5 Master Level Instructional Design Tips




Alisha Klatt
Training and Instructional Design Specialist
UC Berkeley Office of Environment, Health & Safety

Are you looking for opportunities to level-up your Instructional Design skills? Have you checked out the Association for Talent Development’s (ATD) master-level programs?

Last year, I had the pleasure of attending the ATD Master E-learning Instructional Designer Program facilitated by Diane Elkins. The workshop took place prior to the 2020 ATD TechKnowledge Conference & Expo in San Jose, CA. I’m grateful I was able to attend after receiving one of the discounted registrations that ATD National and the Golden Gate Chapter are occasionally able to offer to active Golden Gate chapter members for sessions that have space available.

My highlights include hearing insights from the instructor’s experience and discussing real-world Instructional Design (ID) challenges with other participants working in different industries. During the program, our class worked through a well-designed, realistic scenario to practice the skills we learned. After the instruction ended, we received valuable feedback on our individual project deliverables.

The course presentations and materials also included many master-level tips. Here are 5 that resonated with me. (more…)

Learning while doing – how to make lemonade out of lemons





Joanna Sharp
Training & Development Specialist, Fremont Bank

I had the pleasure of attending the Chapter’s semi-annual Instructional Design Workshop, run by Kris Schaeffer, this month. In prior years, it’s been held in a face-to-face environment, but as with all other events since March, this was not possible. Instead, the group met on Zoom for three 3.5 hour mornings on alternate days early in October. The benefit of this was we got to experience what we’re now having to do in our work, create new VILT classes or transform classroom sessions into virtual sessions.

The Training Plan provided the structure for the three days, with plenty of time for practice, questions, and knowledge-sharing. Some of the most fun parts of the training were the ice breakers and recap sessions; playing Jeopardy at the start of the day to recap knowledge learned and getting us back into the session following a break by discussing questions such as ‘what’s a great meal you’ve had recently’ and ‘what show have you binged lately?’. (more…)