What Instructional Designers Actually Need from SMEs
Most SME review friction traces back to the same cause: nobody told the SME what actually helps. Here’s the real scenario, the real mistakes, and the five questions worth answering before a single slide gets built.
The Goldilocks Atlas: Mapping the Worlds Next Door
There’s a moment, on any clear night, when the yard work is done and the house has gone quiet, that I find myself just standing there — head back, porch light off — looking up. It never gets old. Ever
AI Didn’t Just Build a Soulless Course. It Broke My Storyline File.
A viral LinkedIn post says AI-built courses feel cold. True, but it’s not the risk I’d lead with — letting an AI agent drive your authoring tool directly can wreck your project file, and that’s exactly what happened to mine.
How to Write a Branching Scenario That Doesn’t Feel Fake
Most branching scenarios feel fake because they were never planned before they were built. Here’s how to story-map a scenario like a mind map before you touch Storyline, and why that shape matters.
Storyline vs. Captivate in 2026: Which Should You Actually Use
Storyline and Captivate used to be a genuinely close call. After Captivate’s engine rebuild, I don’t think it is anymore — here’s an honest, opinionated buyer’s guide from 22 years of using both.
Outsourcing the Thinking: The Real Risk of Letting AI Design Your Training
AI can draft a course in minutes, but the judgment that makes training actually work — knowing your learners, picking the scenario that will land, spotting where a wrong answer needs to feel wrong — is not a speed problem. It is a design skill that atrophies the moment you stop exercising it.
Death by Next Button: Why Nobody Remembers Your Compliance Training
Think about the last mandatory training course you took. Harassment prevention, cybersecurity awareness, safety procedures — doesn’t matter which. Now try to remember three specific things it taught y
How AI Voice Is Changing eLearning Production: My Experience with ElevenLabs
For over 22 years, I’ve built training content for federal agencies and enterprise clients, and one of the most time-consuming parts of any eLearning course has always been the voiceover. Recording, r
Section 508 & WCAG Compliance for eLearning: A Practical Checklist
If you build or buy training for a federal or state agency, accessibility isn’t optional. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and increasingly WCAG 2.1 Level AA by reference, is a compliance requir
How Much Does It Cost to Convert PowerPoint to eLearning? (2026 Pricing Guide)
Most corporate training still starts life as a PowerPoint deck. The question we hear most from L&D managers, HR directors, and program leads — including several at federal and state agencies — isn