My Top 10 Posts for 2020

These are my top 10 posts for 2020. I highlight 5 evergreen posts from past years plus 5 new posts from 2020.

I have written over 1100 blog posts since I started this blog in 2006. A number of those posts continue to be popular, even years after they were originally published. I have been slowly working through my archives to do updates on those older posts while continuing to post new content. These are my top 10 posts for 2020.

My Top 10 Posts for 2020

Top 5 Evergreen Posts

“Evergreen” posts are ones where the content continues to be relevant for multiple years. My top posts by views are all these kinds of evergreen content, although all of these have been updated in the last two years or so.

Time Estimates for eLearning Development

Time Estimates for eLearning Development, my top post for 2020

With over 13,000 views this year, this is my most popular post. “How long will it take to create this elearning?” It’s important to estimate the effort and time required for different tasks.

What does an instructional designer do?

Over the years, many people have asked me what an instructional designer does and how to get into the field. Here’s my definition, plus examples of common tasks. This was the top post on my blog for many years, and still ranks highest of my instructional design careers series.

What does an instructional designer do?

Instructional Design Hourly Rates and Salary

How much do instructional designers get paid? This post includes rates and salaries from multiple sources.

30+ Ideas for eLearning Portfolio Samples

If you need to create samples, use this list to jump start your brainstorming. Target your desired audience. If you want a job creating soft skills training, create customer service samples. If you love software training, create that kind of samples.

Is Instructional Design the Right Career?

In this post, I describe how to determine if instructional design is a good career “fit.” This is less about the skills and more about the desire; it’s about figuring out if you’d be happy working as an instructional designer. I suspect this post gained popularity this year due to the increase in teachers considering new careers.

Top 5 New Posts

Technically, none of these posts published this year are in my top 10 (which is all evergreen content that has had more time to build links etc.). However, I want to highlight my top 5 posts published in 2020.

Build a Branching Scenario in Google Forms

Google Form Branching Scenario

Can you build a branching scenario in Google Forms? Yes, using the settings to go to different sections depending on the user’s response.

Twine Makes Branching Scenarios Easier

The free open source tool Twine makes planning, writing, and creating branching scenarios easier. It provides a simple way to create functional prototypes.

Twine makes creating branching scenarios easier.

Instructional Story Design: Book Review

Rance Greene’s new book, Instructional Story Design: Develop Stories that Train, provides a systematic process for creating stories for training.

How To Set Daily Goals to Manage Multiple Projects

Use a spreadsheet of daily goals to keep track of progress, especially when you’re working on multiple elearning projects.

Streamlining Branching Scenario Planning and Design

Watch my presentation on Streamlining Branching Scenario Planning and Design for tips on getting stories from SMEs, using branching structures, and more.

Bonus: Top Pages

In addition to the individual posts, two pages with collections of post are popular.

Storytelling and Scenarios for Learning

Because I specialize in scenario-based learning and combining storytelling with technology, I have written over 70 posts on these topics. Find examples of scenarios plus information on planning, designing, writing, and developing scenarios.

Instructional Design Careers

One of the recurring themes on this blog is instructional design careers. I wrote these posts from my own experiences as a job seeker, employee, former hiring manager, and now consultant.

Thank you

If you’ve read this far, thank you! I appreciate everyone who reads my blog, shares posts, comments, and sends messages. This has been a hard year for everyone, but I’m glad I maintained a consistent publishing schedule in 2020. Continuing this routine of writing every week has been a steadying practice for me even when other parts of life and work have been unpredictable.

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