IDL SIG Members Elected to STC Board

Congratulations to our members who were elected to society level office in the 2017-2018 elections. We are proud of each and every member and very happy to announce these three elected members. You can read more about them in the associated links on the STC website https://www.stc.org/about-stc/board-of-directors/  .

Jane Wilson – Vice President

https://www.stc.org/jane-wilson/

 

James Bousquet – Treasurer

https://www.stc.org/james-bousquet/

 

Robert Perry – Director

https://www.stc.org/robert-perry/

 

Read more about the election results in the STC Notebook blog: https://www.stc.org/notebook/2017/03/15/stc-2017-election-results/

Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase: It’s Our 10th Anniversary!

Help us celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase at the Naperville campus of Northern Illinois University (NIU) on August 15, 2017.

We’ve got a great selection of sessions for this year’s conference. You’ll be able to choose from 22 breakout sessions presented by 38 speakers in 4 time slots. We’ll announce the schedule closer to the event date.

This year our keynote is Connie Malamed (a.k.a. The eLearning Coach). Connie is a consultant, author, and professional speaker in the fields of online learning and visual communication and the author of two books: Visual Design Solutions and Visual Language for Designers. Visit The eLearning Coach website. Connie’s podcast, available on iTunes, is available here.

Join us on August 15 for another great gathering of eLearning, training, and instructional design professionals. At the end of the day, stay for our after-party. Prize giveaways and live, interactive entertainment will be featured. Don’t miss the opportunity to network with 100s of colleagues at NIU in Naperville. Registration is scheduled to open in mid-June. Hope you can attend and help us celebrate Chicago as a leader in innovative eLearning and training. For more information, visit our website at http://www.chicagoelearningshowcase.com.

 

 

    _____________

This article was first published in the June 2017 issue Byline, STC Chicago’s bi-monthly newsletter.

The Newsletter Q1 2017 IDeaL: Design for Learning

From the Editor

By Crista Mohammed

Readers, we are late with delivering our Q1 2017 newsletter and for this we humbly apologize.

We are experiencing some challenges with our website.

For the PDF version of IDeaL: Design for Learning, I thank Lori Meyer for all the layout work. I could not have done it without her! Where we fell short in delivery time, we make up for in great content.

In this issue, we have begun reaping the rewards of our student outreach competition: We are thrilled to publish the first of several student essays, which our esteemed judges found to have clear value to our readership.

  • Leland Stoe, reading for a degree in Technical Communications & Professional Writing at Metropolitan State University, shares ten tips for engaging the reluctant learner. We thank Leland for his sage recommendations and congratulate him on having been selected for publication. Read Engaging the Reluctant Learner.
  • Viqui Dill, in her co-manager’s column, reminds us that it is that AMAZING time of year…SUMMIT time! It is hard for Viqui to suppress the programs manager in her, as is evidenced by the event highlights in her column. Viqui lists presentations by IDLers; sessions with an IDL focus; sessions that are of general interest; and gatherings that promise FUN—like the Rough Drafts performance: She just made your scheduling easy. Read more.
  • Lori Meyer, in her co-manager’s column, talks about how you can become involved in our vibrant, award-winning community. Read more.
  • Marcia Shannon uses her Secretary’s Column to urge you to join our effort— through volunteering; connecting at the summit; and at our meetings. Our monthly meetings are held the 4th Wednesday of every month. “See” you at our next meeting. Read more.
  • Mellissa Ruryk, our Jacques Cousteau of Word™, takes us on another voyage into the depths of this sometimes plague-some but indispensable software. In this second part of a three-column series, Mellissa describes how to manipulate sections. My fav bit is a tip on how, armed with an understanding of sections, to recover a corrupted document! Read more.
  • Viqui Dill lets us know what’s hap, hap, happening. In an IDL SIG outreach activity, Viqui shared a case study of a training programme with InfoDevDC—a group of Information Developers (technical writers, training designers, information architects, and project managers) who gather in the northern Virginia area. This is but one more example of how your SIG supports our community of IDL practice. Read more.
  • Meet Kim Lindsey in our return to Member Spotlight—a pre-WordPress feature of IDeaL: Design for Learning. In a midlife career change, Kim moved from technical writing to instructional design. Read more.
  • Jamye Sagan reviews Bette Fricke’s Webinar School: Planning, Producing, and Presenting your Training Webinar. The book is a collection of wisdom that is well overdue, as online training has, for some time, become a mainstay of the IDL arsenal. Jamye assesses Fricke’s offering to be useful in general and particularly so for its webinar planning and execution checklists—isn’t planning half the work? Read more.

