Dear Instructional Designer

Latest Episodes:

Episode 57: Interview with JR Dingwall Nov 29, 2018

Show notes

This episode, I am talking with JR Dingwall, a higher ed instructional design consultant who I first met through Jennifer Maddrell and Designers 4 Learning. I chatted with JR over email and I’m super excited to have him on the show because he has a really important story that I want to make sure we cover this season. JR went freelance for a while, and then decided that it wasn’t for him. As someone who is sort of always on the crossroads of this, I’m really interested in how this worked for him!

Get to Know JR

On twitter @JRDingwall
jrdingwall.ca
Module13.ca
LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jrdingwall

Things JR mentioned in Passing

Designers for Learning, and their Service Learning MOOC
Pressbooks, for OER publishing such as OpenPress
Professional Communication Open Curriculum

Episode 56: Back Again with Wes Atkinson Nov 01, 2018

Show notes

This episode we are back with Wes Atkinson, Co-founder and Lead Technical Consultant at Appitierre Ltd, the makers of the Evolve Authoring tool and the Bloom LMS talking about Evolve as a potential tool.

Last episode, Wes and I talked about the challenges surrounding instructional design freelancers. This episode, I’d like to shift focus to looking a bit more at Evolve as one tool in our toolbelt to solve some of those problems. I’m always interested in free and low-cost tools for myself as an independent contributor and I know all are too, so, let’s talk a bit more about Evolve and Bloom as tools.

Episode 55: Interview with Wes Atkinson Oct 11, 2018

Show notes

This episode, I’m with Wes Atkinson, Co-founder and Lead Technical Consultant at Appitierre Ltd, the makers of the Evolve Authoring tool and the Bloom LMS. And we are going to keep on theme about the freelancer journey but with a bit of a twist, from the perspective of a vendor. Which is super awesome! Vendors get a lot of our flack when we talk or complain and they’re at all of these conferences and events, so they talk to a lot of IDs, and so I’m really excited to be hearing things from this perspective.

Episode 54: Building a Network Sep 27, 2018

Show notes

This episode I wanted to talk a bit about how I’ve built and continue to build my network from the perspective of an introvert.

I’m going to tackle this in a three-fold answer. First, I want to talk about the impactful things I’ve been able to do in a way that has still allowed me time to think and articulate myself and be generally introvert-y. Second, I want to talk about conferences especially since I’m such a newbie with them. And then, third, I want to talk about the activities I’d like to begin engaging in in the future.

Resources

Christy Tucker on LinkedIn: https://christytucker.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/linkedin-connections/
TLDC Community: http://www.thetldc.com/
Getting started speaking at conferences: http://twist.elearningguild.net/2018/07/proposaltipsfromtheadvisoryboard/
Another set of tips for conference proposals: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/submitting-your-conference-speaker-proposal-myra-roldan/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_feed%3Bn6HPmdhDSVKQcmjL6f5Agw%3D%3D
Holding the Door open in your own little corner of the web: http://brendandawes.com/blog/holdingthedooropen

Episode 53: Freelancing Toolbox Sep 13, 2018

Show notes

We’ve heard in the last couple of episodes with Christy Devlin about some of the things that they have in their freelancing toolbox, things that they feel are worth paying for and using. In this episode, I want to share a bit more about my own toolset, in a few categories. We’ll look at business tools, productivity tools, and professional development.

Resources

Bobby App to track subscriptions: http://www.bobbyapp.co/
Cloudinary Image Hosting: https://cloudinary.com/
Netlify website hosting: https://www.netlify.com/
Audible to read books: https://www.audible.com/
Buffer app to schedule social media posts: http://buffer.com/
Noun Project icon assets: https://thenounproject.com/
Elearning Art: https://elearningart.com/
Trello kanban board: https://trello.com/
Station for collecting your work apps: https://getstation.com/
Toby for organizing your bookmarks: https://www.gettoby.com/
One Tab for cleaning up your browser: https://www.one-tab.com/
Name Cheap for domain names: https://www.namecheap.com/
Simplecast for podcast hosting: https://simplecast.com/
About static site generators: https://davidwalsh.name/introduction-static-site-generators
Stop wasting time as a freelancers:
https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2018/07/help-i-cant-stop-wasting-time/?ref=webdesignernews.com

Episode 52: Interview with Devlin Peck Aug 30, 2018

Show notes

This episode, I am talking with Devlin Peck, a recent instructional design graduate student who jumped into freelancing with both feet while still a student. This episode is particularly exciting for me because Devlin had reached out to me previously as he was looking to break into ID and it’s amazing to see how far he’s come and what I can learn from his approach to his instructional design and elearning development business.

Get to Know Devlin

Twitter: https://twitter.com/devpeck
Portfolio: http://www.devlinpeck.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devlinpeck

Episode 51: Interview with Christy Tucker Aug 16, 2018

Show notes

This episode, I am talking with Christy Tucker, an instructional design consultant who has made her name by thinking deeply about what good instructional design is and sharing those thoughts and her learning experiences via her blog. She’s also a frequent contributor the instructional design subreddit, which is where I met her. Today, she is going to tell us more about her journey into freelance instructional design work.

Get To Know Christy

Blog: https://christytucker.wordpress.com/
Company Website and Portfolio: https://www.syniadlearning.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChristyATucker

Christy's Resources

How Freelance Clients Find Me: https://christytucker.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/how-freelance-clients-find-me/
Blogging to Build Your Business: https://christytucker.wordpress.com/2016/05/03/blogging-to-build-your-business/
Instructional Design Careers: https://christytucker.wordpress.com/instructional-design-careers/
Freelancer’s Union: https://www.freelancersunion.org/
Wave App: https://www.waveapps.com/

Episode 50: Feast and Famine and Freelancing Aug 02, 2018

Show notes

In this episode, I try my hand at answering one of the toughest questions around becoming a freelancer: How does that whole feast and famine cycle work?

Resources

Freelancer's Union Resources: https://blog.freelancersunion.org/
Breaking the Feast and Famine Cycle: https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2018/05/30/breaking-the-freelance-feast-or-famine-cycle/
Are you Charging Enough? https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2018/05/24/are-you-charging-enough-probably-not/
On Workflows: https://blog.trello.com/what-is-a-workflow-and-why-do-you-need-it
Station app: https://getstation.com/
Pomodoro Technique: https://lifehacker.com/productivity-101-a-primer-to-the-pomodoro-technique-1598992730
Value Based Pricing Tips:
- https://medium.com/the-apartment/a-freelancers-guide-to-value-based-pricing-5c7c29580cd6
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianaltman/2015/10/08/how-to-shift-from-hourly-to-value-based-pricing/#296c85623467

Episode 49: Season 4 Opener - My Freelance Journey Jul 19, 2018

Show notes

In this episode, I take a walk down memory lane and talk about my journey into freelancing.

I talk about how I fell into freelancing, mistakes I've made that you should definitely learn from, frustrations I've faced, and rewards I've reaped. If you're looking to dive into freelancing, it's my hope that listening to my story will give you one perspective into what the journey might be like.

Resources

Resources for freelancers: https://medium.com/@freebiesbug/15-new-tools-to-supercharge-your-freelance-work-2018-94c51a9da611
On Workflows: https://blog.trello.com/what-is-a-workflow-and-why-do-you-need-it
Design is a Job: https://abookapart.com/products/design-is-a-job
I don't really wanna do the work today (my theme song): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2EI65ZEqYQ
Mini Habits: http://minihabits.com/
Lessons Learned Working Alone: https://medium.com/@jillcarlson/working-alone-165ababeafc2