2015 Curriculum Survey: Some Initial Results

We recently put out a survey asking you to weigh in on what professional development you’d like The eLearning Guild to provide in the future. We had a great response and we’re starting to dig into the results. We’re far from done, but a few items jumped out and I thought it would be interesting to share some of those findings.

Of all of the topics we surveyed (and people who took the survey will tell you—there were a lot of topics surveyed), a couple of topics resonated the most with people: curriculum design and design best practices.

Result: Curriculum Design/Management

Results: Design Best Practices

That makes a lot of sense to me. It doesn’t seem to matter how long I’ve been creating courses—these are the things that I fret about, too. The need to get it right can’t be understated. Every person involved in creating online learning that I’ve ever met has this desire to get it right; that’s why we do what we do and why we are active in communities like The eLearning Guild.

Curriculum design really is more than just scope and sequencing. Use of visual, audio, guided (or unguided) practice, etc., in your course designs has impact on cognitive load, retention, and engagement. And those are just a few things to think about. But don’t take my word for it—spend about five minutes on Twitter, do a small amount of research, or look at articles in Learning Solutions Magazine and you’ll see what I mean.

As we look to expand Guild Academy offerings and include more live, asynchronous online and blended courses, these two topics will be at the top of our minds.

Of course our professional development doesn’t just come from formal courses. We learn informally from other members of the community. I encourage you to check out the Learning Exchange to see some of the design best practices and tips community members have shared.

Are you coming to DevLearn 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada? Janet Clarey and I are leading a Morning Buzz session on Thursday and we’ll be continuing this discussion about the professional development needs of our eLearning Guild community.

Are you interested in helping us create asynchronous courses about instructional design? Are you ready to share your knowledge teaching virtual instructor-led courses?  Send a course proposal to me at jlewis@elearningguild.com. If you aren’t interested in anything that formal, you can always share your knowledge in the Learning Exchange and help the whole community learn and grow.