Instructional Design and E-Learning Blogs

By Christy Tucker 14 years ago

Back when I wrote my instructional design careers series in 2007, I was only aware of a few blogs by instructional designers. Since then, I’ve discovered a wealth of blogs by instructional designers, e-learning developers, and workplace learning specialists. These categories are somewhat loose; some people could be in multiple categories.

Instructional Designers

  • Dave’s Whiteboard by Dave Ferguson is a place to explore learning, training, and performance improvement.
  • Design for Learning is written by Natalie Laderas-Kilkenny, a former coworker of mine who blogs on education and technology.
  • Tracy Hamilton writes Discovery through eLearning. Among other topics, Tracy’s archives include her experiences selecting and implementing a new LMS.
  • In the Middle of the Curve is one of the first blogs I linked to, back in January 2007. Wendy Wickham tells stories of her experiences developing and delivering training. I love how she uses her blog to give us all a peek into her thought processes as she works through messy problems.
  • Karyn’s Erratic Learning Journey has chronicled Karyn Romeis’ transition from corporate L&D employee to independent consultant.
  • Learn and Lead by Manish Mohan covers learning development from a management perspective.
  • Rupa Rajagopalan’s Writers Gateway provides a perspective on instructional design and e-learning in India.
  • Judy Unrein writes onehundredfortywords, short posts on instructional and e-learning design.
  • The Usable Learning Blog is written by instructional design consultant Julie Dirksen.

E-learning

  • Allen Interactions’ e-Learning Leadership blog shares ideas on effective e-learning design, building on concepts from Michael Allen’s books.
  • E-Learning Tyro highlights blogs and posts of the week.
  • Clark Aldrich on Simulations and Serious Games is a blog I enjoy reading for the inspiration on game-based learning, even if I’ve never done this kind of work myself.
  • Brent Schlenker of the eLearning Guild writes at Corporate eLearning Strategies and Development. Brent covers e-learning in general, but especially emerging technology and mobile learning.
  • On the E-Learning Curve, Michael Hanley covers both the nitty gritty details of tools and the big picture ideas of design.
  • eLearning Technology by Tony Karrer is one of the first e-learning blogs I started reading. Besides his wealth of knowledge and experience, Tony always welcomes new bloggers and encourages conversations across the online space.
  • Karl Kapp writes Kapp Notes, a great source for information on virtual worlds, learning through games, and many other e-learning subjects.
  • Cammy Bean’s Learning Visions focuses on practical issues related to instructional design and e-learning.
  • MinuteBio is by e-learning designer Jeffery Goldman.
  • The Rapid eLearning Blog by Tom Kuhlman has a unique visual style and lots of how-to posts.
  • Cathy Moore’s Making Change offers advice on developing non-boring e-learning.

Workplace Learning

  • Adventures in Corporate Education is where Gina Minks shares her experiences in graduate school and in her new position as Program Manager for Social Media.
  • Bozarthzone is Jane Bozarth’s blog home for discussing corporate training and e-learning on a budget.
  • I originally listed this category as “training,” but realized that doesn’t entirely fit what Harold Jarche writes about. Harold writes about much more than traditional training, including social learning and performance support.
  • Spinning the Social Web by Janet Clarey includes analysis and research about e-learning, instructional design, and social learning.

Besides this list, check out the eLearning Learning site for a great collection of e-learning blogs.

I have realized that even though I’m not a huge fan of Twitter (and haven’t been active in quite a while), Twitter has been an excellent way for me to find new bloggers.

Thank you to everyone on this list for sharing their insights with all of us!

45 thoughts on “Instructional Design and E-Learning Blogs”

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  7. You have to have a lot of self discipline which is not common in teenagers to not get distracted, have other priorates or just quite simply stay engaged.

    This is one of the problems that can’t really be erected easily and it will be interesting to see what courses will offer to try and keep engagement and interaction as high as face to face training.

    Reply
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  13. Hello Christy!

    I just finished a 1 year post diploma course in Mobile App Development, and no, I dont make Angry Birds games. Well, I have but my focus is on e-learning and business applications using Iphones, IPads and BlackBerry Playbookm, etc. I think I have the technology side down pat. To enter this field of Instructional Design do I need to connect with a subject Matter expert next?

    Do you know of anyone that could use my skill set to create a mobile app, ie a Subject Matter Expert? Maybe you would even be willing to work with me on a project?

    Adam Gour

    Reply

    1. If you’re looking to create mobile learning, there would probably be at least three people on the team: yourself as a developer, an instructional designer who knows how people learn, and a subject matter expert who knows the content.

      I think usually mobile learning is created for companies with specific needs, not by individuals. Mobile learning is not my area of expertise though. You might try looking at the eLearning Guild’s mLearnCon. Even if you don’t go to the conference, research who is presenting and the companies sponsoring the event, as those are people who are out there actively doing mobile learning.

      Take a look at the posts in the mobile learning category on eLearning Learning too. eLearning Learning is a site that aggregates from many blogs in the field (including mine) and sorts and filters by content and social signals. It’s a great way to get an overview of what people are talking about in the field of e-learning.

      Reply

  15. Thanks for the gr8 information on the instructional design and the elearning blogs..its very informative and very useful to know and learn new things from this blog

    Reply
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  17. Hi Christy, nice list! Thanks for gathering all that info on a single post. Could you please add those two links please? funderstanding.com/spotlight/learning-management-systems-lms and funderstanding.com/spotlight/learning-content-management-systems-part-2 ?

    LMS guru Nic Hinder wrote a comprehensive 2-page article on LMS, LCMS, how they are different and how they overlap. It would really benefit the readers of your great blog!

    Thank you, and have a great day : )

    Reply

    1. Hi Julien,

      Thanks for your comment. There’s a difference between an article and a blog. Blogs show a person’s thoughts and development over time, where an article is a one-off selection. In this list, I’m focusing on blogs rather than one-off articles.

      I’m also mostly focused on individual blogs. If you look at this list, there’s only one organizational blog (Allen Interactions), and even that blog is almost exclusively written by one person, Ethan Edwards.

      An organizational quasi-blog doesn’t quite fit with the list here, but good luck to you in your endeavors.

      Reply
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  25. hi, i am an english teacher. i ‘d like to teach my students through blogging. could u minde giving me more information on blog instruction design?

    Reply
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  32. Thanks for the mention, Christy! I feel honored to be included in this list.

    I have a request for you. Could you please update the URL integrated with my name to point to http://elearningplanet.com ? My blog under the WordPress domain is no longer active and I moved all its content to the ‘Blog’ section of my website. Thanks in advance, Christy.

    Reply

  34. Thanks for the mention, Christy! I find that between Twitter and my column for ‘Learning Solutions Magazine’ that I feel the need to blog less lately. I will try to do better–need to live up to the standards set by my colleagues on this list!
    Best,
    Jane

    Reply

    1. I think many people are blogging less these days–myself included. There are lots of other ways for people to connect, after all. But there is value in this format too.

      Reply

  37. Thanks for the mention, Christy! And thanks for the suggestions. I’m aware of a lot of these, but checking out the unfamiliar ones now 🙂

    Reply

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