Shadowing eLearning Companies via IDM 424

I'll be involved in three major Interactive Digital Media projects during the 2010 Winter Semester at Centennial College. Two of them are in Andrew Lane's Studio Mentorship class (IDM 424). Of those two, the most meaningful to me is the shadowing assignment, aka "Industry Engagement". That's because this assignment will give me broad exposure to the field and probably help me get an internship in this area for the summer.

One of my goals in this course is to learn more about eLearning, and this particular assignment is my best opportunity to do so. eLearning is a specialty that really interests me, as I discovered three years ago when I was asked to write product knowledge training modules for Ford of Canada dealership sales staff. I was working at Maritz Inc. at the time and my job was to be the Lead Writer in their Automotive Learning area. I found I enjoyed writing educational modules and, indeed, the entire process of creating eLearning products. However, Ford's financial difficulties in 2005 and beyond caught up to me and everyone else at Maritz. The eLearning budget was slashed and I lost my job. What little work was left to be done in that area was now to be performed by another writer with long-standing ties to Maritz.

I tried to attach myself to various eLearning companies as a writer but got nowhere. The recession was throwing one roadblock after another at me and I decided to attend Centennial College's post-graduate Interactive Digital Media program to gain a better footing in the new digital workplace.

Real progress has been made in the short time I've been at Centennial. One of the best opportunities has been this one - shadowing eLearning companies.

In preparing for this assignment, my first order of business was to contact eLearning specialists at large corporations as well as eLearning companies. (A number of these contacts were known to me through a Toronto educational networking group I belong to called eLATED.) E;ated members work at a wide variety of biI'g and small organizations, including such companies as Canadian Tire Corporation and the TTC. I also contacted Sunnybrook Health Centre, which has a large Nurse Education department, and Infinite Media, a company I'd done some freelance work for this past spring. As I attended more eLATED events my contact list grew. I also spoke with a number of my instructors. One of them had been the creative director for an eLearning company and he offered me a solid lead as well.

It took time to get responses and commitments from this large group of people. But, eventually, I got more positive responses than I could handle. I'm now in the process of selecting two companies to do most of my shadowing with. I will visit a third company and stay in touch with all the others in the coming months, especially after graduation.

The two companies I'll shadow at are DLC Inc, of Toronto, a company started by Christine Link. Christine was given my name by Spence Saunders, one of my instructors at Centennial, and she's been very accommodating.

I'll also be shadowing at Infinite Media, under the tutelage of Stephan Lalonde. I did some high-pressure, last minute writing work for Stephan last May and they were very appreciative of the quality of the work - their client was quite pleased. In fact it was the second time I pulled off an overnight writing assignment for them last Spring. They've welcomed my shadowing request as well. I'll be balancing assignments between these two companies and, I hope, learning a lot about how eLearning projects are put together from beginning to end.

I'll continue writing about my progress and the process I'm being exposed to. I'll add video to this blog from time to time as well.