Christian’s Comments (group member since Sep 01, 2010)

Christian’s comments from the Instructional Designers group.

Great recommendation, Tammy. I'm coming late to the discussion, but I'll definitely add this one to my reading list. A few weeks ago I attended the Narrascope conference and it was quite inspiring, as it focused almost exclusively on the value of narrative and all the design elements connected to that. So, game design has pushed its way closer to the top of my stack of unread topics. :-)

Research is the notochord of (good) instructional design, as it provides the basis for our shared knowledge as to what constitutes effective training--the full grown backbone of ISD. The artsy creative stuff that I love so much? Well, it's not much use unless its built over a foundation of sound learning principles.

Here's my question: Where are the books on researching and testing instructional design methodologies, adult learning, training delivery, etc.? I'm not seeing it out there, at least not under an instructional design label. (I assume much of is filed under general educational research, but I'm a bit stuck there as well.)

Hopefully I'm just not paying attention, and its right in front of me.

I'm currently midway through a M.Ed. in Instructional Design, while working as an instructional designer and ed tech consultant in higher-ed (and I love it). I'm also the current president of UMass Boston's .Graduate Instructional Design Association

After my own life-changing moment I decided to forget about IT and go back to school for a B.A. in History. I got hooked while designing e-learning for a research grant, and signed up for grad school last year.

I'm still new to much of the formal ID body of knowledge, though I'm an old hand at a lot of other things (I began creating and supporting online communities some 20 years ago). As such, I'm especially looking forward to seeing what people are sharing and recommending!