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The Accidental Instructional Designer: Learning Design for the Digital Age
Don’t create boring e-learning! Cammy Bean presents a fresh, modern take on instructional design for e-learning. Filled with her personal insights and tips, The Accidental Instructional Designer covers nearly every aspect of the e-learning design process, including understanding instructional design, creating scenarios, building interactivity, designing visuals, and working with SMEs. You’ll learn all about the CBT Lady and how to avoid her instructional design mistakes. Along the way, you’ll hear from a few other accidental instructional designers, get ideas for your own projects, and find resources and references to take your own practice to the next level. The Accidental Instructional Designer is perfect for the learning professional or instructional designer who is just getting started with e-learning—or the more experienced practitioner looking for new ideas. In addition to sharing proven techniques and strategies, this •covers best practices and what to avoid when designing an e-learning program •presents e-learning in action through various case studies •shows how you can go from being an accidental instructional designer to an intentional one.
257 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 12, 2014
81 people are currently reading
387 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 7, 2021
This books contains a lot of information on instructional design, but it only scratches the surface. I would recommend it for begginners.
June 7, 2022
For someone absolutely new to the field, this was a good primer (just 211 pages including bibliography). There were some helpful tips and a lot of resources for further reading.
June 12, 2018
A lot of suggestions with very little concrete, actionable advice or procedures.
August 4, 2018
“But by no means did I ever imagine that one day I would be an instructional designer of self-paced, online e-learning programs. Never. This was a complete accident.”
This was a good, very basic, introduction to Instructional Design. I thought the book started quite strong, but as the chapters went by it became more and more repetitive. It seemed like some of the chapters could've easily been half the size.
Unfortunately, for a book about instructional design, it only covered principals, and provided very little actionable advice to implement these principals - it was a bit too abstract in many of the sections for me to fully comprehend how it can be applied. This may be because I come from an academic instructional design position, rather than corporate training; so what examples there were, just didn't translate particularly well to my job.
One thing I did notice, was she repeated a few times about not patronizing adult learners, but Chapter 11 "Secret Handshakes" came across pretty patronizingly. The idea being good learning designers should know the theory behind learning design - seems reasonable. But then she talks to you as though you'll only learn about theory with moaning and groaning! If you're reading her book, you're probably interested in the theory; if your job is around helping other learn their best, you probably have at least some interest in how people learn. I found that a bit offputting at the end - she needed to take her own advice, and trust that I'm an adult reading this (the last 20 pages even!) because I want to be.
The end of the book also provides some suggested resources to go looking for, which I am grateful for. I think I just expected a little more from the book than it gave. As a truly, accidental instructional designer, I wanted a bit more oomph to help me really get started.
“While my wish for you is that you don't become the CBT Lady, my even greater wish is that you, too, never stop being a happy accident.”
This was a good, very basic, introduction to Instructional Design. I thought the book started quite strong, but as the chapters went by it became more and more repetitive. It seemed like some of the chapters could've easily been half the size.
Unfortunately, for a book about instructional design, it only covered principals, and provided very little actionable advice to implement these principals - it was a bit too abstract in many of the sections for me to fully comprehend how it can be applied. This may be because I come from an academic instructional design position, rather than corporate training; so what examples there were, just didn't translate particularly well to my job.
One thing I did notice, was she repeated a few times about not patronizing adult learners, but Chapter 11 "Secret Handshakes" came across pretty patronizingly. The idea being good learning designers should know the theory behind learning design - seems reasonable. But then she talks to you as though you'll only learn about theory with moaning and groaning! If you're reading her book, you're probably interested in the theory; if your job is around helping other learn their best, you probably have at least some interest in how people learn. I found that a bit offputting at the end - she needed to take her own advice, and trust that I'm an adult reading this (the last 20 pages even!) because I want to be.
The end of the book also provides some suggested resources to go looking for, which I am grateful for. I think I just expected a little more from the book than it gave. As a truly, accidental instructional designer, I wanted a bit more oomph to help me really get started.
“While my wish for you is that you don't become the CBT Lady, my even greater wish is that you, too, never stop being a happy accident.”
April 1, 2021
This book has given me some great design ideas to try in my next eLearning project(s). I made many highlights to the text while reading it; I plan to refer back to this book the next time I plan and storyboard a new course. I also appreciate the author’s list of favorite resources at the end of the book.
