#instructional-design #multimedia-design #resources > [!summary]+ Summary > This page provides links to a collection of resources that I made while serving as an Instructional Designer, links to recommended resources, and links to a collection of tools. # Resources for Instructional and Learning Design Access to strong, well-designed resources is essential for effective instructional and learning design. Some organizations build their own materials to support consistent practice and shared standards, while others rely on externally produced guidance for adaptation. Across my career I’ve worked in both environments. More than anything, I’ve come to favor creating in-house resources that reflect unique needs and strategy. This attitude is from lessons during my time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and at Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH). In short, I believe that developing your own guidance communicates value in expertise and an organization’s credibility. ## Resources created by me Below are some resources I created and used in practice while serving as an Instructional Designer at the IMF. They supported the development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in terms of course design and multimedia production. Each resource was designed to enhance collaboration with partners, communicate key parts of learning design, and help subject matter experts accomplish some tasks independently. - **Design and Development of Educational Videos** - See: [[steering for educational videos]] - **Planning for Active Learning** - See: [[steering for active learning]] - **Planning for Active Learning Online** - See: [[steering for active learning online]] - **Video Post-Production Roadmap** - See: [[steering for video post-production]] - **Video Pre- and Post- Production Roadmap** - See: [[steering for video pre- and post- production]] - **Writing Course and Module Level Learning Objectives** - See: [[steering for learning objectives]] ## Other recommended resources The following resources are a curated set of guides, frameworks, and tools that I’ve found useful for thinking and practice in Artificial Intelligence (AI), pedagogy, and learning design. ### Artificial Intelligence 1. Citing AI use in [APA](https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/cite-generative-ai-references) and [MLA](https://style.mla.org/citing-generative-ai-updated-revised/) - These provide clear guidance on how to appropriately acknowledge AI use in academic and professional work. Useful for evaluating, publishing, or documenting AI-supported processes. 2. [Georgetown University Library, Artificial Intelligence Resources (LibGuide)](https://guides.library.georgetown.edu/ai) - This is one of the better LibGuides that I've come across and referenced and provides a thoughtful collection of AI teaching and learning resources. Georgetown is highly forward thinking with AI use and thus *this is a good place to watch.* 3. [LLMs in Scientific Research Workflows](https://llminscience.com/) - This site aggregates research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) across disciplines. It was launched at the start of the "AI Revolution" and can be a useful place for discovering academic research. 4. [Oregon State University, Artificial Intelligence Tools](https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/faculty/artificial-intelligence-tools/) - This is an excellent resource that includes a revised Bloom's Taxonomy for AI, an AI decision tree, AI strategies, and other materials of instructional/learning design. 5. [Stanford University AI Teaching Guide](https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/teaching-guides/artificial-intelligence-teaching-guide) - An excellent resource for how to think about and plan for the use of AI tools in teaching and learning. - Also see Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) – [Homepage](https://hai.stanford.edu/about) | [YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/@stanfordhai) 6. [University of Virginia Library, Generative AI at UVA](https://guides.lib.virginia.edu/genai) - An excellent LibGuide for exploring the use of genAI in work, study, and research. The [Dean of Libraries](https://library.virginia.edu/staff/yrq5ns) is a progressive thinker when it comes to AI use and definitely someone to follow. ### Pedagogy 1. [American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), Value Rubrics](https://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics) - These evaluation rubrics are designed to help you evaluate some hard to measure skills and attitudes. These are great to either directly use or use as a starting point for designing your own rubrics. - Areas include: Civic Engagement, Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, Ethical Reasoning, Lifelong Learning, Global Learning, Information Literacy, Inquiry and Analysis, Integrative Learning, Intercultural Knowledge and Competencies, Oral Communication, Problem Solving, Quantitative Literacy, Reading, Teamwork, Written Communication 2. [Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT)](https://www.tilthighered.com/resources) - This is a common framework for use in instructional design projects that aims to ensure equity in student learning experience. It can help you to ensure that you are informing students of the why and how they are being asked to do what is in a course. 3. [Universal Design for Learning (UDL)](https://udlguidelines.cast.org/) - This is a common framework for use in instructional design projects that aims to create learning experiences that are accessible, inclusive, and challenging. The thinking with UDL is to focus learning design on the environment, rather than on perceived short-comings of learners. 4. [University of Buffalo, Office of Curriculum, Assessment and Teaching Transformation](https://www.buffalo.edu/catt/teach/develop.html) - ==I highly recommend this site.== This site is well structured and presents a guide on how to develop a course through a) design, b) development, c) evaluation, and d) delivery. - [Bloom's Revised Learning Objectives](https://www.buffalo.edu/catt/teach/develop/design/learning-outcomes/blooms.html) - Simply put, the standard model to begin crafting learning objectives with. This is a great site for understanding and explaining the taxonomy, as well as beginning to create your own guidance document. - You may see my own [[steering for learning objectives]]. - [Fink's Significant Learning Outcomes](https://www.buffalo.edu/catt/teach/develop/design/learning-outcomes/finks.html) - This model is useful for reviewing existing course learning objectives to determine if some categories of learning are either overrepresented or underrepresented. ### Design tools 1. [Adobe – Designing color accessible themes](https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/adobe-color-accessibility-tools.html) - A highly informative resource for learning about and having discussions on selecting accessible colors. This can be very useful when working with subject-matter-experts who want certain colors used. 2. [Coblis – Color Blindness Simulator](https://www.color-blindness.com/coblis-color-blindness-simulator/) - Useful for selecting the most accessible colors multimedia design. This has been most useful for creating graphics and documents. 3. [WebAIM](https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/) - A good tool to use for evaluating contrast given text and background colors. ## Recommended tools and software The following are some of the go-to tools that I use as part of my (design) work. I denote on a scale of 1-5 stars how strong I am with each from learning to expert. ### Terminal tools - [Python](https://www.python.org) - Ability: ==I am learning.== - Use: I am generally at the start of my journey but I'm determined to learn how to effectively use this in my work. - [yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?tab=readme-ov-file#format-selection-examples) - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: Downloading video and audio from YouTube. In combination with HandBrake or Adobe Media Encoder, this is very useful for snagging video off the web. ### Software - [Adobe InDesign](https://www.adobe.com/products/indesign.html) - Ability: ★★★★ (Because I can learn more.) - Use: My favorite document editing app. I've advised people on using this to communicate research, and I have done some things like designed a program guide for [[2025, Teaching Day]] and used this to create my CV. - [Articulate 360](https://www.articulate.com/360/) – [Rise](https://www.articulate.com/360/rise/) and [Storyline](https://www.articulate.com/360/storyline/) - Ability: ★★★★ - Use: I used these to support the development of e-learning training modules while I was in a Learning & Development department. I've also reviewed the work of students using this and provided feedback on content, design, and functions. - [Goodnotes](https://www.goodnotes.com) - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: Perfect when paired with a Mac and iPad. I've used this extensively for annotating documents and research papers, then archiving those in file systems. - [HandBrake](https://handbrake.fr) - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: An open source media encoder that I've used for many years. When paired with yt-dlp this works magic for getting audio and video to appropriate sizes for use. - [IINA](https://iina.io) - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: One of the best open source media players that will play anything. This is great for old file formats and for previewing color and tone adjustments. Simple things like playback speeds make this very useful for video reviews. - [Microsoft 365](https://www.office.com) – Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, and Word - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: I've done extensive project management, built and maintained budgets, and kept track of resources with Excel. I've written countless papers with Word, and I've used PowerPoint to create clean and sharable presentations. All presentations in my "talks and presentations" section were created with PowerPoint. I've found OneNote to be excellent for large meetings and conference presentations when paired with an iPad. - [Miro](https://miro.com) - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: This infinite whiteboard app has been my choice for brainstorming with teams, building concepts, and I had a previous team using this as part of pre-production. - [Monday.com](https://monday.com) - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: I have used this to build extensive workflows, collect performance data, track progress, build dashboards, and keep cross-functional teams in sync. - [Notion](https://www.notion.com) - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: I've used this for organizing team and people records, keeping track of meetings and meeting notes, and for building a team playbook. I've used it from the start and love it. - [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md) - Ability: ★★★★ (Because it is rich and I can learn more.) - Use: I use this for research writing and this website. It has a solid community and the app is highly customizable. It works well for me to interlink ideas and keep every note in a single accessible library. - [OmniGraffle (Pro)](https://www.omnigroup.com/omnigraffle) - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: I have used this on and off for 20 years. I've created many instructional and guidance/consultation materials with it, and used it to make documents to go with project management plans. I really like it for diagrams and charts. - [Phoenix Code](https://phcode.dev) - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: A simple and light-weight HTML and CSS editor. I've used this for courses as well as editing CSS on this website. - [Things](https://culturedcode.com/things/) - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: This has been my Get-Things-Done app over the years. I've tried others, but this one does not get in the way of the actual work. ### Generative AI Please see my page on my [[genAI]] use. I describe here my thinking and some uses with it. - [Anthropic Claude](https://www.anthropic.com) - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: I was massively impressed with this the first time I used it. It has been very useful with revising language, helping me to rewrite for different audiences, and work with (learning) Python code. - [OpenAI ChatGPT](https://openai.com) - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: I've used this from its introduction for writing assistance, video clip generation, and image generation. I do not see it as a research tool, but instead view it as a great tool for writing assistance and some ideation. - [ElevenLabs](https://elevenlabs.io/) - Ability: ★★★★ - Use: I've used this to fill-the-gap of missing human talent when producing scripted audio files. This has been really impressive with the realness of the product. - [Google Gemini](https://gemini.google.com/app) - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: I use this as a general all around go-to tool. I find that it is designed largely for work situations and it does an amazing job at producing images. Ties in seamlessly with Google Search and Workspaces. - [Perplexity](https://www.perplexity.ai) (PRO) - Ability: ★★★★★ - Use: This is an research LLM. This has replaced some of my Google searching. The ability to switch between Large Language Models (LLMs) has been useful for my various purposes. I think it shines in finding details about a topic and synthesizing information. - [NotebookLM](https://notebooklm.google.com) - Ability: ★★★★ - Use: I have used this to create short podcasts of digital books and research papers that I have wanted to read but lacked the time. Other features such as having a conversation about a paper have been useful for finding new sources and deciding if I should read the paper at hand.