Overwhelmed

Learning anything new becomes overwhelming. Especially when you have the mindset that you will never know everything, but you need to grasp as much as you possibly can to get yourself seen. Lately, I have been wanting to consume all the information I can. Following big "influencers" of the L&D community and trying to take in what is being presented. I began to feel a sense of pressure, anxiety, and failure because it was a lot to keep up with. Your brain can only function in so many ways. Until I came to the realization that I need to focus on my foundation.

You think to yourself, "I want to be able to incorporate and use AI in learning. I want to be able to create animations, avatars, and gaming scenes. I want to do all the exciting creative concepts that are flooding my timeline." These are all great, but those who currently indulge in this aspect had to start somewhere and it wasn't making the content they are making today. It has taken them years, trial, and error. They have grown over time. This is not to discourage you from trying to create such, but to let you know to give yourself grace. Grace to learn, grace to perfect your current skills, and slowly in God's timing begin to expand. We still need the basics no matter how much the world transitions. There is science, research, and truth in keeping our foundational skills up to par.

Isaiah 28:16  "Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion 
for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, 
a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste."        

Instead of focusing on what you can't currently do, let's focus on what you have been learning and have done. I began my journey with Storyline, Rise, Vyond, and of course Powerpoint. As of recently, I have been trying to really learn these platforms and create. So, I will begin and lead us in focusing on our current endeavors.

Storyline: Who would have thought I would have loved this. I have been experimenting with using buttons that can proceed to a new slide or activate a video without actually clicking play. Finding out about layers is probably my favorite experience. I love being able to use layers to add animations. Recently I used a layer to create a curtain effect and when it opened it presented the title of the module as well as a button that allowed the user to begin the course. Branching is interesting as well. At first, I was having a hard time getting my main topics to appear as main topics in the menu, but then I stumbled upon scenes. When I finally figured that out, I felt unstoppable. Another thing, I had to google how to create navigation locks and restrictions but adding that to another learned skill to use in the storyline is something to boast about. I love how I can use other programs in the storyline as well, like PowerPoint/iSpring. I will keep working on this and probably make this my main program of choice. I just really love it.

Vyond/Powtoon: Creating simple, engaging, already animated content. Using the whiteboard feature, being able to apply voiceovers. I actually really like Vyond. It's a little "ugly" as in not smooth in a sense, but it gives it the character, "Jena se qua"

iSpring: Glorified PowerPoint, but nonetheless, it was cool to use. I experimented with creating interactive content such as quizzes and forms. I think the interactive content on iSpring is easier to use than on Storyline, especially since I have been trying to incorporate an open response. My thoughts are maybe that needs to be in an LMS system? This may not be something I use though, especially because it is just a tool in PowerPoint.

Rise: This is simple and I love it because it is quick and easy to create a course. I love the ability to add storylines, and scenarios content to it. Full of embedding. I have yet to see an ability to branch, which I think would be cool if I could, and have buttons that go back to the main menu, however, I do not believe that is the purpose of Rise and that fully complicates it, which if this is what you need then stick to Storyline. They are both in the same Articulate family.

Focusing on what you have learned helps ease the imposter syndrome, the anxiety, and the feeling of "I'm not making progress". Writing this has indeed put me in a different mindset and helped me realize that I really am making moves in this field.

There will be a time when you will incorporate the new tools and in the meantime, you can still practice. Just remember, that you cannot build on a foundation that is not solid. Trust in yourself, and trust in the process. When you are ready to move forward, God will wink.

Psalm 94:19 "When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer."