Designing a Teaching Blog – Professional Development Course
One of the first successes I had in teaching came from my blog. Teaching blogs have become increasingly popular over the past decade, and now they are considered an essential part of the job. I have always loved technology and originally had designs to be an online educator, so creating a teaching blog that was fully functional was important to me. My colleagues and administrators quickly took notice, and I began to hold informal professional development sessions for other teachers who were struggling to create effective teaching blogs. Over time, these sessions became more formal.
When I decided to make a career change, I would still get contacted by teachers who were struggling with their blogs and had been referred to me by word of mouth. I decided to consolidate all of the professional development pieces over the years and create one comprehensive professional development course. I wanted it to cover everything that teachers had questioned over the years while also being fully user-driven. Not every teacher needs all of the information covered within these lessons, so I spent a lot of time creating pathing that would allow for self-directed learning. This is my favorite project, as it is what led to my current proficiency in Articulate Storyline. I am fully self-taught and spent a lot of time researching and troubleshooting the program to ensure that the lesson I envisioned would come to fruition.
This project continues to be in high demand, especially now that hybrid and online learning has become more prevalent. I still sell this content through word of mouth as well as through professional communities through social media. This course alone (along with other supplemental materials I have created) has been a great source of income for my family during the past year and a half.
Skills Used
- Articulate Storyline
- Storyboarding
- Graphic Design
- Instructional Design
- ADDIE
- Gamification
- User Driven Learning
Process
- Originally began as informal help sessions with colleagues struggling to create and maintain teaching blogs.
- I created a number of smaller individual guides and lessons based on each colleague’s specific needs
- Over time, I began to compile all of the lessons together and create a comprehensive self-directed learning module
- After I left teaching, I began to offer this course as a paid professional development option for new teachers and teachers struggling to keep up with growing blog demands
- I used storyboarding to create the tutorial videos walking teachers through completing specific actions related to creating and designing a functional teaching blog
- Has maintained popular and led to individual consultant jobs