I find myself more confident about my work and place in this field after reading about how others, like the author, also never dreamed of being an instructional designer yet fell into it and grew to enjoy it. Apparently I’m now passionate enough about instructional design to read books on the topic during my free time. The key motivators for me are 1. not putting out garbage, 2. not looking like a jackass, and 3. not wasting anyone’s time.
The author does a good job of reminding us that we do have the ability to connect with people and change behaviors through the training we produce. I think new instructional designers would benefit greatly from this book; honestly, it’s a wonder this isn’t required reading for those in my position.
I find myself more confident about my work and place in this field after reading about how others, like the author, also never dreamed of being an instructional designer yet fell into it and grew to enjoy it. Apparently I’m now passionate enough about instructional design to read books on the topic during my free time. The key motivators for me are 1. not putting out garbage, 2. not looking like a jackass, and 3. not wasting anyone’s time.
The author does a good job of reminding us that we do have the ability to connect with people and change behaviors through the training we produce. I think new instructional designers would benefit greatly from this book; honestly, it’s a wonder this isn’t required reading for those in my position.
February 18, 2022
If you're getting into instructional design, there are several books that people will recommend to you. The first is Julie Dirksen's Design for How People Learn, which is excellent. The second most frequently mentioned is Cammy Bean's The Accidental Instructional Designer. They're both great introductions to the field. Both were written fairly recently (mid 2010s). Both are straightforward, composed in a light, easily readable style, and packed with useful advice. This is as it should be. These, especially in combination, are a great intro for people new to the field and a great refresher for people returning to the field.
October 8, 2020
As an aspiring Instructional Designer this was a great introductory read to lay the framework for entry into the field of developing corporate training.
I do agree with other readers, however, that it is quite niche in subject matter and does not expand into the entire field of instructional design.
The book is also dedicated to giving a high-level overview of corporate training design and does little in supplying suggestions for how to apply the principles inside.
Overall, I feel it was a quick read that got me excited to delve deeper in my study of this industry.
I do agree with other readers, however, that it is quite niche in subject matter and does not expand into the entire field of instructional design.
The book is also dedicated to giving a high-level overview of corporate training design and does little in supplying suggestions for how to apply the principles inside.
Overall, I feel it was a quick read that got me excited to delve deeper in my study of this industry.
February 7, 2017
Great introductory read on ID
As someone interviewing for an ID position, I was in need of a quick refresher in the field. This book was a great way to get my head back into e-learning, and I absolutely loved the resource list at the end. I now have a lot more books that I need to purchase, blogs to read and potentially conferences to attend.
As someone interviewing for an ID position, I was in need of a quick refresher in the field. This book was a great way to get my head back into e-learning, and I absolutely loved the resource list at the end. I now have a lot more books that I need to purchase, blogs to read and potentially conferences to attend.
April 6, 2025
Recommended by my manager and it’s a perfect match for someone who got into this role accidentally like me. It consists a lot of information necessary for designing a learning journey for adult learners but the details are not in-depth, mostly her experiences. It’s a good book for beginner like me getting to learn some fundamental models and know what stuff I should dive into.
November 21, 2022
Extremely helpful book for a new instructional designer and those trying to brush up on their skills. The author's writing style makes it easy to connect with the content as well as helping you relate it back to your own experience.
March 22, 2023
This was a great first book to read as an instructional designer, it goes over some great topics and provides resources in an accessible way. While the author talks exclusively about CBTs, the content can easily be applied to other training methods like ILTs and job aids.
July 25, 2017
Stop the clicky click bang bang!!!
February 21, 2018
A nice guide for the ''accidental''. It contains useful tips and can give a guidance in the complex Instructional Designer world. A nice and compact starting point.
August 14, 2018
A great book for beginner instructional designers. The book includes useful tips for designing instructional experiences.
December 11, 2022
A must read for Instructional Designers starting out in Corporate Design.
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June 21, 2023#neverstoplearning
October 27, 2024
Pretty good content in bad need of a copy editor
February 19, 2017
Definitely a keeper that I think I'll come back to for tips.
August 9, 2015
A respectable general-purpose introduction to the field of instructional design. The writing was a little cheesy at times, and I also felt the author's hand-holding made me question how intelligent she expected her reader to be. Still as someone who now works directly with instructional designers in the e-learning space, this book helped me understand the origins and high-level purpose of the profession. I just can't say it gave me many concrete skills that four years in marketing and test development hadn't already developed in me through trial and error.
December 1, 2015
As an accidental instructional designer myself, I found this book extremely helpful!It is one of the best books I have read on the subject for someone is starting in this field!
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews