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You are here: Home / eLearning Design / 10 Unusual Sources Of Inspiration for eLearning

10 Unusual Sources Of Inspiration for eLearning

by Connie Malamed

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We all need inspiration at times. Here are ten websites where you can seek, browse and hopefully find inspiration to kickstart your creativity. Click the underlined name of the source to access each site.

1. Visual.ly

Visual.ly is a site for exploring, sharing and creating visualizations. There are all styles and types here, so you need to sift through to find what you like. But it’s worth it. The variety of visual thinking is fantastic. Scroll down on the home page to see the latest or explore in many ways through their filters.

2. Information Aesthetics

If you crave a wide variety of ideas for conceiving information graphics, check out the sundry visuals at this site, where “form follows data.” You’ll find a wealth of imagery and unique ways to conceptualize information.

3. Note and Point

A gallery of well-designed Keynote and PowerPoint presentations reside on this site. Whether you implement or conceive visuals, you can get ideas for eLearning course design here.

4. Webrangers


We adults are too serious. Glean ideas from the wonderful games buried at the U.S. National Park Service site—Webrangers. Find inspiration in the creative treatments, then use it as a springboard for approaches to adult learning. (FYI: Many of these games were designed by my friends at d’Vinci Interactive.)

5. XPLANE

XPLANE excels at visualizing processes, procedures and information. Check out their portfolio for ideas on how to transform abstract concepts into concrete forms.

6. Poynter Online

Bring storytelling and other journalistic skills to your courses. Poynter Online teaches this and more through their articles, eLearning courses, webinars and seminars.

7. The Daily Script

If you get stuck on scriptwriting for video, try browsing through the dozens of scripts housed on this minimalist site.

8. Digital Photography School

This site has loads of advice and inspiration related to photography, which often serves as the main media element in online courses. The school has everything from technical articles about cameras to photo galleries from readers.

9. TED

Everyone knows about the TED presentations, but they aren’t all as inspiring as this one. Check out Jill Nolte’s Stroke of Insight to appreciate the amazing human spirit and brain.

10. COLOURlovers

Need inspiration for a color palette? COLOURlovers lets you create palettes and patterns, provides palette ideas, color trends, a variety of tools and is basically overflowing with the wonder of color.


For more inspiration, get The eLearning Coach delivered to your Inbox every month, with ideas, articles, freebies and resources.

Comments

  1. Carrie says

    March 29, 2012 at 3:57 pm

    This is such a great list, thank you. Lots of inspiration!

  2. Connie Malamed says

    October 11, 2011 at 9:50 am

    Glad this has made you so happy, Victoria! Great meeting you at the Presentation Summit.
    Connie

  3. Victoria Aleman says

    October 11, 2011 at 9:27 am

    This is fantastic! Some of the topics you and others covered at Presentation Summit and more — in one place where I can dive in at my leisure. I feel like a kid in a toy store AND a candy store! Thank you for sharing what you’ve found.

  4. Connie Malamed says

    September 1, 2011 at 4:26 pm

    Thanks, Rob. I appreciate you bringing this to my attention. It looks like the NY Times visualization lab isn’t happening any more … at least not in that form. I’ve replaced it with a link to Visual.ly where you can find an endless supply of visualizations for inspiration. (We’re referring to the first link, that now works.)

    Connie

  5. Rob says

    September 1, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    First link redirects to main NYT site now, instead of the visualization lab.

  6. Robert Kennedy III says

    October 11, 2010 at 8:57 am

    This is a great list. I love the WebRangers site. THanks for this.

  7. Terri MacMillan says

    September 30, 2010 at 7:15 pm

    this is a great, and thankfully short list – will spread the word!

  8. Pamela Meyer says

    September 30, 2010 at 10:55 am

    These are terrific!

    Thank you for compiling and sharing!

  9. Connie Malamed says

    September 29, 2010 at 10:51 am

    So glad you find them inspiring. I wasn’t sure if anyone else would but me =)

  10. Pg Sharpe says

    September 29, 2010 at 10:08 am

    Wow, the websites are great. Thanks so much.

Trackbacks

  1. 3-Ways to Enhance Your Creativity as an e-Learning Designer says:
    January 18, 2017 at 9:29 pm

    […] e-Learning and design. She is always discussing the latest trends, theories and tools. Her article, 10 Unusual Sources of Inspiration for eLearning ,seems like a great fit for this […]

  2. 10 Unusual Sources Of Inspiration for eLearning: The eLearning Coach | Sarantis' Blog says:
    March 17, 2012 at 7:46 am

    […] Via theelearningcoach.com Share this:FacebookDiggTwitterLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. ← Why and How to Teach Critical Thinking – Tool Kits […]

  3. Storyboarding, prototypes and e-learning design « Spark Your Interest! says:
    October 11, 2011 at 2:38 pm

    […] Kevin Thorn (aka learnnugget) was the guest and he said he is not a fan of showing any kind of graphic to client in the initial stages, as the client can become fixated with that element and derail the higher level instructional framework. He starts with the storyboard and maps it out. Judy talked about prototyping, referencing Michael Allen’s approach (alluding to this, but not necessarily endorsing).  It made me think about my design process, more specifically marrying the graphic or visual design with the instructional flow. I’m not sure what to call my approach, because I don’t think it’s strictly storyboarding, nor is it prototyping. It’s more like information architecture with a splash of film treatment, like the elearning coach says. […]

  4. links for 2010-10-02 « doug – off the record says:
    October 3, 2010 at 1:05 am

    […] 10 Unusual Sources Of Inspiration for eLearning: The eLearning Coach We all need inspiration at times. Here are ten websites where you can seek, browse and hopefully find inspiration to kickstart your creativity. (tags: inspiration elearning sources creativity unusual) […]

  5. links for 2010-10-01 | MYAM's Blog says:
    October 1, 2010 at 11:14 pm

    […] 10 Unusual Sources Of Inspiration for eLearning: The eLearning Coach RT @kristinaverner: RT @paksorn: 10 Unusual Sources Of Inspiration for #eLearning: The eLearning Coach http://j.mp/bGzxVS (tags: eLearning via:packrati.us) […]

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