Justin Seeley

Most new instructional designers overthink their portfolios. They either try to cram in too many projects, or they feel paralyzed and don't publish anything at all. After reviewing hundreds of portfolios over the years, here's what stands out: 1. A cluttered, unfocused portfolio can hurt you more than having no portfolio. 2. Hiring managers don't want "everything you've ever made." They want 1-3 strong projects that highlight how you solve problems. 3. The most effective portfolios are simple, polished, and easy to navigate. And since your portfolio is the most important part of your application when applying to jobs, it's time for some updated best practices. That's why I recorded a new guide on how to create your instructional design portfolio. It covers the 3 core elements that every portfolio needs, the top myths around portfolio-building, and what you should avoid at all costs. You can check out the video with the link in the comments. Please let me know what you think, and if you have any portfolio-building tips, we'd love to hear them. #LinkedInWithDevlin #InstructionalDesign #eLearning #PortfolioBuilding #Learning

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When people picture instructional design, they usually think about what shows up on the learner’s screen. The videos, the courses, the performance support materials. But here’s the part we don't talk about as much. That behind every strong learning experience is something invisible. A process someone created or improved. A system that cut out wasted steps like a smoother intake flow that finally gets you the right context. A tool that made the next project easier like a shared template or design guide. Those behind-the-scenes pieces might not look like learning, but they’re the reason the learning works. Without them, teams get stuck answering the same questions over and over, remaking the same documents, or struggling to align on next steps. With them, projects move forward with more clarity, less friction, and stronger results for learners. I’ve been collecting stories from learning teams who built those hidden supports like process guides, plugins, and even whole platforms that gave their teams clarity and momentum. What strikes me most is that these solutions didn’t always start with big plans. They often started with noticing recurring issues, asking “what if,” and building something small to make the work better. I’m curious, what’s one thing you’ve created that improved the way your team works? If you’re following along, I’m writing a book with ATD and sharing tidbits as I work out loud on it. It’s about navigating ambiguity and finding ways to move forward. #InstructionalDesign #LearningDesign #AIinLearning #eLearning #DigitalLearning #WorkingOutLoud #CustomerEducation #CEd

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Hey Learning Designers! A week ago, I had the opportunity to share what I’ve been learning about instructional storytelling with the Learning Jam Club. 👽 We talked about how good storytelling is powerful for both ILT and eLearning. The approach is the same—but the execution looks a little different. 👉 In this 360° Coffee Shop sample, you’ll see a setup for a story in action. Can you spot it? To help you apply storytelling to ILT and eLearning, I put together a Free 1-pager Storytelling Handout with: - My favorite simple definition of a good story - The 4 essentials of instructional storytelling - 4 AI tools you can use to build stories faster 📩 Comment → “Storytelling” below and I’ll send it over! When it comes to building a standout ID portfolio, Storytelling is one feature. Others include: 1️⃣ Niche skillset (Immersive learning + AI, or your unique edge) 2️⃣ Design thinking (show your process with wireframes, storyboards, mockups, prototypes) 3️⃣ Personality (topics you care about + your authentic voice) ✨ If you’d like to explore how to bring all these features together in The 12-Hour Shortcut, you can book a call here to learn more → https://lnkd.in/ejjCiTAU

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Most instructional designers solve the same problems the same way. Tara Mount doesn't. When she showed me some of her content, I stopped giving advice and started asking questions. I took notes. On my own customer success call! Tara's operating from a completely different creative framework. She turns critical thinking into habit — even with the skeptics and "just tell me what box to check" crowd. I was thrilled when she agreed to share her best practices at #MicrolearningCONF. Prepare to take notes! September 19, — "How to design for the disengaged" Link in the comments!

