As a massive thank you for hitting 500 subscribers, this video is a Q&A extravaganza! All of the questions here about instructional design and online learning came from you wonderful people on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and email.

Today’s episode is for all of you teachers out there. Joining us today is Christie Kittle. She’s a Supervisor & Lead Instructional Designer at Washington State University and she’s a former teacher. Christie breaks down all the steps she took to transition from one role to another. She has an absolutely awesome story and if you’re a teacher, this is the episode you need to listen to.

On today’s episode, we are talking all about public speaking. Public speaking is a skill you must practice as a instructional designer. Its not a common skill to hear about in our field, but the more I was growing in my career, the more and more I was talking in front of a crowd. If you think about it, public speaking is in other areas of our lives like interviews, teaching, giving a presentation on our courses, presenting at conferences. Simply put, I believe instructional designers will be doing more in public speaking for years to come. To help us unpack all of this, I needed to find a expert in the field and luckily, I’m friends with Dr. Dawn DiPeri. She’s a learning designer at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and the Owner of East End Advertising. Besides the fact that she’s a learning nerd like us, she even did her dissertation on communication skills for online learners.

I keep hearing from instructional designers about how they are on LinkedIn, but they aren’t taking full advantage of what LinkedIn has to offer. LinkedIn is one of the reasons of how I became an ID and I know this platform can help you too, if you use it correctly. This means building your network, connecting with the right people, finding ID groups, and more.

Working with SMEs can be quite challenging. Perhaps the biggest challenge is the "kick off call," when you talk about working together, expectations, and what's involved in the course design process. This episode will cover my best tips on how to build great relationships with SMEs while providing clarity on how to work together.

I am ridiculously excited to share with you today’s episode with my new friend, Ali Siddiqui. This episode has it all! We talked about his transition from being a chemistry teacher to being an award-winning instructional designer and he’s worked on projects for ASU, NASA, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. We also talked about everything you need to know about project-based learning and how to apply this strategy to your courses and trainings. We also talked about finding the right job opportunity, universal design for learning, and more. Once again, I am ecstatic for you to listen to this one.

It's no secret that instructional design is one of the hottest fields in education. How exactly does one transition into this field though? On today's episode, Dr. Nicole Papaioannou Lugara from Your Instructional Designer, shares her experience and tips when she was an instructional design hiring manager. Whether you are trying to break into the field or you're looking to transition to another ID role, this episode is for you.

Teachers make great instructional designers. There are many similarities in both roles with pedagogy, the learning experience, designing curriculum, and more. However, how does a teacher transition to an instructional design position? On today's episode, I give five recommendations for teachers who want to become instructional designers.

How is it that some institutions have grown exponentially compared to others? Joining me today to discuss this is the Founder and CEO of Kanahoma, Seth Odell. Seth is the marketing machine behind institutions like UCLA, SNHU, and many more. In my mind, when I think of marketing, I think of Seth and his idea behind the SNHU bus commercials which helped SNHU grow from 7,000 students to 70,000 students. You are going to love this episode even if you aren’t in marketing! This conversation was absolutely fascinating to me as Seth gives us the behind the scenes look of how marketing works.

In this episode, Heidi Kirby (Host of the BLOC Podcast) talks to Dr. Luke Hobson about his popular blog post, "What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming an Instructional Designer" and discuss some of their own stories from the field. Dr. Luke Hobson is a Program Manager for Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Writing my dissertation was the hardest challenge I’ve ever faced. The only way I was able to finish it was to make my writing time the number one priority in my life. I can’t imagine trying to complete a PhD during a pandemic, but some doctoral students are doing this right now. Joining us today is Ryan Ivers, a doctoral candidate at Northeastern University. He’s projected to finish in 2021 and I had to pick his brain to hear exactly how he’s managed to stay on track. If you’re in a doctoral program, this episode is for you.

“What is learning engineering?” This was a question I recently asked myself as I kept reading more about it, but I didn’t understand how instructional design and learning engineering intersect. I sought out to find an expert in the learning engineering space and I found one! He happens to also be at MIT. Dr. Aaron Kessler comes on the show to talk about his latest research and his new framework on the learning engineering process.

What do fish, Apple Watches, the legend of Zelda, and learning science have in common? They are all featured on today’s episode! Dr. Julia Huprich from Intellum, Catcat, and Learning Science Weekly comes on the show to talk about the nerdiest of learning nerd topics.

Part 2: Which instructional design path should you follow: higher education or corporate? It’s a fantastic question that many instructional designers are trying to answer. On today’s episode, Heidi Kirby, host of the BLOC podcast, shares her perspectives about being a corporate instructional designer. We break down several topics around roles, benefits, and perks about being an instructional designer and share our experiences. There isn’t a right or wrong answer here, but this episode will help to steer you in the right direction.

Which instructional design path should you follow: higher education or corporate? It’s a fantastic question that many instructional designers are trying to answer. On today’s episode, Heidi Kirby, host of the BLOC podcast, shares her perspectives about being a corporate instructional designer. We break down several topics about being an instructional designer and share our experiences. There isn’t a right or wrong answer here, but this episode will help to steer you in the right direction.

On today’s episode, I’m joined by my friend, Holly Owens from Jolly Holly Ed Services. She’s the Assistant Director of Instructional Design with Online Education at Touro College and University System. She also helps folks transition into the instructional design field.

On today’s episode, I’m joined by my friend, Dr. Enilda Romero-Hall. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education at The University of Tampa and the Graduate Coordinator of the Instructional Design and Technology program. We talk about her and her colleagues’ latest book, Research Methods in Learning Design and Technology.

Every time I talk to someone about instructional design, the concept of how I became an ID comes up. My path to becoming an ID is a strange one and it all starts with failing out of high school.

What's the best way to use a podcast in your course? In today's episode, I cover three ways to incorporate podcasts into the online learning experience.

What do Instructional Designers wish they knew before becoming IDs? I couldn’t find this information anywhere, so I did the research. I asked 50 Instructional Designers what they wish they knew before becoming IDs.