds I follow. Make sure your networking locally and nationally with groups mentioned already. Engage your peers in discussions like this as often as you can :)

Good luck.

All the above are great resources. I ,personally, look to ATD, elearning guild, and learning heros for great information. LinkedIn also offers some education classes that I have take...though those aren't necessarily directly to do with ID, but they are helpful with my career in general.

I would use all of the above, I also keep a 10% time" for me that is where I don't work for clients but use it to keep up to date and build demos.

I originally went for 20% but found 10-15% keeps me more focussed on my goals.

Not a learning resource, but I subscribe to Before & After, a great resource for design and creative ideas.

Don't laugh, but I use reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/instructionaldesign/

Usually the first things appear in reddit, at least in my view.

Hi Dee,

Depending on where you live, I would look into joining a Meetup.com user group around e-Learning, Learning Development, Web Development, Virtual Reality, and so on. The Elearning Industry website & email news subscription posts an annual Elearning trends and Challenges. Also, I've gone back to school to take a class or two per year. I like how college students are willing to use tools and tricks that might not become mainstream for a while.

Lots of great suggestions above. Another one I like is Cathy Moore.

http://blog.cathy-moore.com/

I have found that twitter gave me recommendations for other sources when I added Articulate.  Another is called https://elearningindustry.com.  I get emails with new information regularly.

Apart from the resources shared here, I have another good resource to suggest.  It is https://www.commlabindia.com/resources/ .  You can also subscribe to their blog http://blog.commlabindia.com/ where lots of tips with respect to authoring tools are shared along with tips on instructional design and e-learning development.

We have a digital learning group that meets every few months - made up of designers, developers and LMS managers from different organisations in the area. We have a different topic to discuss each time we meet and a showcase of recent work at the end!

Found lot of resources. Adding one of my favorite as well https://www.eidesign.net/