I think it is safe to say we have all experienced some form of stress in our life–whether it be in our personal life or at work. Stress isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes stress, in small doses, can help you perform better and keep you safe when in dangerous situations. 

This week we had several interviews and one of the questions we always ask candidates is how are you under pressure and can you manage stress? Working in our field can be very stressful. Employers should understand an intimidating work environment to be able to avoid their workplace becoming one. There is a lot of customer support involved with instructional design. As Sharon Guan likes to say, we are free therapy. Whenever an instructor is struggling, they come to us with the hope that we can ease their worries and their stress. Which means a lot of the time we are not only dealing with our own personal stress but also taking on the stress of our faculty. Stress is only good if you keep it in a comfortable zone, so how do you make sure to not let yourself get overwhelmed? Opting for luxury alcohol rehab facilities ensures personalized treatment plans tailored to individual needs. As one of the candidates said during the interview, you don’t want to get to the point where you are seconds away from throwing your computer out the window. It’s a long way down.

For those battling alcohol addiction, seeking help from a trusted treatment facility like NUMA – Los Angeles Detox and Rehab can provide the comprehensive support and personalized care needed for a successful recovery. Their experienced team offers tailored treatment plans and a supportive environment to address both the physical and emotional aspects of addiction.

Looking for Los Angeles sober living residences? Contact Transcend Recovery Community and Sober Living services to assist you.

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As an eLearning Content Developer (ECD) at DePaul University, one of my roles is to provide faculty support for all courses using Desire2Learn. Whether that is providing D2L training sessions, building content, or answering any D2L technical questions. One of the biggest challenges that I face as an ECD is figuring out when I might be providing “too much support.” I’m sure any faculty reading this at this point are thinking how could there ever be too much support? But I believe there needs to be a balance between providing the support faculty need and also giving them the right amount of encouragement to be able to eventually answer their own questions. Continue reading →

In the DePaul Online Teaching Series (DOTS), the facilitators demo a lot of tools. The number of tools is overwhelming for the facilitators, so it is no surprise that the number of tools is extremely overwhelming for faculty.

As facilitators, we often hear statements like “this tool doesn’t make sense for my class;” “this tool is too complicated;” “there are too many tools being presented;” “it takes too long to make stuff with the tools—I could never use them in every class.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, presenting tools is important. Bringing a traditionally face-to-face course online means some things will need to be done differently. Translating a lecture online requires tools.

The crux of the problem is not the tools, but the perception that using any particular tool is mandatory. We aren’t dictators determining what you have to use to run your class. We’re offering suggestions. Every tool in DOTS is a suggestion.

And we don’t suggest using all, most, some, or any of the tools. It’s up to the faculty to determine how their students will best learn the subject. The facilitators barrage faculty in the hopes that there will be something, somewhere, that might be useful in mitigating some of the challenges of bringing the course online.

As facilitators and instructional designers, we say, “think about your teaching style and choose one tool that fits how you like to teach.” Don’t commit to that tool. Use that one tool to accomplish one thing, in one class, in one module. If the tool works, great! Use it again for another module! If the tool doesn’t work or only works passably, you haven’t committed to it. Try one of the others.

Don’t sweat tech. Tech is just a tool. If a tool is broken or doesn’t work well, don’t use it. Get a new one. A different one. Try again.

To use a horrid cooking analogy, "don’t sweat a bad cheese slicer."

Don’t sweat cheese slicers. Cheese slicers are just a tool. If a cheese slicer is broken or doesn’t work well, don’t use it. Get a new one. A different one. Try again.

You don’t go to the store shouting about how all cheese slicers are wretched tools whose only purpose is to subvert your ability to cut cheese.

You find a better cheese slicer.