Read the full newsletter as pdf here.

All links:

Co-manager’s report: Go Summit 2017!

Co-manager’s report: Opportunities are waiting for you – learn and grow with us!

SIG News Roundup

Engaging the Reluctant Learner

Part 2 of Page Layout: Understanding Sections in Word

STC IDL SIG shares with InfoDevDC

Member Spotlight: Meet Kim Lindsey

Book Review: Webinar School: Planning, Producing, and Presenting Your Training Webinar

About IDeaL: Design for Learning

Co-manager’s report: Opportunities are waiting for you – learn and grow with us!

Co-manager’s report:
Opportunities are waiting for you –
learn and grow with us!

By Lori Meyer

The Summit conference is a special time for SIGs like ours, because it’s the one time of the year our members can meet in person, get to know one another, and teach and learn together. Summit is also the perfect time to learn more about how you can be involved in YOUR instructional design and learning community! We thrive as a professional community because of you — your leadership, your creativity, and your service make a difference!

Our SIG will be honored with two major STC awards this year: the Platinum Community Achievement award, which signifies excellence and above-and-beyond achievements throughout the previous year, and the Pacesetter Award, which is given to communities who have demonstrated innovative work that can be modeled by other communities. We received these awards because members just like you became involved and generously gave their time and talent. Many helping hands just like yours helped us earn this recognition.

But more importantly, involvement is about YOU — about learning and growing in a community that treasures teamwork, friendship, and fun. Every new volunteer, no matter what role they play, has an opportunity to touch our community in a positive way and make a difference. We are proud of our achievements and awards, but just as proud of the fact that we are a strong, warm, and welcoming community that works every day to provide value to all of its members.

At Summit, you’ll have an opportunity to meet and talk with our leadership team, and find out how you can be part of our great corps of volunteers. Come to our community reception table on Sunday, and to our business meeting and brown-bag lunch on Tuesday. We’ll be delighted to tell you more about how you can become involved. Until then, let me tell you about two roles that we are seeking to fill as soon as possible.

  • Treasurer – The treasurer manages the SIG’s finances, reconciles SIG expense records with STC’s accounting records, processes expense reimbursement requests from SIG leaders, submits regular reports to the leadership team on SIG financial transactions, provides insights and advice on good financial stewardship for the SIG, and works with the co-managers to prepare the annual SIG budget.
  • Program leader – As a virtual community, our program of webinars helps us provide value-adding educational opportunities for our members. Our program leader researches opportunities for presentations, seeks and recruits presenters, publicizes upcoming programs using Eventbrite and social media, and works with presenters to schedule and manage each webinar using Adobe Connect. This is a great opportunity to learn more about what topics are of greatest interest to our members, and meet some of the most knowledgeable techcomm professionals and instructional designers in the industry. And you don’t have to do this all by yourself – you can convene a team to help us offer great programs!

If one of these roles interests you, we will provide the training you need to be successful. And you won’t work in isolation — our leadership team is truly a team that is there for one another. Come and see us at Summit — we can’t wait to tell you more about our wonderful community of learners and teachers. If you can’t make it to Summit but would like to know more about getting involved, contact us at managers@stcidlsig.org. We look forward to talking with you!

SIG News Roundup

SIG News Roundup

by Marcia Shannon, Secretary

The first quarter of 2017 may be history, but if you made a resolution to become more involved, opportunities are always available. Is there a webinar topic you would like to see or present? Do you have ideas for attracting new members? Can you give a couple of hours a month toward keeping the IDL SIG strong and active? Whatever you contribute, you will find that you benefit even more by gaining new contacts and new ideas.

If you are attending Summit, we will be there is several ways, from session presenters to information tables to the SIG Business Meeting. Plan to attend the meeting and put faces to the names you hear each month. Summit provides a great opportunity to network and learn; I always find it a worthwhile experience.

Connect to our award-winning IDL SIG via social media to stay informed, share your IDL news and views, and publicize your involvement at your local STC events. Find us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Reminder: All SIG members are welcome at our monthly leadership meeting. Follow the login instructions in your monthly email to login to the online meeting. This is a great way to find out what is happening in the SIG. The co-managers share the latest news from STC, the committee leaders report on their events and activities, and questions from the “floor” are always welcome. Make the 4th Wednesday of each month your “connect and contribute” day for the SIG.