One Year of Podcasting and Your Top 5 Most Downloaded Episodes
Back in March of 2020, I was toying around with the idea of making a podcast to compliment my blog. I’ve been obsessed with podcasts for years and it only made sense to transition the blog’s content into a different platform. I was actually rather comfortable with podcasts as I already created two before in the past, but this was going to be the first time where all of my passions would collide into one podcast. I honestly had no idea if anyone was going to listen to a podcast that focused on instructional design, online learning, higher education, and doctoral programs. I figured there had to be other learning nerds out there since the blog was gaining more traction than I ever imagined. I was hesitant at first. I asked a few instructional designers if they would be interested in a show like this and asked about their current listening habits. Surprisingly, most of them said yes to listening to the show, but they typically didn’t listen to instructional design podcasts.
I slowly began this podcast journey by designing the Apple podcast cover art in Photoshop and then batch recording the first 5 episodes. I made the edits in Garageband and then sat back and listened to them all at once. I hated them. They didn’t sound anything like me or the vision I had for the show. The disdain I felt was so great that I had to redo all of them. There was no way that I was going to produce yet another boring learning product and send it out to the masses while claiming it was entertaining. Reluctantly, I listened to the newly recorded 5 episodes and they were better. Not perfect by any means, but much better. With every episode I recorded, I became more and more like myself. Now, the loud, enthusiastic, fired up person you listen to who talks about being a learning nerd, is the real authentic me. Imagine my utter shock and amazement as the more I became myself, the more I heard from you saying how much you are enjoying the podcast and love passion behind the work. That brings us to today, June 1st, the one year anniversary of this podcast. I’m honestly shocked I’m typing these words.
Thank you for sticking around with me for an entire year and thank you for letting me be a part of your life.
As a fun way to wrap up the year, I wanted to bring to you a “best of” series from the 26 episodes. I’ve been fortunate to have some incredible guests come on the show and share us all of us their words of wisdom. After reviewing the number of downloads, I created a top 5 list to highlight their awesomeness. The #1 downloaded episode was one of most nerve-racking experiences of my life and I’ll tell you more about this as we get closer towards the end. Let’s start with your 5th most downloaded episode.
The Secret is in the Sauce: 5 Key Ingredients to Use When Designing an Online Course from Scratch
This was episode 11 with Holly Owens, the host of the EdUp EdTech podcast. Her episode was all about a recent presentation called, “The Secret is in the Sauce: 5 Key Ingredients to Use When Designing an Online Course from Scratch.” What I loved about this episode is that Holly explained the fundamentals of designing a course with elements like thinking like a student, designing with the outcomes in mind, creating a course map, collaborating with others, and harnessing the power of technology. For anyone wondering about where to start with building a course, this episode hits on all of the major points.
7 Lessons from an Instructional Design Hiring Manager
Your 4th most downloaded episode was episode 19, 7 Lessons from an Instructional Design Hiring Manager with Dr. Nicole Papaioannou Lugara. The timing of this one was absolutely perfect. Many aspiring instructional designers had questions around what exactly are hiring managers looking for in an ideal candidate. Nicole happened to produce a blog post that covered these same details, and we were able to chat about them on episode 19. Some of the major topics were explaining your stance on learning, describing your processes, including statistics on CVs and resumes, preparing for interviews, and more.
What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming an Instructional Designer
Your 3rd most downloaded episode is a solo episode where I talked about everything I wish I knew before becoming an instructional designer. This is a topic I love to talk about because everyone wants to have a heads up of what they are getting themselves into. If I could go back in time and give myself advice about the instructional design field, these were my tips. This episode was actually born from one of my speeches I’ve been giving to universities and institutions since the pandemic started. After one of these speeches, I decided to take out my webcam and record it for YouTube. Surprisingly, this has become my most watched video to date. This topic has also become the inspiration to a book I’m writing, which will hopefully be out this summer. Hopefully, it will be a type of guide for you to navigate the instructional design waters. If you want to keep up to date on the book, you can either join our Facebook group called Instructional Design Institute Community or sign up for my mailing list.
Since the YouTube video is way better compared to the podcast episode (yes, it still makes me cringe since it was one of the 5 early recorded episodes), I’ll include that instead.
Higher Education or Corporate - Which Instructional Design Path is Right for You?
Your next most downloaded episode comes from the great debate of higher education vs corporate America. I’m just kidding about the versus part by the way. It’s really more of trying to find your passion and the meaning in your work. Whatever makes you fulfilled, follow that path. While instructional designers work in every sector, most people think about roles within an institution or a corporation. There are many similarities between the two, but there are some differences. In episodes 12+13, yes this was a 2 parter, Heidi Kirby from the BLOC podcast came on to talk these sectors in particular. We broke down everything you would want to know about from technical skills, benefits, perks, and more. Once again, there are no right or wrong answers for which sector is better than others. It all comes down to preference.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
And finally, your number 1 downloaded episode is Dr. Katie Novak and Tom Thibodeau – Universal Design for Learning! To give you a peak behind the curtain, this was episode 6 and was the first non-solo episode. I have always been huge fans of Katie and Tom’s work and one day, I was telling my friend Peter about their research. Little did I know that Peter was friends with Tom and offered to connect me to Tom and Katie. I instantly wanted to vomit.
Their book called UDL in the Cloud, was the first book I read when I thought about becoming an instructional designer. I feel so fortunate that a colleague recommended their book since having the UDL framework guide me with designing all of my courses was tremendously helpful for building optimal learning experiences. Imagine my nervousness when I got to meet them over a Zoom call. To amplify this feeling, I asked if they wanted to come on the podcast, and they were just as excited as I was. So here I am, ready to record my first guest episode with two people who unknowingly shaped my ID career and you want to know what happens? A landscaping company pulls up in front of my neighbor’s house and begins to run every loud machine humanly possible. I ended up scrambling through my house to find a quiet spot to record the episode, which ended up being my bedroom closet. I started off the interview awkwardly apologizing for sitting on the floor with a bunch of coats, shoes, and clothes behind me. While I was embarrassed, all of the clothing made for a DIY sound proof room and the episode turned out great.
Be on the lookout for Katie’s new book with her colleague Dr. Tucker. Their book is called, UDL and Blended Learning: Thriving in Flexible Learning Landscapes. The pandemic has created uncertain times about where we are moving towards as a society, and I believe that blended learning is going to become the new standard. When we combine this with UDL, it’s a powerful force for changing the lives of our students.
Well folks, that is your top 5 most downloaded episodes. If you are wondering how I bring on all of these amazing guests to the show, I have a YouTube video all about networking through LinkedIn and this will answer most of your questions.
Once again, thank you for all of the support over this last year. You’ve all been so kind to me and I really appreciate you. The podcast, the blog, the YouTube channel, and Instructional Design Institute, wouldn’t be possible without people like you.
Stay nerdy out there.
