DIY Instructional Design

Whether you’re an accidental instructional designer or the person tasked with creating learning materials for your department, you're likely using PowerPoint to create your learning. Even if your content is solid, you may feel that you could stand to improve your design skills a little. The good news is that you’ve got PowerPoint right at your fingertips! It's a robust design tool that can help you create some amazing graphics. This article will give you five easy-to-use tips that you can start using right away.    Let’s get started. Tip 1: Find a color palette The first thing you can do today to improve your PowerPoint training decks is to choose a simple color palette and try your best to stick to it. You may have free reign to choose your colors, or your company may have brand standards that tie your hands. Either way, it’s best to decide on your color palette in advance, and stick to it throughout your training deck. Why this works : A color palette ties your entire design...

This week I'm excited to talk about one of my all-time favorite tools. It's an oldie but goodie that often gets a bad rap which, in my opinion, is because most people don’t use it well. Okay, so enough introduction already. What is it? It’s Microsoft PowerPoint - and I plan to feature it fairly often on this blog because it’s incredibly versatile.  For anyone trying to find simple and cheap tools for creating learning content, PowerPoint is a real winner. If you’re just starting out, or on a tight budget, consider using PowerPoint for these instructional design deliverables: Self-paced eLearning Graphic design Instructor led training (ILT) Virtual instructor led training (VILT) Over time, I’ll create blog posts showing you ways to use PowerPoint for all of these, but for now, we’ll just start with some basics of self-paced eLearning . Self-paced learning The most simple format for eLearning is a straightforward presentation of material, slide by slide. In this format, learner...