The IDOL Academy is an online trade school for instructional designers. It’s self-paced, but the “school” is active with teachers and coaches for 3 months. After the 3 months, you continue your education at your own pace. Dr. Robin Sargeant, the President, is all about “Do It Messy.” That’s her motto. She, and I agree, believes that you need to put something out there on your portfolio even if it’s not perfect. You need to show your skills, and you can always change it later.

IDOL Academy taught me how to create a portfolio website, the basics of Storyline, Camtasia, Canva, and Trello. I also learned the steps to take to design a course including kickoff meeting questions, writing up a client contract, dealing with difficult subject-matter experts (SME), etc.

I was able to get earn the Level 1: eLearning Developer Badge in the 3 months.

Here’s a description of the badge: Earners have demonstrated the ability to start with a provided storyboard and develop all the assets for course design. Earners are able to create job aids, instructional scripts, animations in Vyond®, and screen capture videos. These candidates are able to create and edit eLearning courses in the Articulate Storyline® authoring tool using both basic and advanced interactions for a variety of purposes and situations.

As I write this (9/28/2021), I’m currently working on the Level 2: Instructional Designer Badge. This badge shows that I can create a design document for instructor-led training.

I also owe Oliva Creative a big thank you for taking a chance on me and giving me hands-on instructional design experience. I will always be grateful Siobhan Tebbs met with me in December 2019. Without experience, I’m just a student willing to learn. Now I’m a valuable member of the U.S. workforce!