Colour Theory Basics: Part 2
When you're creating digital learning experiences, colour plays a big role in how learners engage with your content. But not all colour is created equally—how it appears can change depending on the screen, the software, or whether you're designing for print or digital. That's where colour models like RGB and CMYK come in.
Colour Theory Basics: Part 1
As instructional designers, it’s important for us to understand how colour works, and how we can use it to our advantage and the advantage of our learners when designing courses. This topic can feel a little overwhelming at times, but you’ve come to the right place to learn about colour theory basics.
What is a Learning Design System and Why Does it Matter?
The benefits of a Learning Design System extend far beyond the creation of individual courses. In today’s fast-paced educational environment, organizations must be agile and responsive to the needs of their learners. An LDS not only supports this agility but also empowers organizations to deliver high-quality, inclusive, and engaging learning experiences.
Learning Outcomes: Your Roadmap to Success in Instructional Design
Learning outcomes are like an itinerary for a road trip. Crafting strong and relevant learning outcomes ensures that you have a roadmap for your course. Learning outcomes outline the skills and knowledge that you expect learners to achieve, as well as the content that you expect to be covered in your course. Learn more about this essential tool for eLearning.
Are we forgetting about design?
It's no secret that a huge pain point in our industry is time: we never have enough. AI often looks like the solution to this problem. But are there other costs to this solution? Do we sacrifice quality and accessibility? We can't skip the design process, no matter what tools we adopt. Rediscover instructional design in the new world of AI.
My Instructional Design Journey: Five Lessons Learned
I started in my role as a Junior Instructional Designer (ID) with KnowledgeNow, eager to learn about the role. Fast forward two years later, I have been promoted to the role of Senior Instructional Designer, and I want to share with you the top five things that I’ve learned in my first two years as an instructional designer.
Let’s Talk About ADDIE
ADDIE stands for Analysis, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate—a model of actions that guide a learning designer through the steps of course creation. Some critics say it is too old or too inflexible. However, as a leader who continues to grow a successful eLearning business using this model, I say that it is quite the opposite. Let’s look at this model in a few different ways.
What is Quality Matters?
In November 2023, Desire2Learn announced a partnership with Quality Matters, emphasizing the transformations happening in education right now and a need for high quality and accessible content for learners.
We are thrilled to see these types of partnerships, as it connects with what we know to be true - the applications of best practices and learner-centric designs are more important than ever as we experience a real shift in the education industry across all sectors.
10 Steps to a Successful Online Course Launch
When it comes to teaching online, a common myth is that it is somehow easier than face-to-face instruction. There is no doubt that each method of delivery has its challenges. But the truth is that learners may not be the only ones who might be feeling uncertain and overwhelmed about starting a new course. What follows is a step-by-step process designed to help you ensure your online course is in tip-top shape on the first day of class.
Why Your Organization Needs an Accessibility Guide
Accessibility and inclusion are increasingly important considerations in our modern society, as are equity and diversity. To effectively ensure that we, as a company, accomplish our mission of creating the best learning experiences for everyone, we have developed a set of standards focused on accessibility and inclusion. This has become our Accessibility Guide. Learn why you should have one, too.
The Importance of Buy-In in Instructional Design
Starting a cool new course design, excited to jump into the process, and we are met with resistance, lack of interest, or - my personal favourite - that glazed over look in their eyes. As instructional designers, we know how important each step of the process is when designing learning experiences, and no matter how much we may wish we could change this sometimes - the quality of the final product is highly dependent on our relationship with the Subject Matter Expert (SME).