The eLearning Guild offers more opportunities and resources for your professional development than can be easily counted, but here are 21 of them (maybe more than that) for your consideration. Some of these require paid membership in The eLearning Guild to access, some are paid events, and some are free for the taking. Enjoy!

Three+ Tips from the Guild Archives (and other places)

Conference Archive: Agile Project Management for eLearning Development. Megan Torrance. Handout. “On time, on budget, and what they need (even if that changes!).” Agile provides a framework for adapting to change as it happens, and working with the client to deliver the content learners most need. This handout summarizes key tips for agile eLearning development, using Torrance’s LLAMA methodology (Lot Like Agile Management Approach). Also see all five articles on agile development by Megan in Learning Solutions Magazine.

If you are attending The eLearning Guild’s DevLearn 2015 Conference & Expo in Las Vegas September 29 – October 2, and have an interest in the SAM approach (Successive Approximation Model) to agile eLearning development, consider attending session 408: Dairy Queen’s Global New-product Training Using Agile Development. Christopher Allen and Kimberly Brastad present this case study and the technology used—Zebra Zapps and Node Webkit.

Online Forums: Re-imagining Content for New Context. Misty Harding. Handouts, screenshots, recording (1:06:26). See how they met this challenge: “Our client, Bridgeworks, provides industry-leading intellectual property and training on generationally related issues to help “bridge the generational divide” in all aspects of work and business. Their challenge is to customize and tailor their solutions into contextual training packages for a variety of industries to make the training relevant and tailored. Bridgeworks turned to us for their latest project, which was to take their content and customize it for financial advisors who are used to working with a very specific audience (Traditionalists and Baby Boomers), and help financial advisors see not only why but how they needed to change their working style to have future success with rising generations (Generation X and Millennials).” (Paid membership required for access.)

DemoFest Archive: How to Cook a Turkey—First Timer’s Guide to Thanksgiving. Tim Slade. Video (4:48). Performance support on an iPad, prepared using Storyline. Winner of the Wisetail Award at mLearning DemoFest 2015. This video is a quick walk-through of an approach that bridges between instruction and performance support, and also shows how an authoring tool can support this type of hybrid presentation. (Paid membership required for access.)

Speaking of DevLearn 2015: DemoFest and Hyperdrive

Along with the almost 200 learning activities (pre-conference events, concurrent sessions, learning stage events), DevLearn offers two unique opportunities to see how other eLearning producers create their products: DemoFest and Hyperdrive. These events have no parallels at any other conference focused on learning and technology.

DevLearn DemoFest

DemoFest is a science fair-like exhibition of learning and performance projects on Thursday evening, October 1. It is a celebration of the work our community produces. There are no presentations at DemoFest. Dozens of projects (see the current list at the DemoFest link above) are on display and attendees can visit the projects they are interested in and speak to the developers. It’s an opportunity for those sharing projects to get feedback from people who visit their tables, and it’s an opportunity for attendees to not only see these projects in action, but to also speak to the designers and developers of the projects and learn about the decisions they  made. While there are People’s Choice-like awards given at DemoFest, the primary focus of DemoFest is on the sharing and learning.

DevLearn Hyperdrive

DevLearn Hyperdrive is a fast-paced competition focused on projects that showcase examples of technology being used to innovate our approaches to learning and performance support. Only the 12 most unique and compelling submissions will be selected for inclusion in the Hyperdrive competition, which takes place on Tuesday afternoon, September 29, from 3:30 to 6:30 PM. Those that are selected will be assigned a 10-minute slot in the competition consisting of an eight-minute presentation “pitch” on the project, plus two minutes of Q&A from members of the panel that is judging the competition (time limits are strictly enforced). The panel will rate each presentation on a series of set criteria and at the end of the competition, a winner will be announced. The three top-rated projects will also have the opportunity to present during the Hyperdrive showcase session on Wednesday, September 30, at 1:15 PM.

Do you know about the Learning Exchange and the Guild Academy?

Learning Exchange: “The Learning Exchange shows exciting potential to be the place where The eLearning Guild delivers on the promise of an online community where we can work together to improve our craft.”—Clark Quinn, executive director, Quinnovation. The Learning Exchange is open to all Guild members, including Associates.

The Guild Academy: Build new skills and expertise that will make a difference in your career with Guild Academy. Upcoming courses:

Live online courses

Adobe Captivate Basic (starts September 2)

Adobe Captivate Advanced (starts November 6)

Articulate Storyline 2 Basic (starts October 5)

Articulate Storyline 2 Advanced (starts October 19)

Articulate Studio ’13 (starts November 2)

Designing Better Interactions (starts September 14)

Coaching Others for Virtual Classroom Success (starts November 10)

Design & Development of Virtual Classroom Training Advanced (starts September 1)

Producing Virtual Classroom Training (starts October 6)

Agile Project Management for eLearning (starts October 27)

Blended learning courses

Design & Deploy VILT for Mobile  (live online starts September 17, with in-person training at DevLearn 2015 Sunday, September 27 and Monday, September 28)

Scriptwriting and Audio Production for eLearning (live online starts September 23, with in-person training at DevLearn 2015 Sunday, September 27 and Monday, September 28)

Video Production for Online Teaching and Engagement (live online starts September 15, with in-person training at DevLearn 2015 Sunday, September 27 and Monday, September 28)

Success with SAM (live online starts September 15, with in-person training at DevLearn 2015 Sunday, September 27 and Monday, September 28)