Recently my friend Ryan Tracey posted a list of 10 journals every e-learning professional should read in response to my list of 5 Books Every eLearning Professional Should Read which was in response to his 5 papers every learning professional should read (this feeling like the blogging equivalent to a game of tennis).
So I’m returning the ball with a list of blogs that are worth checking out if you are an eLearning professional and you are looking to improve your craft as each blog is written by someone working in the field. They’re a mixture of writing styles and content – sharing practical tips, showing their work and lessons learned, looking towards the future of online learning and some offer reflections on their own personal learning. Many of these folks can also be found on Twitter and LinkedIn.
The one thing that each blog has in common is that the author is making a positive contribution to the wider eLearning field (IMHO).
Here’s each of the blog authors listed in alphabetical order (click on a name to go to their site):
Kristin Anthony – Kristin also has a podcast series called ‘Dear ID’ where she interviews instructional designers
Helen Blunden – Activate Learning Solutions
Donald Clark – Plan B
Tom Kuhlmann – The Rapid E-Learning blog
Melissa Milloway Mel’s Learning Lab (Mel also writes articles via LinkedIn)
Cathy Moore – Saving the world from boring training
Clark Quinn – Learnlets
Mike Taylor – Ask. Learn. Share
Will Thalheimer – Will at Work Learning
Christy Tucker – Experiencing E-Learning
I’m also adding Ryan Tracey himself whose blog I came across a few years ago and s one of the first I started to read on a regular basis.
Feel free to add to this list via the comments below.
Image from Morguefile.
Comments
20 responses to “10 Blogs Every eLearning Professional Should Read”
Hi Matt
My bi-monthly blog for ATD – the world’s largest L&D membership group:
https://www.td.org/Publications/Author.aspx?ItemId=AE18787FF2D84C159B00376F88C75AED
P.S. It is funny how old friends tend to forget each other….
I’m not sure that he should include you, Con.
I tend to put more value what other people say about you, not what you say about yourself.
A better contribution to this post might have included a congratulations on an interesting post, some agreement on blogs you also read, some additions of blogs other than your own that you would recommend, and perhaps then a comment on how you are also looking to contribute via your own blog series, using the reach of the ATD to extend viewership and (hopefully) from others in the industry.
Don’t call people out as ‘friends’ and imply they owe you a favour. Keep contributing and you’ll be recognised when you do good work.
Wow – Bronwyn – what a response – I love it!
Gonna keep this response for my next session on how to use Social Media effectively.
I have to agree with Bronwyn here. Everyone on this list has written literally hundreds of blog posts, and several (like me) have been blogging for a decade or more. Quantity is not the same thing as quality, of course, but you’ve only written 4 posts since last April, Con. Even if those 4 posts are amazing, it’s hard to make a substantive contribution to the field in such a short time. It’s a good start, but it’s not equivalent to someone like Will Thalheimer who has been making research accessible for a decade.
One way I built my audience and reputation as a blogger in the early days was by sharing links to other blogs and resources. That attracts other bloggers to you (I found this post through my trackbacks), and it shows you to be a generous person. If you’re working on a session on using social media, one suggestion is to share more links to other people’s sites than to your own. You’ll see different ratios from different sources, but something like 2:1 or 3:1 is pretty common. Self-promotion is necessary online, but it can feel like an overbearing sales pitch pretty quickly. If you follow Matt’s example of sharing the “link love” for other people, you can build your own reputation in a more positive way.
One last piece of advice Christy as I depart this forum: “Seek First to Understand before Passing Judgment”
Have a great day and I wish you all the peace happiness and health that this world has to offer.
Thanks Con but I was just looking at personal blogs rather than articles. I’ve also found that I can’t access your post because the ATD site says I’ve ‘reached the end of my free page views’ which is a shame…
Have you been doing much on your personal blog site?
No problem Matt.
Can you please delete my post on this site as I have seemed to have upset your readership – which was the last thing I wanted to do.
You take care buddy – hope your job and family are doing great and I may bump into you at a conference one day.
P.S. I don’t do much (read not at all) personal blogging as I am inundated with requests to do guest L&D posts for trade magazines and professional membership sites, speaking and presenting – so I don’t have time for that anymore. I am through hoping that one day I will get back to it.
I’m not upset, and I didn’t read Bronwyn’s tone as being upset either (although I’ll let her speak for herself). I was mostly confused by your post. 5 ATD articles (I realized after I posted that I miscounted) isn’t much of a blog.
I just followed you on Twitter, so I’m looking forward to learning from you there. I hope you do get back to blogging on your personal site as well. It’s a shame everything you write nowadays seems to be locked behind a paywall.
Intriguing, eclectic and thought provoking reading list.
Excellent
Thanks Bill! Hope you’re going well 🙂
Thanks for including me on this list!
You’re welcome Christy, you have an informative blog so I wanted to let others know about it! Thanks for sharing your experience 🙂
This was a diverse and helpful list. Thank you! I also like Margie Meacham’s blog https://learningtogo.info/learningtogo-blog-archive/ which has been growing in leaps and bounds.
Thanks Trudi, I’ll check out Margie’s blog!
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I also highly recommend Harold Jarche. Just read two posts by him (any two) and you will understand why.
Thanks David, great suggestion!
[…] Read some blogs, here’s some suggestions. […]
Hi Matt,
Being elearning professional. I was in need of such list which will help me. Thanks for the reference.
You’re welcome Andrea!