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What is Pollination?
This post was originally published on May 13, 2011, on my blog “Pollinators Info” (no longer online). In brief, pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther to a stigma. But what does all that mean? To understand it fully, we need to go into a bit of plant reproductive biology… Not all plants…
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Pollinators in Georgia: Bees
This post is part of an article I submitted for publication with a Georgia magazine called “Coastscapes” in 2010-2012. I’ve been unable to find this magazine online, but want to share the content for your educational enjoyment. The magazine was geared towards the general public, so there are no references to research articles. Feel free…
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Should You Avoid “Teaching to the Test?”
I’ve always understood “teaching to the test” to mean a course is designed around a specific test. Obviously, an SAT prep course should be designed around the SAT and developing the skills to be successful with that assessment. So what’s the big deal? The term appears to be used only in cases where a class…
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Alignment in Instructional Design
Alignment is harmony among all the components of a learning unit, including your Learning Objectives (LOs), assessments, activities, and content. You could think of it like all the gears in a machine set up so they work together properly. Who Cares? You do. So do all your learners. If the components of your course, for…
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Free Download from Simple Instructional Design!
Chapter 2 (Learning Objectives) of my upcoming book, Simple Instructional Design, is now available as a free download!
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Simple Instructional Design: Behind the Book
It was early 2022 and we were all enjoying the slow march back to normalcy as COVID-19 lockdown was relaxed. I was leading a small, virtual train-the-trainer session on instructional design basics for a large university. We were halfway through an hour-long session and I was thinking, “This is a waste of everyone’s time. They’re…
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Learning Pyramid is Not Based on Evidence
Have you heard that the “Learning Pyramid,” published by “National Training Laboratories” in Bethel, Maine, (shown below) is not based on empirical evidence? I recently discovered that this oft-cited infographic comes from an unreliable source. Check out this article for details: “Excavating the Origins of the Learning Pyramid Myths” from the peer-reviewed journal, Cogent Education.…
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Simple Instructional Design: Why You Need This Book
If you’re an educator of any kind, you need my book! All of you amazing and dedicated K-12 teachers, college faculty and lecturers, corporate trainers, presenters, freelancers… you need my book. If you educate people of any age, in any setting, you need my book. Here’s why: The way you were taught to teach is…
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A Case Study in Using Social Media as an Outreach Tool
I created a pollinator-focused blog as part of my doctoral work (in 2011-2012) and explored the numbers, diversity, and engagement of visitors from all over the world. The overwhelming conclusion was that social media can be a cost-efficient and effective method of spreading environmental awareness. This research is no longer suitable for publication in peer-reviewed…
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A Publishing Adventure #2
It’s been a while since I lasted posted about my publishing journey for my book, Simple Instructional Design. None of the agents I contacted were interested, life happened, and it got moved to the back burner. You know how it goes. I’m newly committed to working on my writing projects at least once a week…