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Articulate RISE eLearning Course Glossary Popups 🔴 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁 05-10-2025: Glossary Editor App link: https://lnkd.in/dW7gnKmU 𝗠𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 ⚡ for the eLearning development and instructional design community! You’ve probably seen those handy 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗽𝘀 on 𝗪𝗶𝗸𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮. I’ve built the same interactive experience for eLearning courses. 🔗 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸: https://lnkd.in/d9hQqDsT 👉 This is not limited to Articulate Rise elearning course, it’s a versatile tool. You can build one central glossary, export it as a JSON file, and connect it to any eLearning authoring tool package. With a single link, your glossary content becomes interactive inside any Rise course (and other tools as well). 𝗧𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗴𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿, I also developed a Glossary Editor (a companion utility). It allows eLearning developers and instructional designers to build and manage glossaries, add definitions, images, reference links, and quickly import/export JSON for integration. ✨ 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀: ✅ 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: ● ARIA labels ● keyboard navigation ● Focus management ● Screen reader support ● High contrast mode ● Reduced motion support ✅ 𝗠𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆:  ● Touch detection ● Responsive centered popups ● Large tap targets ● Viewport awareness. I hope this contribution helps the eLearning development and instructional design community by making it easier than ever to add interactive, accessible, and responsive glossaries to eLearning packages. #instructionaldesign #elearningdevelopment #elearning #instructionaldesigner #elearningdeveloper #articulaterise #articulate #rise360 #elearningcommunity #risepopup #riseglossary #nrzmalik

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Accessibility Tip for Instructional Designers: WCAG 2.2 SC 1.2.1–1.2.9: Time-Based Media (Audio/Video) If you're using videos, narrated presentations, or animations in your learning content, be sure to provide accessible alternatives, so all learners can access the information. Learners who are deaf or hard of hearing, blind or low vision, or have cognitive or learning disabilities may miss key information if there’s no alternative to media. Best Practices: Captions: Include accurate synchronized captions for all spoken content in videos. Allow the user to control if the captions are turned on or off. Transcripts: Offer text transcripts for both audio and video, including speaker identification and important sound effects. Audio Descriptions: For videos with important visuals ( diagrams or on-screen text), provide audio descriptions or a second version of the video with them. Descriptive Titles: Make sure media has clear, descriptive titles (e.g., “Lesson 2: Photosynthesis Explained with Animation”). Learn more in the comments.

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In L&D, we do a lot of measuring completion and satisfaction rates, but not a lot of tracking our impact. I think a lot of instructional designers would like to have better measures of impact. We know we should do better, but we’re not sure what to do. It’s often tricky to even figure out what to even measure. iSpring’s recent report “The ROI Shift” asked several experts in the field for useful business metrics for L&D. Many of these are metrics that organizations may already track. If you can tie your training initiatives to data that already exists in your organization, that removes a significant barrier. It’s also a sign that you’re aligning your training with business goals and outcomes that the organization values. 1. Time to proficiency 2. First Contact Resolution (FCR) rate 3. Error rate reduction 4. Revenue per employee 5. Employee retention rate 6. Manager-rated behavior change 7. Customer satisfaction score 8. Productivity increase 9. Internal mobility rate 10. Compliance deviation reduction Of course, all of these metrics are affected by many other factors besides training. That’s part of the challenge too. We can’t easily isolate the effects of training on those factors. Manager support, available resources, time to practice, luck, and other factors affect those business metrics as well. But, if you can at least start with proactive alignment with metrics that matter to your organization, you’re already on the right track. For more on these metrics and insight on how to show the value of your training, get the full report here: https://ispri.ng/zxlNV #iSpring #InstructionalDesign #ROI

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Want to make great training, don’t have the time? ⏱️ Here’s what you might not realize: 👇 Most instructional designers are pouring time into tasks that don’t help. In fact, some of those tasks are outright engagement killers. In my latest video, I share 5 time-wasting habits that you should stop doing today. This video will help you: 🧠 Cut the fluff 🎯 Focus on what matters ⏳Reclaim your time 👉 Watch the video here and get your hours (and your creativity) back: https://lnkd.in/enjZg3iX

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