Instructional designers
I’m looking for a few instructional designers who are interested in helping me on an occasional basis. Requirements:
- Have experience designing for the corporate world
- Use a story-rich, non-info-dumpy approach (see this blog)
- Like to brainstorm with others
- Want to challenge learners
- Have strong analytical skills
- Write in friendly, concise language that needs little editing
My jobs are usually 100% design, with the development done by others. The deliverable is usually a script or similar document in Word, along with prototype sketches or mockups.
A lot of the work involves cutting what doesn’t belong and focusing on learners’ real-world challenges, so you’d need to enjoy analytical problem-solving as well as creative brainstorming.
The products aren’t always linear online courses — they could include branching scenarios, performance support materials, guides for face-to-face trainers, or similar materials.
Interested and available for occasional work? Please email me and include or link to 2-3 samples of your writing and design.
Editors
My clients sometimes need an editor, and rather than doing the editing myself, I’d love to give it to someone else. Maybe you? Common tasks:
- Rewrite stuffiness so it sounds like a human being (add contractions, use idioms, cut blather, etc.)
- Fix the usual grammatical and punctuation errors
- Check the logic of text scripts, such as checking the branching in a script for a scenario
- Sometimes: Help the client establish a style manual
- Sometimes: Help the client globalize content that’s currently American or British. This is more than spelling; it means taking out idioms, changing cultural references, and so forth.
Chicago Manual or AP style would be fine. Journalism or marketing experience would be useful — the style we need is decidedly non-academic. Interested in the possibility of occasional work? Please email me.
