Instructional design - what could it mean for your freelance journey?
My first experience of 'distance learning' was long ago,in another century.
The Open University shipped me boxes full of books and workbooks to my home address, and over about 4 years I accumulated enough boxes and completed assignments to be awarded a diploma in management studies.
On the tech front, I believe I was able to email assignments to my tutors, and I recall we had some kind of an online student bulletin board as well. But needless to say, it was a long way from today's remote learning experiences. Apart from one face-to-face weekend event and one written exam paper per module, it was a completely individual and self-driven process, with zero human interaction. So, not surprisingly, I don't feel as though a lot of my skills as a manager of people were truly honed by that process.
During the pandemic, we saw all learning shift online, with very mixed results.
From primary to postgrad, many teachers had no clue how to adapt a lifetime's classroom experience to the online space, any more than most managers... which was hardly surprising. Some did amazing things to adapt, while others let more tech-savvy kids run rings around them. But the whole world was struggling then.
Around this time our elder daughter was keen to start university studies, however, so naturally I pointed her towards my alma mater, the OU - who have now been delivering distance learning successfully for decades. She is doing brilliantly there, nearly halfway through an open STEM degree, for a fraction of the cost of a campus experience. She is also learning vital self-management skills along the way (and learning how to flip steaks in a food court, because it's flexible.)
Being a nosy as well as proud mother, I can report that the online classroom experience is functional but effective, based on Adobe Connect. There is no more taping late night BBC2 (wow am I showing my age), or unboxing stacks of books. It isn't the latest slickest online learning environment I have seen, but it's designed for global accessibility by all devices under any conditions, and a pretty good solution for that.
Online learning has come a long way since my postgrad days, and so have the opportunities it creates for providers - which is something I learned from this week's podcast guest, Devlin Peck.
Come and have a listen ➡️ Instructional Design: Exploring an in-demand niche for creative solopreneurs ⬅️
