Jennifer Instructional Designer

Start Mapping:  Tech Matrix to Simplify EdTech Decisions When finding the right tech to align with your learning goals, not all tools may effectively teach to your goals. By building a technology matrix, learning designers can better match  tools to learning objectives for smarter teaching with technology. I created t his technology matrix  to align each tech tool to your specific learning objectives, ensuring technology serves pedagogy, not the other way around. Maybe you’ve spent hours searching for the “perfect” tool to engage your learners, only to find out halfway through the semester that it’s inaccessible to some students, doesn’t integrate with your LMS, or creates more confusion than learning. Sound familiar? In today’s rapidly expanding landscape of educational technology, new apps and platforms appear almost daily, promising to revolutionize learning. But without a clear process for evaluating their impact, it’s easy to mistake innovation for improvement. That’...

Exploring AI Platforms for Education: Enhancing Teaching, Learning, and Design Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming higher education, offering tools that extend instructional design, automate routine tasks, and personalize learning experiences. eLearning instructional designers can combine our talent with by empowering faculty. Together, we can achiever  meaningful, measurable, and lasting impact. From adaptive content creation to intelligent tutoring systems, today’s AI platforms provide powerful opportunities for innovation in digital pedagogy. Below is a review of five AI platforms currently reshaping educational practice. 1.  Canvas AI: Course-Building with Intelligence Canvas LMS has introduced native AI tools that assist educators in drafting modules, quizzes, and rubrics. The AI Course Builder can automatically align assignments with outcomes and Bloom’s taxonomy levels, saving designers significant setup time. Its conversational interface allows use...

Exploring Alma:  A Unified Learning and Student Information Platform Alma is an integrated Student Information System (SIS) and Learning Management System (LMS) that unites classroom instruction, administrative management, and communication into a single digital ecosystem. Teachers and instructional designers can use Alma to create and organize assignments, quizzes, rubrics, and discussion activities , while administrators manage attendance, transcripts, and student data. Alma’s dashboard provides a clear overview of grades and progress, helping instructors align assessments with learning outcomes. Its analytics tools and standards-based grading system make it especially valuable for data-informed instructional planning. From an instructional design perspective, Alma’s advantages extend beyond organization. Educators can embed multimedia learning assets,  such as infographics, short instructional videos, and formative assessments , directly into lessons and assignments. The ...

  Meyer's Principles of Multimedia Learning   When teaching asynchronously, it's essential to design experiences that actively connect learners with the material, even in the absence of real-time face to face interaction. Meyer's principles strengthen structure and consistency in the online learning environment. In Multimedia Learning (Cambridge University Press, 2001), Richard E. Mayer introduces twelve evidence-based principles that guide the effective design and organization of multimedia instruction. These principles create effective learning by minimizing cognitive load by using multimedia effectively, so that content is coherent, consistent, and engaging.  1. Multimedia  Principle   Mayer's Multimedia Principle states that people learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.  People learn best from a combination of words and pictures. Instructional designers should use words (text or narration) and visuals (images, animations, or video...