Personal Learning Network

Benefits of PLN

I appreciate Tucker's guilds around instructional design. She and Connie Malamed each seem to have a whole instructional design learning suite I'd like to tap into once I get the foundations down. I chose influencers whose stories I could relate to, and given that I'm a GenXer, I've sought women of my generation who've been in the industry for awhile. I think the guilds will help me stay up to date on trends and practices. All of these influencers seem to be posting regularly on LinkedIn, which I'm grateful for, since I recently rejoined with a premium membership.

The Learning Guild (PLN Source)

I chose this particular site because it was a first mention on Christy Tucker's instructional design blog. This organization seems to be the largest all encompassing guild on learning technologies. I like reading curated content on instructional design. This looks like a good initial source for newcomers and seasoned professionals on topics such as learning solutions, research, visual language theory, and digital storytelling. Sounds like fascinating topics to read!

I have a short list of people I know who are currently IDs and some of the notable influencers from the links.

I worked with Keith Anderson at the Academy of Art University, who's now a Learning Experience Design Manager at Doordash, a food delivery my family uses weekly. He has a newsletter, Things I Wish Someone Told Me, that has some articles about collaborative learning and other reflective writing on artful topics like Wabi-Sabi, so I'm glad he has that tone instead of writing just about digital tools.

I also worked for years with Jill Ballard, who's now an Instructional Designer at University of San Francisco. I'm rooting for her because she's also getting her doctorate in EdD through the university. It's a win-win! I remember 7 years ago, I was that person who asked, "What is instructional design?"

On the bigger landscape front, I'm interested in Hadiya Nuriddin's work, as a woman of color, who also lived in parts of the U.S. where they couldn't pronounce her name. This kind of experience I can personally relate to. But also that she has her own learning design company and has been in the business for awhile and has speaker engagements.

I've also typed in and started following some other women on LinkedIn: Cammy Bean, Cara North, Christy Tucker, who wrote the first link on the PLN lecture links list. I also plan on looking at some of the YouTube channels on the link.