Dr. Chris Show

Get thee to an art museum! With all of this talk the past week about learning from photography I wanted to share an even more effective piece of advice when it comes to the increasing sill with regards to good design. Luckily it’s a simple one. Get thee to an art museum! I’m serious. Find some local art museums and actually put a visit on the calendar, bonus points if you can get your boss to approve an outing on company time, and another set of bonus points if you can move exceptionally...

ISO Explained There was a bit of confusing and I received a few questions yesterday regarding ISO and what exactly it is and how it works. In this video, I delve a little deeper. ISO is easiest to visualize when we consider film photography. ISO literally refers to the size of the silver halide crystals that are on the plastic film. The smaller the crystals the smaller the ISO number and the larger the crystals the larger the ISO. So what effect does the size of the crystals have on the...

The Exposure Triangle Photography and video are important components of instructional design. As we look at some of the things that photography can help us with regarding good visual design overall as well as good instructional design it would be a mistake not to share one of the more important photography concepts. This is the exposure triangle. We’ve all seen images that were overexposed and a bit too bright and images that were a bit underexposed or a bit dark. So today I wanted to...

Another bit of photography composition advice that is useful for instructional design is the idea to simplify whenever possible. Remove as much as possible. This allows for focus on the subject, removes unnecessary elements to reduce cognitive load, and gives you a cleaner overall design.

Another important aspect of photography and composition has to do with backgrounds. Essentially the backgrounds in our visual work should not distract our learners. We should be focused on our subject and the backgrounds our images should be used to give context if necessary but we need to be aware of them and not forget to check for distracting or inappropriate items in the background of the media we make. This is also another good analogy for the instructional content. We should include...

Today I wanted to discuss an important photography and videography concept. Depth of field. I’ve been asked quite often about how to get the “blurry background” when photographing or recording video of a subject. In this video, I discuss the concept of depth of field. In essence, the depth of field is how “deep” the field of focus will be in an image. This is controlled primarily through adjusting the aperture. The larger the aperture (ironically the smaller the f-stop number) the more...

As we explore the concepts and composition advice from photography that can help us in instructional design one less known one is the advice to not “cut off limbs” of photography subjects. The idea is to give context and not confuse the perspective of the viewer. An important visual concept to remember as we place images in our instructional materials this also works as an important metaphor as well. We should ensure that we give our content context as well so that our learners know where...

As we explore some of the important things we can pull from photography to enhance our instructional design another tip from photography that can help with instructional design is the idea to “fill the frame” with your subject. This, of course, works visually as you should focus on your subject to direct attention and remove distraction but it also makes a good metaphor with regards to filling our content with our subject for much the same reason.

As we continue to explore the ways we can gain insight from photography and video for use in instructional design I wanted to share the 180-degree rule. The easiest way I have been able to visualize this rule is to imagine a traditional stage for live theater. The actors can come right up to the edge and the audience can also go right up to the edge. But except in rare situations, the audience shouldn’t climb onto the stage and the actors shouldn’t come down off the stage. When filming or...

I was at a photography exhibit the other day and was reminded about how many of the concepts of good photography directly impact instructional design. Not only because photography is used in instructional design but because of the very often very visual nature of our work. While it is possible to have 100% life instruction with no physical materials or 100% audio materials more often than not we are going to have a visual element. So I wanted to explore a bit of what we can take from...

With all of the "cool kids" at DevLearn this week I wanted to take a moment to share my personal list of conferences in the area of Instructional Technology, Instructional Design, Distance Education and the like. The list has a good dose of K12, Higher Ed, and Industry so feel free to take a look. It's organized chronologically by month so if there are times that are a bit more free than others it's a good way to search. Smaller regional conferences are also great ones to check out as well...

The TPACK model is extremely valuable for Instructional Designers. It offers an excellent way to articulate what we bring to the table regarding education and training. And it can help shed some light on how the role of the ID can shift in different circumstances. The TPACK model represents a ven diagram of Technology knowledge, Pedagogical knowledge, And Content Knowledge. The magic, of course, is in the overlap. So it's not enough to know about technology and the content someone needs to...

There are several elements in storytelling that are important to consider when trying to make your story relatable with your learners. Conflict: Keep your conflict realistic, if your learners can't see themselves ever needing to rise to a similar challenge your story will seem out of touch. Characters: Your learners will need to see themselves in the main character of your story, and will need to see their coworkers and customers in the other characters you have. Learning about your...

Today I have three solid tips to help you create a more effective story for instructional purposes. 1. Analyze the content: Telling a good story means having a good story to tell and having a package that is most compatible with the content. You can use anecdotes, historical narratives, case studies, scenarios, or even a good mystery to solve but you should ensure the format fits the content. 2. Grab learners’ attention: Classic storytelling hooks could include something surprising,...

There are six elements of storytelling and they tie quite well into instructional design, which is probably why storytelling is such an effective instructional technique. 1. Setting: Where does the story take place? Often in our learner's performance context. 2. Characters: Our learner, or a surrogate, should most often be the main character. 3. Plot. What is the actual story? We should let the learning strategy form our plot. 4. Conflict: Whatever form our conflict or challenge takes it...

As we consider how much the learner's journey and the hero's journey overlap (which makes sense because our learners are the hero of our stories), how can we as instructional designers leverage what the hero's journey can tell us to better help our learners. Today I want to share how we can apply the three stages of the hero's journey that typically fit into Act 3 in a 3-Act structure. Those stages are: 10. The Road Back 11. Resurrection 12. Return with the Elixer The road back is the...

As we consider how much the learner's journey and the hero's journey overlap (which makes sense because our learners are the hero of our stories), how can we as instructional designers leverage what the hero's journey can tell us to better help our learners. Today I want to share how we can apply the five stages of the hero's journey that typically fit into Act 2 in a 3-Act structure. Those stages are: 5. Crossing the Threshold 6. Tests, Allies, & Enemies 7. Approaching the Innermost Cave 8....

As we consider how much the learner's journey and the hero's journey overlap (which makes sense because our learners are the hero of our stories), how can we as instructional designers leverage what the hero's journey can tell us to better help our learners. Today I want to share how we can apply the first four stages of the hero's journey. Those stages are: 1. The Ordinary World 2. The Call to Adventure 3. The Refusal of the Call 4. Meeting the Mentor In the first phase of the hero's...

Joseph Campbell describes 12 steps in The Hero's Journey. And when we look at these steps we can see not only how they fit within the 3 act structure but also how they describe the typical learner's journey as well. The 12 steps are: 1. Ordinary World 2. Call To Adventure 3. Refusal Of The Call 4. Meeting The Mentor 5. Crossing The Threshold 6. Tests, Allies, Enemies 7. Approach To The Inmost Cave 8. Ordeal 9. Reward (Seizing The Sword) 10. The Road Back 11. Resurrection 12. Return With The...

When we take a closer look at the three-act structure it can be difficult not to see the parallels between it and a quality learning experience. Both start in Act I with an introduction to all of the characters, the setting, and any needed backstories. Both move onto Act II where our Hero starts to lean and apply there learning until they master the challenge before them. And both end with Act III with a Hero who has mastered the challenge and then returns home, hopefully, changed for the...