Hello, my name is Jonathan Hill. I'm an Instructional Designer and Learning Manager based in the UK.
I have a background in teaching and training in higher education and financial services and I have worked in Learning and Development since 2012.
I used to deliver face-to-face training in the workplace, but then about 6 years ago I was placed on a project to move parts of a traditional training programme online, which is when I began working with Storyline 2 and caught the e-learning bug.
I am currently the Learning Design and Content Manager at WorldRemit, but I am in the market for a new role.
My creative process usually begins with word association exercises to discover a theme that brings the content to life in relevant and meaningful ways.
I often include pop culture references, such as the fictional podcast from the TV show, Only Murders In The Building. But I try to do this in such a way that even if you don't get the reference, the joke doesn't get in the way of the content and the user interface still feels familiar.
For this reason, I enjoy deconstructing apps for learning purposes and leveraging the user's familiarity with an existing product.
My top tip for working with Subject Matter Experts is to ask them what they wished they knew about a process or a system when they began working with it for the first time.
This can help them prioritise what is need-to-know information over nice-to-know details.
The best part about designing e-learning is taking a blank slide and crafting something new.
The worst part is being restricted by company branding, especially a colour scheme that is not very easy on the eye and can make your content harder to read.
I use visual storyboards to plot out branching scenarios and to provide stakeholders with an overview of a course while it is in development.
However, I often jump from storyboarding to mock-ups as I find it just as quick and easy to create a working prototype.
In my current role, I work closely with Project Managers and Subject Matter Experts and we broadly follow the ADDIE model.
At each stage, I invite feedback - usually via comments and notes in shared planning documents - and the design evolves based on this feedback.
Fortunately, I have not had to push back, as I respect their knowledge of the topic and they respect my expertise in learning design.
But the ultimate feedback, which no-one in the process can ignore, comes from user testing, and this can sometimes catch us all out! In this regard, the customer is always right.
Whether you are an aspiring or established e-learning designer, always pay attention to the focus order and never assume your users will navigate your course with a mouse or by touch.
The ability to operate e-learning via the keyboard is essential for users with accessibility issues. The focus order determines which elements of your design can be accessed via the keyboard, and in what order, and this is often overlooked.
It's an area that I wish I had got to grips with more quickly, earlier on in my career.
To measure the success of a project, you have to go beyond simple 'reaction to learning' user surveys and discover whether the project has achieved the desired behavioural change and the results that the business requires.
Having a clear objective - an output that can be measured - is essential. If the data highlighted a training need, what does the same data say after the training has been delivered?
This year I aim to improve my knowledge of xAPI and other methods of distributing and tracking e-learning outside the traditional Learning Management System.
Did you know that back in 2019 I met the comedian and actor Greg Davies?
He presented me with an Insurance Times award for a learning platform I built for my previous employer, Commercial Express.
I'm a big fan of his TV show, Taskmaster, and it was a thrill to meet him. That evening remains one of the highlights of my career to date.
