As I read online, I bookmark resources I find interesting and useful. I share these links about once a month here on my blog. This post includes links related to AI, DEI and accessibility, Twine, freelancing, storyboarding, visual design, facilitation, and books for IDs. I’m experimenting with AI image tools to create images for my blog posts. This was created in Midjourney and edited in Affinity Designer. AI prompts, tools, and reflections Prompt library Anthropic (the makers of Claude AI) have shared a library of prompts. This is a combination of prompts for work and personal tasks. While t ..read more

It’s easy to get caught up in an endless stream of day-to-day projects and tasks. But what about taking time to invest in yourself and your own learning? Many people, especially women, don’t prioritize their own continuous learning. In my presentation, I shared resources for improving your skills as an L&D professional as well as strategies for making time to invest in yourself. Watch the recording If the video isn’t embedded below, you can watch it on YouTube. What to learn Instructional design is an interdisciplinary field, and it’s not possible to learn everything. Therefore, you have ..read more

When I talk to people about starting a blog, newsletter, LinkedIn posts, or other content marketing, they often confess that they’re worried they don’t have anything to write about. They ask how I come up with ideas, especially when I’ve been blogging so long. I’ve been blogging since December 2006–seventeen years ago! Surprisingly, I feel like I have more to write about now than I did after one year of blogging. Of course, I get stuck on writing sometimes, just like everyone else, but I’ve figured out ways to work through those blocks. This image was created in Playground AI and edited with ..read more

Sometimes, branching scenarios need to do more than model possible interactions in a conversation. For some complex skills, we’re training people to make tradeoffs between different factors. For example, if you’re buying a house, you have to weigh the tradeoffs of cost, location, space, and other features. Similarly, if you’re managing a project, you have to weigh the tradeoffs of cost, time, and quality. A high quality product with a large scope will cost more and take more time to develop. This project management balance isn’t a question of being right or wrong. If someone has a strict limit ..read more

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how sharing my expertise for free ultimately helps me earn more money as a consultant. Being generous with your knowledge builds your reputation and helps prospective clients find and trust you. However, it’s only possible to do that if you have some limits. Setting boundaries on when and how I share freely means I try to strike a balance between helping others and still being able to pay my mortgage. In general, I try to give away my expertise when multiple people benefit and the advice applies to a range of situations. If someone needs personalized advice for a ..read more

Everyone manages their time a little differently, but I’ve been asked several times what a typical week looks like in my work. I’m an independent consultant, so my schedule is different from people who work full time for a single company. I work from home and have a pretty flexible schedule. It’s hard to say what a single day is, but here’s my basic weekly pattern. I originally wrote this in 2018. Surprisingly, while I have shifted a few things, I’m still using a lot of the same overall patterns as I did 6 years ago. I’m updating this post with my current patterns in 2024. Every day After I d ..read more

Dr. Jiani Wu interviewed me for her new MAGICademy podcast about scenario design. We discussed scenario-based learning, strategies to integrate AI, and the effectiveness of scenarios for teaching complex skills. Key points from the podcast Scenario-based learning and branching scenarios can be effective in teaching complex skills that require critical thinking and decision-making. When designing branching scenarios, it’s important to focus on specific behaviors and provide realistic feedback. Simplifying complex topics and making them concrete can empower learners to apply knowledge effective ..read more

Like many of us in L&D, I spend a fair amount of time adding closed captions to elearning and videos. I’m looking for ways to make that process more efficient, so I posted a question on LinkedIn. I got a ton of responses with suggestions for different closed caption tools. Some of the tools I had heard of and used before, but there were several new tools mentioned. I’m sharing all of the closed caption tools mentioned in the discussion here because I know other people are also interested. Overall, the consensus is that all automatic transcript and closed caption tools require manual review ..read more

It seems counterintuitive. How do you make money by sharing expertise for free? Wouldn’t it be better to hoard your knowledge and only give it out when people pay for it? After all, you can’t pay your bills with “exposure.” While that’s true, I’ve also found that sharing generously ends up growing my business. I’m more successful as a consultant because of the reputation I’ve built by sharing my knowledge. Sharing my expertise helps prospective clients find me, plus it means they already trust me before we even meet. Image generated with Playground.ai. While you genuinely can grow your busines ..read more

As I read online, I bookmark resources I find interesting and useful. I share these links about once a month here on my blog. This post includes links related to AI tools for video storytelling and summarizing research, character images, competency mapping, and task analysis. I’m experimenting with AI image tools to create images for my blog posts. This was created in Playground and edited in Affinity Designer. Video and research AI tools Visla: All-in-one Video Storytelling AI video tool for video editing and generation. Specifically, one of the features lets you edit videos by editing the tr ..read more