Instructional Design & Training Resources

It is critical for any individual involved in the instructional field in the twenty first century to keep abreast with trends, research and new developments, in order to remain relevant to the times.  To assist with this, I have researched and bookmarked three sites that offer updates in the Training and Instructional Design fields. I will now provide an overview of each of these resources.

IDEAS: Instructional Design for Elearning ApproacheS (http://ideas.blogs.com/)
This resource is a blog created by Ferdinand Krauss, Instructional Designer at the University of Toronto.  Krauss’ blog offers reviews on elearning strategies and instructional technology design, with some of his main topical categories being ‘Educational Technology’, ‘Instructional Design’ and ‘Instructional Technology’; three areas that are of key interest to me in my career pursuits.  I find Krauss’ blogs to be simply written and therefore easy to follow.   I also find it helpful that he presents useful links to related resources and information on and from events related to the field.  One such resource is EDUCAUSE, which also happens to be another of my researched resources.

EDUCAUSE (http://www.educause.edu/)
As stated on its site EDUCAUSE “is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology”.  I prefer to refer to this site as a giant resource for information on incorporating technology in education.  The site is easy to manoeuvre and is divided into major categories of ‘Major Initiatives, which highlight programs and efforts  advanced by the organisation to incorporate technology into education; ‘Resources’ a storehouse for educational technology (eductech) information and ‘Professional Development’ which provides resources on applying eductech information at the workplace.  My favourite section on this site is the ‘Resources’ tab, which opens up to Publications, Presentations, Podcasts and Blogs; all presenting information and discussions on education applied to higher learning.  This tab can be conveniently sifted through by subject or type categories.

TRAINING ZONE (http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/)
Like EDUCAUSE, this site is a one-stop resource, this time for corporate trainers.  The site offers articles and information in areas such as training strategy, learning technology, the training cycle, and even offers training tips.  Resources are presented as articles, blogs, presentations, videos, live feeds and more.  This site allows the user to create an individual profile, giving access to a messenger service, blogging, and resource collection; quite a useful website for keeping up with training trends.

I trust that these resources can add to our knowledge-base as we pursue careers in Instructional Design or related areas.