The skinny on this book is that it is skinny but jam-packed. It assembles all the essentials you need to trek your way through the realm of Instructional Design. Tim Slade has a knack for combining eye-candy illustrations with to-the-point passages that are somehow filled with quality information. I keep coming back to this book and now I am on my fourth read. The sensation I get from reading this particular book is somewhat of an easy-going stride. Before you know it, you’ve covered so much about ID. If you are just getting into ID, then I would highly recommend this book as a starting guide. And for those who are already in-the-know, this book still serves a quick and refreshing fix in its very unique approach and composition. Don’t miss this gem.
David McAlinden is a good friend of mine. He and I worked at the same company in South Korea and has since done very well for himself in the field of Instructional Design. As an ID expert from Columbia University, Dave is a treasure trove of information on how Instructional Design unfolds and flourishes in the world of Higher Education. I was very honored to have him share his knowledge.
I want to take this moment to express how music creators can effectively apply their talents should they decide to use it in Instructional Design.
Long before I got into eLearning Design, I developed an obsession for music production. My home studio has since gathered a long list of equipment (both in hardware and software). I found that my resources and skills in this activity complemented my development as an Instructional Designer. Specifically, it helped that I had an instinct for learning new authoring tools and applying engaging audio into my projects.
Here’s an example of music I would make and use for the opening page of an eLearning course.
The music was purposely made to have an ominous feel in order to capture the seriousness of the topic to be covered. Perhaps it is a bit too dramatic but, for demonstration purposes, I just wanted to quickly whip up an example for this blog.
Now here’s what this short piece looks like in the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).
Now for those of you who are not familiar with the DAW as shown in the pic, this is Reaper. If you have any experience with other audio production software, like Audacity, you will find that Reaper’s interface is quite easy to navigate. And also like Audacity, Reaper can be free as long as you continue to choose the option to forego payment at the end of your trial.
Some instrumental audio plug-ins (or VSTs) I would highly recommend come from the company Toontrack. In my opinion, they have the best drum and key sequencing software that basically allows you to just drag and drop midi items to form songs.
Now let’s move on to hardware, specifically microphones. Please keep in mind that my choices are not firm in terms of what you should purchase for your own projects. This is just what I happen to find myself using for my own purposes and I’d like to share how it’s helped me.
For my home projects, I use the Shure SM7B. This is my main microphone for when I am recording vocals or voice-overs. It has been very good to me.
It’s a very popular microphone. However, it might be too pricey for someone who is just looking to record voice-overs for an eLearning project.
That is why I highly recommend this next gem.
I bring you the Logitech G Pro X. Yes, I know it’s a gaming headset but it has an excellent microphone with built-in features that could serve you well in recording pristine voice-overs. The headset itself comes with a USB dongle that acts as a standalone sound card. More importantly, the dongle can be used with Logitech’s G Hub software which comes with a plethora of microphone input options, allowing you to tweak your sound quality. And the sound quality is quite impressive in my opinion.
Again, you might come across some better options that the ones I have recommended.
The world of eLearning is full of varying talents. There are graphic and web designers who complement the world of Instructional Design quite well. I hope this blog sheds some light on how musicians can bring their own unique additions to this field.
